UN — Economic and Social Council — Commission on Human Rights — 37th Session — Summary Record of the 1604th Meeting

          
          Distr,
          EHERAL
          E/CN. 4/SR. 1604
          20 February 1981
          ENGLISH
          Original: FEEN H
          COMMISSION ON H1JNP N RIGHTS
          Thirty—seventh session
          SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 16O4TH MEET G
          Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva,
          on Tuesday, 17 February 1981, at 4.30 p.m.
          Chairman :
          Mr. CALERO RODRIGTJES
          CONTENTS
          Question of the. hm n xights of all persons subjected to any form of detention
          or imprisonment, in particular:
          (b) Question of missing and disappeared persons.
          This record is subject to correction.
          Participants wishing to make corrections should submit them ii writing to the
          Official Records Editing Section, room E.6l , Palais des Nations, Geneva, within
          one week of receiving the record in their working language.
          Corrections to the records of the meetings of the Commission at this session
          will be consolidated in a single corrigendum to be issued shortly after the end of
          the session.
          BP000382
          •UNITED NATIONS
          ECONOMIC
          AND
          SOCIAL COUNCIL
          (Brazil)
          GE.B 1-355110
          
        

          
          E/CN.4/SR.1604
          : jage8
          hatred and recourse to crime as a means of government. It was in the name of sacred
          values that Pà Rbmana urged the Commission to redouble its efforts to solve an
          extremely serious problem tot hich public opinion throughout the whole world should
          be alerted.
          25. i 1r. I IGHT ( aha'i. International Community) said that he wished to report on
          the disappearance of 14 prominent members of the Baha'i Community in Iran. Three
          of them had been kidnapped between Nay 1979 and January 1980 and. the other 11,
          including all 9 members of the National Administrative Council of the Baha'is of
          Iran, had been arrested by revolutionary guards in August 1980. The families of the
          persons who had disappeared had made every effort to locate their relatives, but
          their appeals had goi unheeded. He therefore took the opportunity afforded by the
          discussion to request the Iranian Government once again to thrc r some light on the
          fate of those disappeared persons. The Working Group had already been provided with
          details of the kidnappings, but he nonetheless wished to give the Commission a brief
          summary of the situation.
          26. Since the revolution, prominent Baha'is in many parts of fran had been arrested
          and, in. some cases, executed as part of a continuing and systematic campaign to
          demoralize, para1y. e and ultimately eradicate the Iranian Baha'± Community. Although
          Iran's 300,000 Baha'is were indigenous Iranians and constituted the largest
          religious minority in the country, the new Constitution, which recognized. the
          smaller Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian minorities, did not recognize them, so
          that they were outside the protection of the law. Those who wished to perpetrate
          attacks on Baha'js and their property could therefore do so with virtual impunity.
          Since the inception of the Baha'! faith in Iran in 1844, the Baha'is had been
          freq'iently persecuted in that country. During the Pahiavi regime (1921—1979),
          discriminatory legislation had been enacted which had deprived the Baha'is of many
          basic rights and freedoms. Since the revolution the persecutions had been resumed
          with even more intensity. The enemies of the Baha'i faith were conducting a campaign
          of vilification against the Baha is, who were accused of supporting the former Shah,
          of being agents of avak, opponents of Islam, spies for Israel, moral degenerates,
          and enemies of the Iranian Government and people, all of which accusation;) were
          totally unfounded. The Iranian Baha'is, in common with Baha'is the world over, were
          obliged to show loyalty and obedience to the Government of the country in. which they
          lived, and to refrain fror involvement in politics or any subversive activity.
          They were committed to the highest standards of morality an.d rectitude in their
          public and private lives. In addition, they believed that the essential spiritual
          unity of all mai- 1dnd was expressed through all the great religions — including
          Isla m —. which they regarded as divine in origin and whose founders th y honoured and
          revered. Those facts had repeatedly been presented to the Iranian authorities,
          together with evidence that the Iranian Baha'is had steadfastly upheld those
          fundamental principles of their faith, but all such representations and appeals for
          justice and fair treatment had gone unheeded.
          27. Ifrs. von R0 R (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) said that
          the Working Group's report and other documents before the Commission confirmed the
          fact that trade unionists were among the most frequent victims of enfbrced
          disappearances. 1C1'Tij therefore welcomed the Working Group's report, which wa truly
          impressive in its thoroughx ess and objectivity. But a great deal remained to be
          done. The massive amount of information before the group continued to grow as new
          cases of disappeara és were reported to it. It was therefore of the utmost
          importance that its mandate should be renewed and that it should be enabled to
          continue its rork on the basis of t ie .methods used thus far. It would be unthinkable
          
        

          
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          to restrict it in its access to or use of sources of information. With regard. to
          the procedure relating to communications from ind.ividuals and non—governmental
          organizations, ICFTU considered that Economic and Social Council
          resolution 1503 G viii) had never been the only resolution governing the
          consideration of such communications. For example, alleg ions of infringements
          of trade union rie'lits made by organizations such as ICFTU against a State which was
          not a member of ILO were brought before the Economic and Social Council in open
          session. Resolution 1503 (XLVIII) had been meant as a response to the cries of
          anguish which had, for years; reached the United Nations, only to be met with an
          icy silence. It had not been intended either to protect governments from individuals
          or to prevent United 1/ T ations bodies from devising other procedures that were better
          adapted to specific violations. She emphasized the importance of giving publicity
          to the work of the lilorking Group because of the preventive effect which such
          publicity could have. As stated in the introduction to the report “while the
          Working Group has been existence, it may well have been realized by those throughout
          the world who oontemplated the detention. of a person and his disappearance that the
          Group was continuously acting as the eyes of the international community and acting
          with that sense of urgency which alone can. save lives”. It was encouraging that a
          draft resolution had been introduced to renew the Working Group's mandate and she
          hoped it would have the Commission's support.
          ?;T3 . Hr. ALkNIZ (Observer for Nicaragua) said that during the meeting reference had
          t n made to the closure of the premises Of the Permanent Commission on Human Rights
          in Nicaragua, which had been described as an. act of repression on the part of the
          Nicaraguan Government. In. fact, the Commission's premises had been closed for four
          days only because the Minister of' Justice had required the Commission. to establish
          itself as a private association in accordance with the civil 1u in force in the
          country and, until then, the Commission had not agreed to do so. The Commission had
          been able to resume its activities on 1 February after regularizing its situation.,
          as it had been requested to do on several occasions by the Minister of Justice.
          29. 1”lr. DAB I (Observer f ' or Iran) said that. the statement by the Observer fOr the
          Daha'i International Co1 2nity called for some comments. In. the first place, the
          case of' the Baha'i minority was nrovideC for under the Ira:.ian Constitution, which
          recognized the rights of' minorities to practise their religious rites in complete
          freedom. The Daha'is were part of the Iranian people: consequently, they had the
          same rights and were sulject to the same duties and obligations as the rest of the
          population. Secondly, the allegations of enforced disappearances and kidnappings
          were totally unfounded, and he had been instructed tc reject them energetically.
          Thirdly, there was absolutely no question of any kidnappings in Iran. If certain
          people had. been detained, it was in accOrdance with the law in force and because
          they had committed acts of they had been found guilty by duly c6nstituted
          courts which had tried them in a spirit of justice, humanism and Islamic mercy.
          The meetin, rose at 6.30 p.m .