GENEVA -- The United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 9 March 1994 adopted a strong resolution expressing deep concern over reports of continuing human rights violations in Iran, including the persecution of the Bahá'í community there.
By a vote of 22 to 11, the Commission called for its Special Representative to continue his monitoring of the human rights situation in Iran, requesting that he report again next year to the Commission.
In this year's report to the Commission, Special Representative Reynaldo Galindo Pohl wrote extensively about the situation of Iran's Bahá'í community and stated that, despite Government denials that religious persecution exists, the "community suffers discrimination and harassment."
Since 1979, more than 200 Iranian Bahá'ís have been executed, hundreds imprisoned, and thousands deprived of jobs, education and the right to freedom of worship in a campaign of systematic religious persecution endorsed by the Government of Iran.
The Commission has expressed its concern over the situation in Iran every year since 1982. In this year's resolution, the Commission asked that Government of Iran to "intensify its efforts to investigate and rectify the human rights issues" raised by the Special representative, and to comply with international instruments on human rights to "ensure that all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, including religious groups, enjoy the rights recognized in these instruments."
During the Commission, a group of international non-governmental
organizations presented a joint statement expressing their concern
and alarm at the continuing persecution of Iran's Bahá'ís.
[See "Statement by NGOs on Iran"]