The Bahá'í International Community and 150 Bahá'ís from many countries participated in the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and the parallel Non-Governmental Organization Forum in Istanbul. [BINS365:5]
• The Bahá'í International Community presented a statement entitled Sustainable Communities in an Integrating World to the Plenary . [BIC History Habitat II]

The General Assembly Millennium Summit was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and was attended by leaders of more than 150 nations. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented a report entitled, "We The Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century". In which was presented an overview of the challenges facing humankind and suggested practical solutions. Some of the key themes addressed include health, environment, human rights and other social issues, international law, peace and rejuvenating the United Nations. It is striking that called upon by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to address so historic a gathering was Mr. Techeste Ahderom, the principal representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the United Nations, addressed the gathering as the spokesman of civil society. He was accorded this honour because he had presided as cochair at the earlier United Nations Millennium Forum. After all the national leaders had spoken and before the Summit had adopted its declaration on 8 September, Mr. Ahderom made a speech in which he conveyed to that unprecedented assemblage a report of the Forum. The text of his speech is enclosed herewith. On the last day a declaration was unanimously adopted that began by asserting: "We, Heads of State and Government, have gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 6 to 8 September 2000, at the dawn of a new Millennium, to reaffirm our faith in the Organization and its Charter as indispensable foundations of a more peaceful, prosperous and just world." [BW00-01p91-93, Letter from the Universal House of Justice dated 24 September 2000]
• The text of Mr. Ahderom's speech can be found on the BIC's website and at BW00-01p243-247.
• Millennium Declaration (in all UN working languages)
• The Millennium Development Goals are to: (1) eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieve universal primary education; (3) promote gender equality and empower women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve maternal health; (6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental sustainability; and (8) develop a global partnership for development.
• UN website.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. It was the first United Nations Security Council resolution to specifically mention the impact of conflict on women.

The Resolution formally acknowledged the changing nature of warfare, in which civilians are increasingly targeted, and women continue to be excluded from participation in peace processes. It specifically addressed how women and girls are disproportionally impacted by violent conflict and war and recognized the critical role that women can and were playing in peacebuilding efforts. UNSCR 1325 affirmed that peace and security efforts are more sustainable when women are equal partners in the prevention of violent conflict, the delivery of relief and recovery efforts and in the forging of lasting peace.

• The four pillars of the resolution were Participation, Prevention, Protection, Relief & Recovery.
• It was the first formal and legal document from the Security Council that required parties in a conflict to prevent violations of women's rights, to support women's participation in peace negotiations and in post-conflict reconstruction, and to protect women and girls from wartime sexual violence. Specifically, the key provisions called for:
  • Increase of representation and participation of women in decision-making at all levels.
  • Specific attention to gender-based violence in conflict situations.
  • Gender perspective in post-conflict processes.
  • Gender perspective in UN programming, reporting and in Security Council missions.
  • Gender perspective & training in UN peace support operations. [Wikipedia]
• See Background Paper by Françoise Nduwimana.

The Bahá'í International Community issued a statement, entitled Sustainable Development: the Spiritual Dimension, for the first session of the United Nations Preparatory Committee of the World Summit on Sustainable Development at the UN in New York. [BWNS93]
• For the complete text with footnotes see: Statement.

The third United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, was held in Durban, South Africa. The conference was also known as Durban I.
• The BIC was one of nearly two thousand NGOs present at the NGO forum. The conference itself was fraught with challenges that demonstrated the complexity of these issues and the sensitivity they must be addressed for meaningful change to occur. The BIC participated in the Religious, the Spiritual and the International NGO caucuses; it had an exhibition booth and distributed the statement entitled One Same Substance: Consciously Creating a Global Culture of Unity which provided an outline of the efforts Bahais are doing towards this goal. [One Country]
  • See as well BWNS133 for the full text.
• UN website

World Summit on Sustainable Development, a United Nations conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Bahá'í International Community issued a statement, entitled Religion and Development at the Crossroads: Convergence or Divergence?. [BWNS169, BWNS170]
• For the full text and footnotes see: BIC Web Site.

Bani Dugal Gujral was appointed Principal Representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the United Nations.
• Ms. Dugal Gujral had been serving as interim Principal Representative since the resignation of Techeste Ahderom in 2001.
• Ms. Dugal Gujral came to the Bahá'í International Community in 1994 and served as Director of the Community's Office for the Advancement of Women. A native of India, where she practiced law before coming to the United States, Ms. Dugal Gujral holds a Master's degree in Environmental Law from Pace University School of Law in New York. [One Country Vol.14 Issue4]

The World Summit on the Information Society gave the Bahá'í International Community an opportunity to assemble a delegation of Internet and Communications Specialists out of which one chaired the Ethics and Values caucus. The event was devoted to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the Information and Communication Technologies. Some 54 heads of state, prime ministers, presidents, and vice presidents, along with 83 ministers, came to the WSIS, which drew official delegations from some 176 countries. Also attending were several thousand representatives of nongovernmental organizations, business groups, the media, and other organizations of civil society.
• The Bahá'í International Community's delegation to the WSIS was Michael Quinn of the United States; Bahiyyih Chaffers, permanent representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the UN; Laina Raveendran Greene of Singapore; and Karanja Gakio of Botswana, one of the founders of Africa Online. [BWNS268]

United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution expressing "serious concern" over the human rights situation in Iran, making specific mention of the ongoing persecution of the Bahá'í community there.
• It called on Iran to "eliminate all forms of discrimination based on religious grounds" and took note of the recent upsurge of human rights violations against the Bahá'í s of Iran.
• Specifically, the resolution noted the "continuing discrimination against persons belonging to minorities, including Christians, Jews, and Sunnis, and the increased discrimination against the Bahá'ís, including cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, the denial of free worship or of publicly carrying out communal affairs, the disregard of property rights, the destruction of sites of religious importance, the suspension of social, educational, and community-related activities, and the denial of access to higher education, employment, pensions, and other benefits." [BWNS341]

The 2005 World Summit was a follow-up summit meeting to the United Nations' 2000 Millennium Summit, which led to the Millennium Declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Representatives (including many leaders) of the then 191 (later 193) member states met in New York City for what the United Nations described as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take bold decisions in the areas of development, security, human rights and reform of the United Nations." [THE 2005 WORLD SUMMIT: AN OVERVIEW]
• 2005 World Summit Outcome
• Millennium Development Goals
  1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. To achieve universal primary education
  3. To promote gender equality and empower women
  4. To reduce child mortality
  5. To improve maternal health
  6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
  7. To ensure environmental sustainability
  8. To develop a global partnership for development

The Search for Values in the Age of Transition was written on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the UN and contained recommendations for UN reform in the areas of development, human rights and the rule of law, democracy, and collective security.
• Freedom to Believe: Upholding the Standard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written about the same time, called on the United Nations to affirm unequivocally the right of an individual's to change his or her religion under international law.

The 50th session of the Commission on the Status of Women was held at the UN Headquarters in New York. [UN Women]
• The Bahá'í International Community presented Beyond Legal Reforms: Culture and Capacity in the Eradication of Violence Against Women and Girls.

The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the resolution entitled United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples]
• The vote was passed by a majority of 144 states in favour, 4 votes against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) and 11 abstentions (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine). Since that time, the four countries voting against have reversed their position and now support the Declaration. [Division for Social Policy and Development Indigenous Peoples website]
• In November 2010, Canada issued a Statement of Support endorsing the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• In November 2015, the Prime Minister of Canada asked the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and other ministers, in the mandate letters, to implement the declaration.
• In May 2016, the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs announced Canada was now a full supporter, without qualification, of the declaration.
• For an Historical Overview of the resolution see Division for Social Policy and Development Indigenous Peoples website.
• The text of the Resolution A/RES/61/295 has been published in an "Adolescent-Friendly Version of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples".
• In a CBC news story published 15 January2024 it was revealed that Canada and Australia had conspired to create a government-friendly UNDRIP substitute in 2002-2003. See a 2002 Australian Cabinet document related to the issue of the drafting of a separate proposal to change the existing document. On the 10th of May, 2016 the Canadian government announced its full support of the Declaration and commitment to adopt and implement it in accordance with the Canadian Constitution.

The 52nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York. [UN Women]
• The Bahá'í International Community presented Mobilizing Institutional, Legal and Cultural Resources to Achieve Gender Equality.
• Baha'i International Community Representative, Ms. Bani Dugal was elected to serve as the President of the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief in New York. During the 52nd Commission on Status of Women. [BIC History 2008]

The Durban Review Conference is the official name of the 2009 United Nations World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), also known as Durban II. It took place at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The conference was called with a mandate to review the implementation of The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action from the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. It was boycotted by Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, and the United States. The Czech Republic discontinued its attendance on the first day, and twenty-three other European Union countries sent low-level delegations. The western countries had expressed concerns that the conference would be used to promote anti-Semitism and laws against blasphemy perceived as contrary to the principles of free speech, and that the conference would not deal with discrimination against homosexuals. European countries also criticized the meeting for focusing on the West and ignoring problems of racism and intolerance in the developing world.
• Controversy surrounded the attendance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the conference due to his past statements on Israel and accusing the West of using the Holocaust as a "pretext" for aggression against Palestinians. The distributed English version of the speech referred to the Holocaust as an "ambiguous and dubious question". When Ahmadinejad began to speak about Israel, all the European Union delegates left the conference room, while a number of the remaining delegates applauded the Iranian President.
• UN website

A new initiative of the UN Development Programme and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation launched at Windsor Castle afforded the Bahá'í International Community the opportunity to begin to apply the framework of action underlying the Institute Process to the problem of climate change. Represented by the Bahá'í International Community, the Bahá'í Faith joined other world religions in articulating a Seven-Year Plan for Generational Change with respect to environmental stewardship. Their plan, one of the 31 presented, outlined a community-based methodology of social transformation rooted in the spiritual development of the individual and the channeling of collective energies towards service to humanity. [One Country]
• During the conference BIC representatives Tahirih Naylor and Arthur Lyon Dahl were presented with certificates from HRH Prince Philip, the founder of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC). [BIC History 2009]

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference raised climate change policy to the highest political level. Close to 115 world leaders attended the high-level segment, making it one of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever outside UN headquarters in New York. More than 40,000 people, representing governments, non-governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, faith-based organizations, media and UN agencies applied for accreditation. The delegation of the Bahá'í International Community led by Tahirih Naylor, registered with the United Nations as an international nongovernmental organization, comprised some 21 people. [BWNS742; BIC History 2009]
• United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The UN General Assembly voted unanimously to create UN Women, (General Assembly resolution 64/289) a new entity merging the four UN offices focusing on gender equality: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women. Following the passage of the resolution, the Bahá'í International Community, as one of the core NGOs leading the campaign for the new gender entity, received congratulatory notes from NGOs and women around the world expressing their appreciation and support for its role in the four-year campaign. [BIC History; UN Women]
• See as well A short history of the Commission on the Status of Women (PDF).

The 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York. [UN Women; One Country].
• The Bahá'í International Community contributed the statement Education and training for the Betterment of Society ]

In March 2011, the UN Human Rights Council re-established the mandate of Special Rapporteur to Iran, which they had terminated in 2002, under the title "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran". The Commission had stopped appointing investigators for Iran in an effort to encourage a dialogue with the country on human rights. Then, in 2005, the Commission was disbanded in favour of a new entity, the Human Rights Council, which, for a variety of reasons, was considerably more reluctant to criticize individual countries. Human rights activists believed the moral authority behind having such a UN-appointed special rapporteur was a critical step in bringing to light the severity of rights violations in Iran. [One Country]
• Ahmed Shaheed was appointed and his mandate lasted from 2011 to 2016 when he went on to become the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
• An Iranian parliamentarian referred to the United Nations Human Rights Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed as a Zionist and CIA agent. [Islamic Republic News Agency 29 March 2014]

A follow-up conference dubbed "Durban III" took place in New York City. It was boycotted by Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, United States and the Czech Republic, along with Austria, Bulgaria, France, and the United Kingdom.
• UN website
• Wikimilli.

The release of the report entitled Inciting Hatred by the Bahá'í International Community which summarized each of the 400-plus documents or articles that were collected during the period of this survey, from 17 December 2009 to 16 May 2011 to prove that the Iranian regime has a systematic programme to demonize the Bahá'í community in the eyes of their compatriots.

  The report says in part "Despite this prolonged and systematic attack on its integrity and values, Iran's Bahá'í community is not dispirited, demoralized or downtrodden. Nor have they risen up to counter-attack their oppressors with force or any trace of bitterness. Rather they have calmly stated their case and called for their fundamental human rights with dignity and courtesy, winning the admiration of their compatriots, observers and, in some cases, even those who are obligated to oppress them under government policy."

• Inciting Hatred: Iran's media campaign to demonize Bahá'ís is available in English and Farsi.

Referred to as "the Bristol Commitments", contributions from the various religious groups were presented and discussed at a two-day event, titled "Faith in the Future", in Bristol, UK. The event was co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC).

Daniel Perell, a representative of the BIC to the UN, spoke about the transformational power of religion, which can tap human motivation at the deepest levels. [BWNS 1067]

The report from the offices of the Bahá'í International Community entitled The Bahá'í Question Revisited: Persecution and Resilience in Iran was formally released.
• The full report can be read on-line here.
• A list of resolutions by the United Nations and United Nations bodies that referenced the situation of Bahá'ís in Iran since 1980 can be found at this location.
• An annex to The Bahá'í Question Revisited is the report called "Inciting Hatred". It is an analysis of approximately 400 anti-Bahá'í articles, broadcasts, and webpages from late December 2009 through May 2011 and can be found here.
• A list of the 222 Bahá'ís who have been killed in Iran since 1978 can be read here.

Arrests of Bahá'ís in Yemen drew international censure which led to a United Nations resolution, titled "Human Rights, Technical Assistance and Capacity-building in Yemen". It was introduced by Egypt on behalf of the Arab Group and supported by the entire UN Human Rights Council—calling for the immediate release of all Bahá'í detainees. The Council was the principal human rights body at the UN and was composed of 47 members who are elected by the General Assembly based on equitable geographic distribution.
• At the time of the resolution there were seven Bahá'ís in prison in Yemen, most of whom are held in undisclosed locations and one of which has been detained for nearly four years due to repeatedly postponement court-hearings. Arrest warrants had been issued for over a dozen others, while a number of families had been forced to leave their homes. Developments in Yemen indicated that the authorities' prosecution of individuals had broadened in scope to be against the Bahá'í community in general and that efforts were being made to turn public opinion against all of the Bahá'ís under the premise that they are secretly plotting to stir unrest in Yemen.
• The resolution established a Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts tasked with monitoring and reporting on the situation on human rights in Yemen. It was also mandated to carry out a comprehensive examination of all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights in the country. [BIC News 3 October 2017, UN Human Rights Council – 36th Session, Agenda Item 10]

A committee of the United Nations General Assembly condemned Iran by a vote of 83 to 30 with 68 abstentions for its continuing violations of human rights, the 30th such resolution since 1985.
• The Third Committee of the General Assembly approved a five-page resolution expressing concern over illegal practices ranging from torture, poor prison conditions, arbitrary detention, and curbs on freedom of religion or belief, to state-endorsed discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities as well as women.
• The resolution expressed specific concern over Iran's treatment of members of the Bahá'í Faith and highlighted the economic and educational discrimination against them and called on Iran to release the more than 90 Bahá'ís who were unjustly held in Iranian prisons.
• The resolution followed a strongly worded document from the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Asma Jahangir. Her 23-page report, released earlier this session, she catalogued a broad range of rights violations by Iran. [BWNS1221]

Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Asma Jahangir, in her report, shared with that country on this date, listed the names of some 77 Bahá'ís imprisoned in that country.
• Report.

The BIC prepared a statement for the Commission calling for a profound shift in thinking. Referring to the Commission's aim of "eradicating poverty to achieve sustainable development for all," the statement explains that it "is not simply a matter of expanding access to material resources, challenging as that can be. Rather, it is an endeavor of structural and social transformation on scales never attempted before. And the magnitude of that work calls for new ways of understanding individual human beings and society as a whole."

The statement, Towards a Just Economic Order: Conceptual Foundations and Moral Prerequisites was made available on the BIC website.

In the second court hearing presided over by judge Abdu Ismail Hassan Rajeh, three additional Bahá'ís were sentenced to death. Five of the indicted Bahá'ís were in attendance at the court where the judge requested the prosecutor to publish the names of 19 others indicted in a newspaper, further endangering the lives of the Yemeni Bahá'í community. The judge also ordered that all of the properties belonging to the Bahá'ís indicted be frozen until the court verdict was issued. He furthermore objected to a request by the lawyer for the five to be released on bail and deferred any such decision to the next hearing to be held in a month and ten days.
• The actions undertaken by the Houthis were condemned in two recent United Nations resolutions, one of which called for the immediate release of all Bahá'ís detained in Yemen due to their religious beliefs and to cease any harassment they are subjected to. [Iran Press Watch 4 October, 2018]

The Bahá'í International Community issued a statement entitled A Governance Befitting: Humanity and the Path Toward a Just Global Order on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. [BIC Publications]
• The PDF was made available in English.
• The statement was released following the UN75 Global Governance Forum that was held on the 16 and 17th of September with the theme "the future we want, the UN we need". [UN2020]

The Bahá'í International Community launched the statement entitled A Governance Befitting: Humanity and the Path Toward a Just Global Order on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The launch event, which welcomed some 200 attendees across the world, was an invitation to further exploration and one of many contributions the BIC is making to discussions about the need for systems of global cooperation to be strengthened. [BWNS1461]

The statement, which was released in September, highlights the need for systems of global cooperation to be strengthened if humanity is to address the serious challenges of our time and seize the immense opportunities of the coming years for progress.

• YouTube
• See a perspective piece on the statement by journalist and anthropologist Temily Tavangar.

The resolution asks Iran to "eliminate, in law and practice… all forms of discrimination on the basis of thought, conscience, religion or belief, including economic restrictions… [and] the denial of and restrictions on access to education, including for members of the Bahá'í faith." It also urges an end to "other human rights violations against persons belonging to recognized and unrecognized religious minorities."

This deprivation of the freedom to practice their religion is a breach of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The United Nations covenant holds that every person has the right to freedom of religion, freedom of converting religion, as well as freedom of expression, individually or collectively; openly or secretly.

Just four days after the UN resolution was passed there were raids on Bahá'í homes in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and its suburbs, Mashhad and Kerman. [Iran Press Watch 22 November 2020; Iran Press Watch 23 November 2020]

The 59th session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD59) took place from 8 to 17 February 2021 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Commission is the advisory body responsible for the social development pillar of global development. At the conclusion of the session four draft resolutions, all without a vote, were forwarded to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for consideration, including one that addressed this year's priority theme for the 46-member subsidiary body — the role of digital technologies on social development and the well-being of all. [59th Session]
• The Bahá'í International Community presented a statement and a video entitled Reflections of Our Values: Digital Technologies and a Just Transition.

  The Bahá'í International Community partnered with the United Arab Emirates and the NGO Committee on Social Development to host an online event entitled "Artificial Intelligence: Ethical Dimensions of the Virtual World". Drawing more than 100 diplomats, policy makers, and civil society actors, the panel discussion was organized under the auspices of the United Nations's 59th session of the Commission for Social Development. It responded to the Commission's focus on the role of digital technologies in providing for the well-being of all. [BWNS1487]

Yemen was reliant on import for 90% of its food. The situation was exacerbated by the global COVID-19 turndown which led to a sharp drop in remittances – the largest source of foreign currency and a lifeline for many families where 80 per cent of people live below the poverty line. As a result, millions more people could not afford to meet their basic needs. A fuel crisis in the north led to fuel shortages and price hikes. Government capacity to regularly pay salaries and pensions to public employees has been hindered and public services have been degraded. Between April and August 2020, heavy rains and flooding devastated communities, causing deaths and injuries, destroying infrastructure and livelihoods, and increasing the spread of deadly diseases. Tens of thousands of families were affected, many of them already displaced. Other natural hazards posed a threat, including desert locust infestations. The impact of the drivers of the crisis is most visible in the growing risk of famine and severe acute malnutrition, disease outbreaks, conflict casualties, forced displacement and reversal of past development gains. In addition, the conduct of the parties to the conflict had had a profound impact on the aid operation – particularly humanitarian access, aid delivery and data collection. [OCHA Report]

In July it was reported that a large part of the population had been affected by heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding. Covid-19 continued to ravage the population. (No sports were available form the north of the country where the pandemic was not recognized. 11.3 million children were in need of humanitarian assistance and 20.7 million people were in need. [Reliefweb]

Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, presented his report to UN's Human Rights Council detailing the scale of human rights abuses perpetrated by the regime in Tehran against members of many groups in the country. (It should be noted that his requests to visit Iran were denied and so he compiled his report using data collected from government, non-governmental and media sources. He also interviewed victims of abuses, along with their families and lawyers.) In the report he revealed that women, girls, human rights advocates, ethnic minorities, writers, journalists and people with dual nationality are among those targeted by the regime. They faced abuse, torture, arbitrary detention, harassment, forced confessions, and even the death penalty. What follows are some of the details of his report:
• Women: Females suffered as a result of deep-rooted discrimination in law and day-to-day life. Domestic violence, acid attacks, patriarchal values and misogynist behaviours, discriminatory legal provisions were among the issues women faced. Women's rights advocates, both women and men, including those who campaign against compulsory veiling laws were targeted. The enforcement of veiling laws by the police, Basij militia and vigilante "morality police" has often resulted in violence against women, including acid attacks and murder.
            Rehman's report also detailed how blatant gender discrimination permeated almost all aspects of the law and daily life in Iran, including marriage, divorce, employment and culture, with the result that women are treated as second-class citizens. He called on the Iranian government to repeal discriminatory laws and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women. Iran is one of the few states not to have signed it.
• Child marriages: In just six months during the previous year, 16,000 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were married in Iran. Girls as young as 13 could marry in Iran with their father's permission, and at an even younger age if authorized by a judge.
• Protesters: There has been a brutal crackdown by security forces on protesters during the nationwide demonstrations on November 19th. Firearms were used "in a manner that amounted to a serious violation of international human rights law," resulting in the deaths of more than 300 people, including women and children. In the days following the protests the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps raided homes, hospitals, schools and workplaces to arrest demonstrators, including children, and crush what Iranian officials described as "a very dangerous conspiracy." More than 7,000 detainees were held in secret facilities without access to lawyers, many of them in solitary confinement where they were tortured, starved and forced to make false confessions. The targeting of relatives in an effort to force human rights activists to halt their campaigning has been widely documented.
• Capital punishment: He also voiced concern about the high rate of death sentences in Iran, especially the execution of child offenders, and the recent cases in which protesters received the death penalty. There have also been reports of secret executions in connection with the protests "following unfair trials and after the systematic use of torture to extract forced confessions."
• The targeting of human rights activists, journalists, labour rights campaigners, dual and foreign nationals, and lawyers.
• Violation of the right to freedom of expression: The "authorities" repeatedly disrupted telecommunications. Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are "permanently blocked and inaccessible without circumvention tools, in an attempt to prevent protesters from revealing regime abuses to the world. Internet shutdowns and the blanket blocking of websites and applications represent a violation of the right to freedom of expression.
• Minorities: There was ongoing discrimination against ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. The report included details of executions and enforced disappearances of political prisoners from ethnic minorities. Bahá'í have been arrested for membership in the Faith and many Gonabadi Dervishes also remain in prison.
• Forced evictions: Many ethnic minorities have been evicted and their homes have been destroyed.
• Since completing his report further "disturbing incidents" involving the targeting of minorities have come to light, including: more than 20 executions of Baloch prisoners; the "suspicious" death of a Dervish follower; excessive use of force against protesters in Sistan and Balochistan province; the detention of 100 Kurdish activists, and house raids and land confiscations targeting members of the Baha'i faith. Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender also experience human rights violations and widespread discrimination.
• COVID-19: The Iranian government has continued the targeting of journalists and writers who report on subjects such as corruption and the COVID-19 pandemic. Health experts who question the regime's management of the health crisis also reportedly face prosecution or losing their jobs. Although international sanctions have hampered Iranian efforts to respond to the pandemic, it criticized the government's "opaque and inadequate coronavirus response which has resulted in excess deaths, including the deaths of medical workers who were left to fend for themselves without sufficient protective equipment." Detainees were also abandoned in "overcrowded and unhygienic" prisons. According to the World Health Organization, in June 2020 there were 211,000 prisoners in Iran's state prisons, 2.5 times the official capacity.
• The Report: English; French.

65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The Baha'i International Community's (BIC) 49 delegates joined more than 25,000 participants from around the world for the gathering. This was the largest gathering since the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing, held with the purpose of advancing the global discourse on gender equality. The CSW took place virtually this year in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which allowed the Baha'i International Community to send a diverse delegation of men and women from Mexico, France, Australia, Ethiopia, Turkey, Papua New Guinea, Canada, the United States, and many other countries (reference in Baha'i Canada)
• The film, Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality, was released at the 65th UN Commission on the Status of Women, as the Baha'i International Community's contribution to the celebration of 25 years since the landmark 4th World Conference on Women that was held in Beijing, China. Premiered online in March 2021, the film highlights urban and rural grassroots experiences in applying the spiritual principle of gender equality, drawing from the momentum generated since Beijing.

The websites and social media channels are compounded by videos, print newspaper articles and other written media, books, seminars, exhibitions, graffiti and fatwas from both official outlets and others sponsored by the government but purporting to be independent. [Bahá'í International Community News]

Since 2017, more than 33,000 pieces of toxic anti-Bahá'í content have been published or broadcast. In recent years, hundreds of websites and dozens of social media accounts have systematically attacked the Bahá'í community, misrepresenting Bahá'í beliefs in a manner designed to cause maximum offence to Iran's Muslim-majority population. [CiJA Statement on Iranian anti-Bahá'í Campaign] (The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs is the advocacy agent of Jewish Federations across Canada.)

António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, in his 2019 Plan of Action to Combat Hate Speech, said that "[h]ate speech is a menace to democratic values, social stability and peace. As a matter of principle, the United Nations must confront hate speech at every turn. Silence can signal indifference to bigotry and intolerance, even as a situation escalates and the vulnerable become victims."

Incitement to hatred is prohibited under international treaties that Iran itself has ratified, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [United Nations Plan of Action on Hate Speech]

The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) strongly condemn the increase in anti-Bahá'í propaganda disseminated by Iranian state-run media. A recent report by the Bahá'í Community of Canada found that "Iran's state-sponsored campaign of hatred against the Bahá''í Faith has been on the rise across all media platforms, including the web, social media, radio, newspapers, and television." On the 20th of July they issued a joint statement from Professor Irwin Cotler, Founder and International Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Ali Ehsassi, Member of Parliament (House of Commons of Canada) and Mr. Anders Österberg, Member of the Swedish ParliamentFounding Member of PGA's Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT).

See the report entitled State-sponsored hate propaganda against Iranian Bahá'ís published by the Office of Public Affairs of the Bahá'í Community of Canada.

See a speech titled A Non-Governmental Perspective on the Relative Effectiveness of Multilateral and Bilateral Measures by Bani Dugal, the Principal Representative, United Nations Office, Bahá'í International Community given in Florence, Italy 9 April 2022. The talk was presented at a conference on Religion, Hateful Expression and Violence sponsored by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy.

See Erased in the Shadows: The Persecution of Iran's Bahá'ís by Sabrina Nelson dated 2 October 2024.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has called on the Iranian government to end its discrimination of minorities in Iran, including of the Bahá'í community. The vote confirms a Third Committee resolution passed in November. The resolution was endorsed by the General Assembly's 76th session and introduced by Canada and 47 co-sponsors from all regions, passed by 78 votes in favour, with 31 against and 69 abstentions. [BIC News; BWNS1568; Iran Press Watch/a>]
• The Resolution.
• One of the latest incidents occurred in Kata where thirteen irrigated farmland plots belonging to Bahá'ís in the village in Iran's southwest was targeted by authorities seeking to further expropriate the assets of Baha'is in the country. The organization "Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order" – a parastatal agency controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which holds and sells assets seized from proscribed groups and individuals and has done so since the 1979 Islamic Revolution – advertised the 13 land parcels on an auction website in mid-October. Each property has been listed for sale at a price estimated to be only 15% of its fair market value. [BIC News]
• Farm lands in Semnan, Roshankouh, and Ivel have also been confiscated recently. [BWNS1568]

See the conference recommendations and actions.

The Bahá'í International Community released a statement, One Planet, One Habitation: A Bahá'í Perspective on Recasting Humanity's Relationship with the Natural World. The statement underlines the gap between intention and action as one of the central challenges facing humanity and states that the essential principle of humanity's oneness as the only foundation on which sustainable societies can be raised. [BWNS1599]

The statement is available on the BIC statements page and at Bahá'í Library.

The second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly was held in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme "A sustainable urban future through inclusive and effective multilateralism: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in times of global crises." (The First Session of the UN-Habitat Assembly was held in Nairobi, from 27-31 May 2019, where the organizational components necessary for the Assembly's functioning, were approved and resolutions were adopted various subjects.) [Earth Negotiations Bulletin]
• See One Planet, One Habitation: A Baháʼí Perspective on Recasting Humanity's Relationship With the Natural World and BWNS1599.
• See Working toward One Planet and One Habitation: Sustainability and Environmental Efforts by Bahá'í Communities Around the World. This document shares examples of how Bahá'í communities are learning with others how those principles can be translated into reality and action—how growing numbers are striving to learn how to build more sustainable, holistic, and just societies. Case studies from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Singapore, Vanuatu, Zambia, Dominica, and United States of America, Navajo Nation are presented.

In September 2021, the Secretary-General responded with his report, Our Common Agenda, a wake-up call to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and propel the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration. In some cases, the proposals addressed gaps that had emerged since 2015, requiring new intergovernmental agreements. The report, therefore, called for a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus on readying for a future that is rife with risks but also opportunities. The General Assembly welcomed the submission of the "rich and substantive" report and agreed to hold the Summit on 22-23 September 2024, preceded by a ministerial meeting in 2023. An action-oriented Pact for the Future is expected to be agreed by Member States through intergovernmental negotiations on issues they decide to take forward. [Road to the Summit of the Future]