I was very pleased to receive an email notification this morning of this reply by the excellent Dr Kim Howells MP, the UK Foreign Office’s Middle East minister, to a Parliamentary Question by the equally excellent Norman Baker MP about the situation of the Baha’is in Iran. Norman asked his question following a briefing by Baha’i representatives in his office.
Norman Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to encourage the Iranian authorities to protect the freedom of belief of the Baha’i community in Iran.
Kim Howells:
The Government remain very concerned by the situation of the Baha’i community in Iran. The Baha’i faith is not recognised as an official minority religion under the Iranian Constitution and Iranian Baha’is face systematic discrimination and persecution. We regularly raise our concerns about the treatment of Baha’is with the Iranian authorities, bilaterally and through the EU. On 22 January, the EU presidency, with strong UK support, raised specific concerns about the treatment of the Baha’i community in Iran during a meeting with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this meeting the EU expressed opposition to all forms of discrimination, in particular regarding freedom of religion. Most recently, on 7 February, the EU presidency issued a public statement expressing concern about the deteriorating situation of the Baha’i minority. We have also taken action at the UN; in December 2007 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution about the human rights situation in Iran. The resolution, which was co-sponsored by the UK and all other EU member states, expressed very serious concern about increasing discrimination against religious minorities in Iran and the situation of the Baha’is in particular. We will continue to urge the Iranian authorities to uphold the right to freedom of religion and belief as described in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party.
Kim Howells photo © Foreign & Commonwealth Office under a Creative Commons licence.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, human rights, UK, Kim Howells, Norman Baker, FCO, EU
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Great to see leaders taking a stand against tyranny.
It is indeed. We’ve put in a request to meet Dr Howells, with whom we haven’t met for some time.
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