Iran exercised its right of reply at the UN Human Rights Council today. I urge you to watch the UN’s webcast of the Iranian representative giving voice to the most extraordinary collection of lies and hypocrisy. But, be warned, watching it may be bad for your health. I certainly felt my heart rate climb.

Reuters reported it like this:

Iran hits back at Canada at U.N. rights forum
Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:21 PM EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran hit back at Canada on Friday for criticizing its rising number of executions and treatment of women, accusing Ottawa of racism, police brutality and treating its indigenous people like second class citizens.

Canada, in remarks echoed by the European Union (EU), told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday that the human rights situation was deteriorating in the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s envoy A. Eshragh Jahromi rejected Canada’s statement, which had voiced specific concern at Iran’s “treatment of women as second class citizens” and suppression of peaceful demonstrations in support of women’s rights.

“Such unfortunate allegations clearly demonstrate the continuation of old habits of politicization and double standards which discredited the U.N. Commission on Human Rights,” Jahromi said, referring to the previous U.N. rights forum which the Council replaced a year ago.

Instead, Canada’s inability to deal with human rights violations at home should be brought to the attention of the 47-member forum, he said.

“Human rights violations include social exclusion policies, blatant racism and racial discrimination, police brutality, unlawful detention, torture and deaths in custody, violence against women and children and indigenous people, who are being treated as second class people by the Canadian government,” Jahromi said.

Iran’s envoy also took issue with remarks by Diane Ala’i, representative of the Baha’i International Community, who complained of “systematic and organized persecution” of its members in Iran, including arrests and property confiscations.

The faith, an offshoot of Islam which claims 5 million members worldwide, is considered heresy by Iran’s religious leaders.

“All Iranians, including the Baha’i, enjoy their full constitutional rights. In my country, all are equal before the law,” Jahromi said.

You can read about the latest cruel tricks the Iranian authorities have played on young Iranian Baha’is in this Baha’i World News Service story.

I’m surprised Mr Jahromi didn’t grow an exceedingly long, Pinocchio-type, nose.

Technorati Tags: UN, Human Rights Council, human rights, religious freedom, Iran, Baha’i, Bahai

The Universal House of Justice, the international governing council of the Baha’i community, has recently written the most beautiful and challenging letter to Iranian Baha’i students, who continue to be cruelly denied access to higher education by the Iranian government purely because they are Baha’is. The letter encourages these brave young Baha’is to respond with composure, perseverance, and a redoubled commitment to work towards the common good in Iran.

With an illumined conscience, with a world-embracing vision, with no partisan political agenda, and with due regard for law and order,strive for the regeneration of your country. By your deeds and services, attract the hearts of those around you, even win the esteem of your avowed enemies

It has become even more clear that the Iranian government is playing a double game as it puts its long-term plan to block the development of the Iranian Baha’i community into effect.

A major element of that plan has been to prevent Baha’i youth from obtaining higher education. More than half of the Baha’i students in university last year have been expelled for no reason other than their religion. Recently, the Baha’i International Community disclosed the existence of a confidential government memorandum instructing Iranian universities to expel any student who is discovered to be a Baha’i, refuting statements by Iranian officials who say Baha’i students face no discrimination.

So far this year, more than 800 of the 1,050 Baha’is who sat for entrance examinations have not received their test results, allegedly because their files are “incomplete,” even though Baha’is made every effort to comply with the application process. No explanation has been given to them as to how their applications were incomplete. Without the test results, the students have been unable to apply to university for the coming academic year.

“These official acts are disappointing and shameful,” wrote the Universal House of Justice. “This action of the government in obstructing youth, Baha’i or otherwise, from access to higher education stands in contrast to the noble history of Iran’s past attainments.”

The letter reminds the young Baha’is of the way their ancestors responded to persecution and challenges them to react positively to the challenges they are facing:

Recent events, however, “call to mind heart-rending episodes in the history of the Faith, of cruel deceptions wrought against your forebears,” the letter continued. “It is only appropriate that you strive to transcend the opposition against you with that same constructive resilience that characterized their response to the duplicity of their detractors.”

In that regard, the Universal House of Justice urged Iranian Baha’i youth to avoid any impulse to “rise against their oppressors,” “flee for refuge,” or “capitulate to their fate.”

The letter closes with this clarion call:

Service to others is the way. Let it be your watchword, ‘Abdu’l-Baha being your exemplar. Like Him, you can find practical ways of serving your fellow citizens. Strive to work hand-in-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, with your fellow citizens in your efforts to promote the common good.

This surely is the time for the gallantry of illumined souls. Very dear friends, we pray that you may be counted among this noble company.

I can’t help but compare this call to service and nobility with the way in which some other religious groups have embraced an ideology of victimhood and have lashed out violently against those they see as oppressors, whom they all too frequently define as being anyone who is not a member of the “victim” group. These young Iranian Baha’is are being exhorted not to be victims, but to use their sufferings as a springboard for action to make Iran a better place.

You can read about this letter on the Baha’i World News Service.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, persecution, human rights, religious freedom, education, service, nobility

Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, reported to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) yesterday and took part in an interactive dialogue with government and NGO representatives.

Asma is physically small, but she has a steely determination to defend freedom of religion or belief. In its daily Council Monitor, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) summarizes her presentation of her thematic report to the Council:

Ms Jahangir highlighted a number of issues already mentioned in her report. She went on to state that there were two primary areas of concern for her mandate that deserved equal attention. First, that the freedom to pursue one’s own religion or belief must be protected and respected and second that the rights of individuals need to be protected from being violated on the premise of religion or belief. She emphasised that both victims and perpetrators of religious intolerance belonged to all religions and beliefs. However, religious minorities continued to be prosecuted at the national and international levels.

While noting the challenge that the protection of the freedom of religion and belief posed for States, Ms Jahangir suggested that wise and balanced decision-making, non-discriminatory legislation, an independent and non-arbitrary judiciary, as well as adequate protection and effective remedies for victims, were all some key ways in which States could promote freedom of religion. She highlighted that protection needed to be complemented by the pro-active efforts of States to prevent acts of discrimination and violence. She emphasised that in addition to reviewing policy and legislation pertaining to freedom of religion and belief, States need to be cautious not to ‘over-regulate’ this freedom through excessive, and ultimately counter- productive legislation. Ms Jahangir continued by highlighting the role of education as a preventive measure. She mentioned that in conjunction with a regional organisation, guiding principles on teaching about religion in public schools were currently being developed.

She also highlighted the persistence of discriminatory stereotypes of religion, which she had addressed in a joint report with Mr Doudou Diène, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance last September.9 Ms Jahangir recalled that one of their key recommendations had been to encourage the Council to consider adopting complementary standards on the inter-relation between freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and non-discrimination. Additionally, she mentioned that the Chairperson of the Human Rights Committee expressed the interest of the Committee in drafting a general comment on Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and political Rights (ICCPR).10 Finally, she mentioned the importance of inter- and intra-religious dialogue that would include all groups such as women, youth, believers and non-believers, and that regional or international cultural exchanges should be encouraged in order to promote tolerance.

After she had presented her report, Ms Jahangir took part in an interactive dialogue with representatives of the HRC’s member states and NGOs. As the Council Monitor reported:

In response to her report and presentation at the Council in the afternoon, several States expressed their appreciation of her ‘well-balanced’11, ‘systematised and scrupulous’ and ‘objective’ report, while virtually all States who took the floor warmly welcomed her report. Of particular note was that several States explicitly expressed their support for her mandate and the extension of her mandate, given its upcoming assessment on Friday afternoon (under the review of mandates). Portugal, on behalf of the European Union (EU), emphasised the importance of her mandate as a human rights mechanism, and stressed that the EU had always supported her mandate. Azerbaijan also stressed the significance of her. China expressed its appreciation and support for the continuation of her work on promoting dialogues between civilisations and religions. In addition to the support of Albania and Norway, Ms Jahangir’s mandate received strong support from New Zealand, who stated that she had made a ‘compelling case’ for the extension of her mandate.

We can but hope that these expressions of goodwill will translate into a renewal today (Friday 14 September) of Asma’s mandate (and that the renewed mandate will be a strong one).

Themes raised in the interactive dialogue session included:

• The relationship between the law and the freedom of religion
• The intersection of the right to freedom of religion and belief with the freedom of expression, and defamation of religion
• Inter-faith and intra-religious dialogue
• The link between religion and terrorism
• The prevention of religious discrimination through education

The representative of the Baha’i International Community raised the grave concerns that the Baha’i community has about the intensification of the persecution of their fellow Baha’is in Iran.

You can watch the UN video cast of Asma’s presentation here. You can watch the intervention of the Baha’i International Community representative here. And you can see the Special Rapporteur’s concluding remarks here.

The HRC’s archived videocasts can be accessed here.

Threats to freedom of religion or belief are widespread and may be growing. Religion is now in the public sphere in ways and to an extent that wouldn’t have seemed possible 10 or 15 years ago. We might wish that it were not so, but it’s there and freedom of conscience, thought and religion (as Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it), together with freedom of opinion and expression (Article 19), are crucial to human flourishing. I, for one, am very happy to see Asma Jahangir so strongly defend this freedom.

We will all have the opportunity to add our voices to Asma’s when we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration in 2008.

Technorati Tags: UN, Human Rights Council, human rights, religious freedom, Asma Jahangir, Special Rapporteur, Baha’i, Bahai