The UK Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly has sent two delegates to support the work of the Baha’i International Community at current session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). One of them is a 13-year-old girl from Cornwall who has lived much of her life in Tanzania.

As this story on the Baha’i World News Service reports:

Among the hundreds of girls coming to the United Nations this week to discuss the problems facing girl children around the world will be a dozen with a distinctive viewpoint: their religion teaches that they are equal to boys.

“For Baha’is, it is a basic element of their faith that we must establish equality between women and men, not to mention girls and boys,” said Fulya Vekiloglu, a representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.

“In a world where religious traditions often stand at the heart of discriminatory practices, this is a rather unique perspective, and one that ought to be a pattern for the future,” said Ms. Vekiloglu, who also directs the Community’s Office for the Advancement of Women.

“So we are hopeful that the 12 young Baha’i girls who are coming to New York for the Commission on the Status of Women next week can bring concrete examples of equality and empowerment in action.”

The Baha’i girl delegates come from Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Sweden, Tanzania and the USA as well as from the UK. The theme of this year’s CSW is the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child.

I wish Holly and the other girl delegates all success in their work at CSW.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, UN, Commission on the Status of Women, girls

Michael and Petra Bayfield

Erica and I have just returned from Michael and Petra Bayfield’s wedding at Essebourne Manor, a country hotel near Andover in the beautiful Hampshire countryside.

Erica and I have known Michael for around 30 years and it was wonderful to see him so happy with Petra, whom we met for the first time today. She is a lovely person and I am sure they will be very happy together.

I was pleased to represent the National Assembly at the Baha’i wedding ceremony (there being no Local Assembly in the area to oversee the wedding).

Michael and Petra cutting the cake

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, wedding

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite