The ongoing persecution of the Baha’i community in Iran “is not just one dramatic incident,” said Tara Sepehri Far, Senior Iran Researcher at Human Rights Watch and lead author of a recent report, “The Boot on My Neck”: Iranian Authorities’ Crime of Persecution Against Baha’is in Iran. Rather, she added, it is “the cumulative impact of violations on a community … over generations.”

The groundbreaking Human Rights Watch report was published in April and made headlines by determining that the Iranian government’s 45-year systematic repression of the Baha’is amounted to the crime against humanity of persecution under international criminal law.

Ms. Sepehri Far joined several high-level speakers at an event co-hosted by Human Rights Watch and the Baha’i International Community, which explored the findings and recommendations contained in the report. 

In addition to several dozen participants, the event drew United Nations Member State representatives from a range of geographic regions, including Australia, Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Ireland, Kiribati, Luxembourg, Mexico, North Macedonia, Norway, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

Many participating diplomats emphasized the importance of religious freedom, in Iran and around the world, as well as the centrality of human rights obligations within the broader context of the international rule of law. 

“We need to put the treatment of the Baha’is … in context of a broader set of repressions that are ongoing in Iran,” said Ambassador Robert Rae, of Canada. 

“Religious discrimination is something that we see has always been the root cause of many conflicts,” added Tuvalu’s Ambassador Tapugao Falefou.

Several of the event’s featured speakers emphasized the interlinking and indivisible nature of human rights—as well as the systematic and pervasive nature of the persecution of Iranian Baha’is.

“It's the intentionality of this persecution which is really startling and of a different level,” said Dr. Nazila Ghanea, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, “it's not only violations of freedom of religion or belief that we're noting here, but of all rights. The range of crimes with which Baha’is are being charged … for example, national security, propaganda, impurity, espionage, even property ownership itself … because, the person happens to be a Baha’i.”

Professor Payam Akhavan, an international human rights lawyer and former prosecutor and legal counsel at international tribunals at the International Court of Justice, added that “there is an intersection here between the question of religious persecution and gender persecution, in particular in respect of the Baha’is, who since the 19th century have been calling for the equality of men and women.”

Part of the event’s discussion also focused on possible accountability mechanisms that could be used to stem human rights violations and perpetration of the crime against humanity of persecution.

Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, summed up the event’s discussion by noting the significance that human rights principles have for all nations and not just the Baha’is in Iran.

Speaking after the event, Ms. Dugal added that “The way countries treat their minorities is indicative of the well-being of their society. The Baha’i International Community is gratified by the support it receives from organizations such as Human Rights Watch, other civil society allies, and the international community. We hope Iran’s government will take note of the recommendations listed in the report, and that, at the very least, it must respect the rights of all its people. And its failure to do so could result in consequences and further discredit to its standing around the world.”