UN — Economic and Social Council — Commission on Human Rights — 37th session — Summary Record of the 1631st Meeting

          
          UNITED NATIONS
          r ,ONOkAI/ Distr.
          IV IL. GENERAL
          A N D E/CL4/SR.1631
          11 March 1981
          SOCIAL COUNCIL Original: ENGLISH
          C SSION ON HtJI'IAN RIG S
          Thirty—seventh session
          SUI'll'IARY C01 D OP TNE 163lst ? TING
          held. at the i'a1ai dos Nations, Geneva
          on Monday, 9 TIa ch 1981, at 10 a.m.
          Chairman ; lIr. CAI R0 RGURIGTJES (Brazil)
          C0N I TTS
          Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the
          world, with particular reference to colonial and other dependent countr .es and.
          territories ( continued )
          E/cN.4/ R.] .631
          age3
          7. Nr van er STOLL 1 Nether1ands) said. that the right to hold opinions without
          government interference and the right to freedom of speech were upheld in article 19
          of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in article 19 of the International
          Covenant on Civiland Political Rights. But although those tunda er.tal freedoms
          were widely ac1 owlec1ged on paper, many Governments restricted the actual exercise
          of those riGhts unduly, or even nullified them completely, citing the interests of
          state 5ecurity a communist society or the workers at large. The Commission, in
          resolution 23 ( )O CVi), had appealed to all Governments to encourage and support
          individuals and organs of society exercising their rights and responsibilities to
          promote the effective observance of human rights. The aims of that resolution,
          however, wei e far from being realized in certain countries, whose Governments, on the
          contrary, discouraged and suppressed the effective observance of human rights. The
          very least the Commission could do .-a : to support people who continued to strive
          for their human rights in• suàh circumstances. - -
          13P0003 79
          
        

          
          , ‘
          E/aN. 4/SR.1631
          :: :ove ents w ãh could not tolerate political dissent tended also' to e
          intolerant of re1ig± us beliefs. One example was the position of' the Baha'i minority
          in Iran; the Commission had recently heard the appeal made by that community's
          representative to the Iranian delegation. The Netherlands delegation had heard with
          interest the reply of the observer for Iran to the effect that the Baha'i community
          enjoyed the same rights as all other Iranians, ‘hut it appealed to the Iranian
          Government to investigate all allegations in order to dispel doubts. In that
          connection, the Euroj eazi Parliament, in a resolution dated 19 September 1980, had
          condemned the viQlation of the human rights of all religious minorities in Iran,
          particularly the members of the Baka'i faith, whose rights as a raligious ‘minority
          seemed net to be rec gnized in the Iranian Constitution; and the Sub—commission on
          Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, in resolution 10 (X OCiii),
          had expressed profoulLid concern for the safety of members of the Baha'i community.
          E/CN.4/SR . 1631
          page 6
          23. Mr. BEAU1JI 1E (Canada) said that the Commission s primar r concern was iiot to
          condemn those respon ible for violations of' human rights but, rather, o inquire into
          such violations with a view to eliminating them It was unfortunate that certain
          Governments had been either unable or unwilling to comply with the relevant resolutiOns
          adopted by the Commission at its previous session. In Kampuchea and Afghanistan, for
          example, the basic human right of' self—determination continued to be denied b'ecause of
          foreign occupation.
          25. The ailecations of discrimination against the Baha'i community ifl Iran were too
          well documented to he, dismissed lightly by the observer for Iran, and his delegation
          hoped that the Commisèion unuld not await the completioi: of a convention on the right
          of persons belongin' to national, ethnic, religious and lingui tic minorities before
          acting to protect min rity rights wherever they were violated.
          E/CN. 4/SR.1631
          page 9
          39, Nr.DAVIS(Australia) said that one of the Commission's principal tasks
          at its current session was to strengthen its procedures for considering systematic
          patterns of gross violations of human rights, by making them more resilient and
          flexible, whil at the same time continuing to work for the improvement of the
          living conditiOns of people all over the world.
          46. One f the ost distressing violations of the right to hold a religious belief
          was the persecution, in Iran, of members of the Baha'i faith, who were not'oflIY
          denied the righ s of a recognized religious miriority, but were systematically'
          harassed..
          
        

          
          COMPOSITE E/CN.4/SL 163 1
          FAcsrMIIS 13
          64. Mr. (B aha'i International Community) said that the 300,000 mernberBaha'j
          community was the largest re1i ious minority in Iran and yet was not recognized
          under the Iranian Constitution, a fact which had led to a serious violation of its
          human rights and fundamental freedoms, in disregard of the International Covenant
          on Civil and Political Rights, which had been si ed and ratified by that country.
          The Baha'is of Iran were all indigenous Iranians who, following the principles of
          their faith, were loyal to their country and Government and were not involved in
          party politics or any subversive activity, yet they had been the most frequently
          persecuted group in Iran. Although, at times, certain Baha'is had enjoyed some
          relief, that had simply been a reflection of the degree to which current laws weDe
          enforced by less prejudiced goveri- ment officials and not the result of any deliberate
          protection extended by the law to members of the Ba2ia'i community.
          65. The ref sa1 of successive Governments in Iran to accord the Baha'i faith
          official recognition as an independent religion ha.d deprived the Baha'is of human
          rights and privileges under the law and rendered them second—class citizens. Despite
          its rapid rise to become the largest minority religion in Iran, the Baha'i faith,
          contrary to other minority faiths, had been denied reco iition under the 1906
          Constitution, and acts of persecution against the community had continued.
          66. Following the accession to power of Reza Shah in 1921, the Baha'is and their
          institutions had become the victims of' repression by the Government, a policy
          continued throughout the period of the Pahlavi r& ime up to the Islamic Revolution
          in 1979.
          67. Du.ring nd since that revolution, the Baha'is had been the repeated victims of.
          violent attacks. Properties, including their internationally holy places, had been
          confiscated, desecrated and, in some cases, destroyed. The arrest and subsequent
          disappearance of' all nine members of the National Bahai Administrative Council of
          Iran in Aug ist 1930 va one of the most strildng examples of the attempts made to
          stifle the Baha'i community.
          68. Noting that the human rights cf the Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian minorities
          were protected under the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he said that the
          deliberate omission of' the Baha'is had left the way open to intensified denunciations,
          summa.ry arrests and trials, murder, and destruction of' property and holy places with
          almost complete assurance of immunity for the perpetrators.
          69. The Iranian Daha'is, in common iith their fellow believers the world over,
          were obliged as an article of their faith to show loyalty to the Government of
          the country in which they lived and to abstain from participation in politics
          and were committed to the highest standards of morality in their public and
          private lives. Those facts had been r .peated.1y brought t the notice of the
          Iranian authorities, to ther with evidence that the Iranian Baha'is
          steadfastly upheld those fundamental principles Of their faith, but all such
          representations and appeals for justice arid fair treatment had gone unh edecl.