Bahá’í World/Volume 14/The Bahá’í Faith and the United Nations
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VIII
THE BAHA’I’ FAITH AND THE UNITED NATIONS
(Reprinted from The Bahá’í World— vols. XII and XIII)
IN the spring of 1947 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada was accredited to United Nations as a national non-governmental organization qualified to be represented at United Nations Conferences through an observer.
A year later the eight National Spiritual Assemblies then existing were recognized collectively as an international non-governmental organization under the title “The Bahá’í International Community.” These eight Assemblies were those of North America; the British Isles; Germany and Austria; Egypt and Sfidén; ‘Iráq; Írán (Persia); India, Pakistan and Burma; and Australia and New Zealand. To these eight bodies have since been added the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of Canada, of Central America and of South America. Each National Spiritual Assembly in its application established the National Assembly of the United States as its representative in relation to United Nations.1
A significant action was taken in July, 1947, when the United Nations Special Committee in Palestine addressed a letter to Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, as Head of the Bahá’í Faith resident in the Bahá’í World Centre at Haifa, requesting an expression of the Bahá’í attitude on the f uture of Palestine. In his reply, Shoghi Effendi made it clear that “Our aim is the establishment of universal peace in the world and our desire to see justice prevail in every domain of human society, including the domain of politics.” The Guardian also pointed out his concern that “the fact be recognized by whoever exercises sovereignty over Haifa and ‘Akká, that within this area exists the spiritual and administrative centre of a world Faith, and that the independence of that Faith, its right to manage its international affairs from this source, the rights of
1 The number of National Spiritual Assemblies has increased to eighty-one. See Baha’ 1 Directory (1968),p 60.
Bahá’ís from any and every country of the globe to visit it as pilgrims (enjoying the same privilege in this respect as Jews, Muslims and Christians do in regard to visiting Jerusalem) be acknowledged and permanently safeguarded.”
With this communication the Guardian enclosed a summary of the history and teachings of the Bahá’í Faith which the Bahá’ís of the United States reprinted and distributed widely.
In addition to participation in a number of United Nations regional and international conferences four Bahá’í documents have been formally submitted: “A Bahá’í Declaration of Human Obligations and Rights,” 1947; “A Bahá’í Statement on the Rights of Women,” 1947; and “The Work of Bahá’ís in Promotion of Human Rights,” 1948. On November 9th, 1949, a letter was addressed to United Nations explaining the Bahá’í concept of worship, in connection with the effort of United Nations to formulate a method of worship acceptable for use in its future prayer building.
On May 9th, 1947, the Guardian wrote through his secretary to explain why he was encouraging Bahá’í association with United Nations: “He feels that the friends should bear in mind that the primary reason that he is encouraging Bahá’í association with the United Nations is to give the Cause due publicity as an agency working for and firmly believing in the unification of the human family and permanent peace, and not because he believes that we are at present in a position to shape or influence directly the course of human affairs! Also, he believes this association will afl‘ord the believers an opportunity of contacting prominent and progressive-minded people from different countries and calling the Faith and its principles to their attention. We should associate ourselves in every way with all movements of UN which are in accordance with our principles and objectives; but we should not seek to take the
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initiative or . . . focus a glare of publicity and public attention on a very wide scale upon ourselves which might prove very detrimental to our own interests. He considered, for instance, the ‘Bahá’í Declaration of Human Obligations and Rights’ appropriate and believes this type of action to be wise and suitable.”
Other references in words of the Guardian include the following. From cablegram dated April 16th, 1948, addressed to the National Convention of the Bahá’ís of the United States: “Recognition extended to the Faith by United Nations as an international non-governmental body, enabling appointment of accredited representatives to United Nations conferences is heralding world recognition for a universal proclamation of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.” From cable of April 26th, 1948, a passage included recognition by United Nations as one of the achievements of the American Bahá’í Community, “whose spokesmen are securing recognition of the institutions of Bahá’u’lláh’s rising world order in the United Nations.” From letter dated May 18th, 1948: “The recognition given your Assembly (as representative of the Other National Spiritual Assemblies) by UNO as a non-governmental body entitled to send representatives to various UNO conferences marks an important step forward in the struggle of our beloved Faith to receive in the eyes of the world its just due, and be recognized as an independent World Religion. Indeed, this step should have a favorable reaction on the progress of the Cause everywhere, especially in those parts of the world where it is still persecuted, belittled, or scorned, particularly in the East.”
All Non—Governmental Organizations make
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contact with United Nations through its Department of Public Information, section for Non-Govermnental Organizations. The status of the non-governmental organization has been defined by the Section for Non-Governmental Organizations in a letter written to the Bahá’í United Nations Committee:
“The Department of Public Information does not accredit organizations, but accredits the person nominated by an organization as an observer. This system is similar to the accreditization of newspaper correspondents, which does not give accreditization to the paper, but to the man. Of course, the accreditization of the observer or the correspondent is dependent upon the standing of the organization or paper. This may seem a fine line, but it is specifically designed to avoid the impression that we give status to organizations as such. The only way in which an organization can receive status from the United Nations is through having been granted consultative status by the Economic and Social Council.”
This definition of the Bahá’í relationship to United Nations is important. In referring to that relationship in public talks or publicity, the correct statement to make is: Bahá’í observers are accredited from the Bahá’í International Community (or from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States if reference to the national non-governmental organization is intended).
In 1947 a United Nations Committee was appointed by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, and Bahá’í relations with United Nations have been channelled through that committee.
THE BAHA’T INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND THE UNITED NATIONS 1954—1963
THE period of 1954 to 1963 was a highly eventful one, marking an increase of strength through the participation of the newly elected National and Regional Assemblies. These years contained, as well, the desperate appeal to the United Nations to save the lives of the
Persian Bahá’ís. As in previous years, the
Bahá’í International Community sent delegates to many international, regional and state conferences.
By the end of 1956 the scope of the international activities had reached the point where
it was desirable to divide the tasks previously
assigned to the Bahá’í United Nations Com
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THE Bahá’í FA H AND THE UNITED NATIONS
Ambassador Faflri’d—Dz’n M ullammad Of the Sudan talks with Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Mottahedeh
at a reception given by the Ambassador at the United Nations on January 5, 1967, in honour of
Sudan Independence Day. Mrs. Mottahedeh for many years served as Observer at the United Nations on behalf of the International Bahd’z' Community.
U
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mittee. That Committee was given the specific task of developing relations between the American Bahá’ís and the United Nations and included the increasingly important function of assisting the American Bahá’í Community to celebrate properly United Nations Day and Human Rights Day, dates which soon became annual events in the calendar of the Bahá’í communities. The work of the Bahá’í International Community was assigned to our international observer at the United Nations, Mrs. Mildred R. Mottahedeh, in consultation with the Executive Secretary of the Community, Mr. Horace Holley.
In that same year Shoghi Effendi appointed a special committee to be called into action for matters of international importance. Permanent members of the committee were Dr. Ugo R. Giachery, John Ferraby, ‘Aziz Navidi, Dr. Amin Banani and Mildred R. Mottahedeh.
During the period of the Ten Year Crusade the Bahá’í observers accredited to the United Nations were the Hand of the Cause Ugo R. Giachery, Europe; Mrs. O. H. Blackwell, United States; and Mrs. Mildred R. Mottahedeh, International.
CHARTER REVISION CONFERENCE
When the United Nations wrote its Charter in 1945 in San Francisco, the member nations realized that changing world conditions might necessitate changes in its Charter. It, therefore, arranged for a Charter Revision Conference to be convened in 1955. In anticipation of this significant event each Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly was solicited for suggestions which might be incorporated in Bahá’í proposals for Charter revision. Bearing these suggestions in mind, a carefully conceived pamphlet representing the first united effort of all the National Spiritual Assemblies in a non-Bahá’í field was prepared. Entitled “Proposals for Charter Revision Submitted to the United Nations by the Bahá’í International Community”, a copy of this pamphlet, together with a covering letter written by the Executive Secretary, Mr. Horace Holley, was sent to each of the delegates at the Conference. In addition, copies were presented to officials of many universities, to librarians, and newspaper men. The distribution of this pamphlet is specially to be noted as a point of future reference.
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Preceding the opening of the Charter Revision Conference, a “Festival of Faith” was held in the San Francisco Cow Palace. The seven Faiths represented were: Buddhist, ChristianEastern Orthodox, Orthodox, Christian-Protestant, Hindu, Jewish, Moslem, and Bahá’í. Mr. Arthur L. Dahl, Jr., representing the Bahá’í Faith, read a prayer taken from the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Fifteen thousand people were present at the Festival and the programme was both televised and broadcast by several nations, as well as being widely covered by the press.
UNITED NATIONS NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS CONFERENCES
The Bahá’í International Community was represented in many international, regional and local conferences of United Nations NonGovernmental Organizations. Bahá’í delegations chosen from many racial backgrounds attended international conferences held in the New York and the Geneva headquarters of the United Nations. Their contributions to the discussion on various subjects were highly constructive and received serious attention.
On May 20th—let, 1959, at the New York headquarters, a United Nations Conference for Non-Governmental Organizations was held on the problems of technical aid given by the United Nations and its specialized agencies in the social and economic fields. In connection with those in the social field, a delegation representing the Bahá’í International Community and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States presented a resolution recommending that Non-Governmental Organizations endeavor to obtain endorsements of the Genocide Convention from their respective organizations. Typical of local conferences, in the United States two delegates were sent each year to the Kansas Conference organized for the Non-Govemmental Organizations in that state.
THE Bahá’í APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS
In May 1955, a sudden, violent storm of persecutions against the Persian Bahá’ís broke loose—wanton murder, rape, imprisonment,
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desecration of Bahá’í graves, dismissal of Bahá’ís from all civil service, destruction of the dome of the Bahá’í National Headquarters in Ṭihrán by government officials, and destruction of the House of the Báb in fliréz. In short, these acts all denying human rights threatened the existence of the entire community of Persian Bahá’ís. Cables to the mm and the Prime Minister from Bahá’ís all over the world brought no cessation of the persecutions. The frenzy of the mobs, who were not only unrestrained but actually encouraged, reached such heights that the possibility of a widespread massacre of the Persian Bahá’ís became very real. This massacre was, in fact, openly promised in the press and in public meetings.
In July 1955, Shoghi Effendi cabled the Bahá’í International Community to lodge an appeal for immediate assistance with the United Nations. At that moment, the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations was meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, and it was to this Council, or to some division of it, that the petition would have to be addressed. The chances that the Bahá’ís could present their case in time to save their coreligionists was slim. It was well known that the files of the Human Rights Commission contained thousands of appeals for relief from religious persecution and that the United Nations was able to do very little to alleviate the distress of the victims. It was decided to send a committee to Geneva to make a desperate appeal for help. The Committee consisted of Dr. Ugo R. Giachery, Dr. Hermann Grossmann, J ohn Ferraby, ‘Aziz Navidi and Mildred R. Mottahedeh, each coming from a different country and meeting within thirty-six hours of the time that the decision had been taken to convene.
First, the Committee tried to get one of the delegates sitting on the Economic and Social Council to present their case from the floor of the Council. All delegates, except those from Communist or Arab countries, were interviewed and to each a strong appeal was made. At the same time, the Committee pressed for an interview with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Despite days of ceaseless efforts, only the personal sympathy of many of the delegates was won. Each passing day brought news of still more violent attacks on
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the Persian Bahá’ís and the date for the promised massacre drew steadily closer. The Committee redoubled its efforts but without effect. The head of the Human Rights Commission could offer little hope. Though many were friendly and sympathetic, no delegate or organization wished to speak up for the Bahá’ís. The day of the adjournment of the Economic and Social Councilwas drawing near. It was decided to seek the assistance of a competent lawyer to frame the appeal. Mr. Max Habicht was chosen, though at the time, the Committee did not know that it was this same lawyer who had represented the Bahá’ís before the League of Nations.
The appeal, together with the evidence of the persecutions, was presented to the SecretaryGeneral, to all members of the Economic and Social Council who had been interviewed, to the Human Rights Commission, to the Specialized Agencies, and to the international NonGovernmental organizations. A press conference was held and the news of the appeal circulated. The Committee could do no more in Geneva. With hearts made heavy by a sense of their failure to save their Persian brothers from extermination, they left Geneva to return to their native lands to launch a publicity campaign to arouse the public conscience.
A few days before the scheduled massacre, the Committee received the startling news that the Secretary—General, Dag Hammarskjéild, yielding to the pleas of the American delegates and of the High Commissioner for Refugees, Dr. G. J. van Heuven Goedhart, decided to send Dr. Goedhart to meet with Mr. Nasru’lláh Intizém, chief Iranian delegate to the United Nations, and his brother, Mr. ‘Abdu’lláh Intizam, Minister of Foreign Afl‘airs in Train. The meeting took place in Bonn, West Germany, where the two brothers were visiting at the time. Their government had been certain that the United Nations would not intervene to save the Bahá’ís since the provisions of the Charter for upholding human rights and fundamental freedoms were morally, but not legally, binding. The intervention of the SecretaryGeneral astounded the Iranian government. This intervention, the efforts of prominent Bahá’ís in Train, the appeals of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís Of the United States to the American State Department, and the publicity campaign, brought an immediate
Speakers and part of the audience of three hundred who were present at the Bahá’í observance of United Nations Day in Victoria, Seychelles Islands, 1966.
end to the physical persecution and lifted the danger of massacre.
Economic reprisals against the Bahá’ís continued. Bahá’ís who had been summarily dismissed from civilservice or from teaching posts were not restored to their posts. They were still denied the fundamental religious right of assembly for worship, and their centers were still being held by the government. After months of_ attempts by individual Bahá’ís in Ṭihrán and many appeals by the Americans to their State Department, Shoghi Effendi in structed the Bahá’ís to launch another appeal,
to the United Nations.
In July 1956, Dr. Amin Banéni and Mildred Mottahedeh again went to Geneva. They spoke individually with the delegates of the Economic and Social Council, but were unable to get them to present the Bahá’í case. Finally, Dr. Jose Vincente Trujillo, the delegate from Ecuador and Chairman of the Social Commission, opened the session of that Commission with the. following words:
“. . . In regard to prevention of discrimination against religious minorities, we have received many complaints. One of these, which, in my estimate, is of great importance, regards
the curtailment of rights of a religious group in a country whichzis an honored member of the United Nations‘and which has a good record in human rights matters—I am referring to the complaints of a new religious group called the Bahá’ís which have been distributed to the Secretary-General and other delegates. I believe this matter should receive the close attention of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and should receive equal attention with other instances of religious discrimination. This new religion should be respected like all other religions in the world.”1
ENDORSEMENT OF THE GENOCIDE CONVENTION
On April 10th, 1959, representatives of the Bahá’í International Community presented to the President of the Human Rights Commission, Ambassador Gunewardene of Ceylon, a statement endorsing the Genocide Convention. For the second time, the National Spiritual Assemblies representing Bahá’í communities
1 Further details of these appeals and the successful outcome appear in The Bahá‘! World, vol. XIII, pp. 292—296.
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THE Bahá’í FAITH AND THE UNITED NATIONS
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3m w. em
Approximately sixty Bahá’ís participated in the seminar at the United Nations on May 21—22, 1966, sponsored by the UN Committee, for the purpose of increasing their knowledge about the organization and learning how it relates to the Bahá’í Faith. The seminar included a tour of the United Nations, films, slides, lectures and discussion. The keynote address was given by Mr. Erik
‘ Valters, United Nations Information Officer.
located in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, made a joint effort in regard to the United Nations.
Mr. H. Borrah Kavelin, Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahz't’l’s of the United States, made the following statement: “Mr. President, I have the honor and the privilege to present to you, as the keeper of the conscience of the United Nations and therefore of the world at large, documents which represent an act of conscience of my fellow coreligionists of more than eighty countries and territories.
“The resolution they have adopted reads: ‘Since the teaching and practice of the oneness of mankind is the cornerstone of the religion revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, His f ollowers throughout our jurisdiction recognize the vital importance of the Genocide Convention for assuring the protection of small and helpless races and peoples.’
“The Bahá’ís of the world have endorsed the Genocide Convention as an expression of their firmly held conviction of the oneness of mankind and of the human race.
“Nations, races and religious groups are called upon to enrich, through their own inherent gifts, the common treasury of civiliza tion. Therefore, the destruction of any one of them impoverishes the whole of the human race.
“Upon the preservation of this basic noble principle depend all the other efi‘orts of the United Nations. By endorsing the Genocide Convention, the Bahá’ís express, through us, the hope that all the nations of the world will rallyaround this great Convention.”
Ambassador Ratnakirti Gunewardene replied as follows:
“Mr. Kavelin and Members of the Bahá’í International Community: I am greatly impressed by the endorsement of the Genocide Convention by eighty National and Regional Assemblies of the Bahá’ís, coming as they do from countries and territories all over the globe. This is a most powerful expression of world opinion. It makes us feel that our work here in the United Nations is supported indeed not only by the Governments, but by the people themselves.
“The Genocide Convention is a treaty by the people and for the people. It has been ratified by an impressive number of fifty—nine Parliaments for the purpose of protecting not the Governments but the people themselves. It is people who provide the backbone of human history,
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284 THE BAH
3 i WORLD
m 23 5‘ '~ L,
Representatives of more than forty Bahá’í communities participated in the third United Nations
seminar held in New York, May 26—28, 1967. The seminar focused interest on those activities
of the United Nations which relate to improving conditions for the world’s population and to
promoting cooperation between the nations. Fourpromz'nerzt UnitedNations officials highlighted the programme with challenging addresses.
and by destroying them, history itself is interrupted. Millions of innocent men and women perished from genocide throughout the ages, but death did not silence their voices. These voices have awakened and nourished our conscience. It is with the ink of their blood that the Genocide Convention was written by the United Nations. We have now in this Convention a meaningful compact between East and West for the preservation of mankind.
“The Genocide Convention has already made an impact on human consciousness. The word ‘genocide’ carries in itself a moral judgment which the world will not suffer to be circumvented or weakened. To weaken a treaty which deals with the protection of life would mean undermininglife itself. It is for this reason that nations have been unwilling to let the Genocide Convention lose its forcefulness by having its concept included in other documents which are not enforceable. We hope that more nations will ratify the Genocide Convention and will adopt domestic laws against genocide. Let us rededicate ourselves to an affirmation of our belief in this great Convention which is so basic to civilization.”
The Second Indian National Conference of
Non-Governmental Organizations on United Nations Information was held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi, from April 3rd to 5th, 1959. This Conference was opened by the Prime Minister, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, with an address advocating the idea of the oneness of nations of the whole world, thus attaining the federation of all nations.
About one hundred non-governmental organizations of India were represented at this Conference, including political, semi-political, non-political, social welfare, trade unionist and some religious organizations. The Bahá’í Community was represented by Mrs. Shirin Fozdar, Dr. K. K. Bhargava, R. R. Williams, and P. C. Auplish.
Among the most important resolutions passed by the Conference were those on peace, universality, universal education for peace, and a world language. Several resolutions sponsored by the Bahá’í delegates were also passed.
On May 17th and 18th, 1960 the United Nations Office of Public Information, in cooperation with the Executive Committee of the Non-Governmental Organizations, called a meeting at United Nations Headquarters to discuss problems of co-operation “with the
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Mr. Asdrubal Salsmendi, Deputy Director of UNESCO, was the guest speaker at the United Nations Institute held at Bahá’íHalI, Green Acre Summer School, Eliot, Maine, in August 1966. The institute was sponsored by the United Nations C ommittee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís Of the United States and consisted of a series of workshops on the peace-building efforts Of the UnitedNations and the relationship ofthese activities to the Bahá’í Faith.
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United Nations family in so far as its program affects the new nations.” Each organization was invited to nominate two delegates and not more than three observers. In addition, each organization was asked to invite a member of its own executive governing board. Some 400 delegates and observers attended.
The Bahá’í International Community nominated Eugene Moye and Mildred Mottahedeh as delegates and Harriett Wolcott as observer. Charles Wolcott participated as secretary of the Bahá’í International Community.
During the final plenary session the nongovernmental organizations were invited to submit statements regarding their work in the “new nations”. The Bahá’í International Community submitted the following which became part of the record of the conference:
“The Bahá’í International Community, representing the Bahá’ís of over eighty countries in all five continents of the globe, wishes to present a few of its achievements in the new nations.
“Community centres have been established both in rural and urban areas. In the urban areas, vigorous assistance has been provided the primitive peoples enabling them to integrate successfully into these more highly developed societies.
“Since a fundamental principle of the Bahá’í Faith is education for all, schools at various scholastic levels form an important part of a continuously expanding educational programme for adults as well as children.
“Each Bahá’í community endeavors to develop in its members a world point of view leading to a broader understanding of the fundamental oneness of the human race. This serves to eliminate the traditional prejudices between nations, races and religions.
“Since so many of our aims and those of the United Nations are identical, Bahá’í communities all over the world support a vigorous programme explaining the structure and purposes of the United Nations, an important part of which is the annual observance of United Nations and Human Rights Days.
“In the field of Human Rights, the equality of men and women has been firmly established in every Bahá’í community. In many of these communities situated in primitive areas where
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the status of women has been very low, women are now increasingly being elected to serve on governing bodies. Bahá’ís are active in the promotion of all fundamental Human Rights, even to the extent of the sacrifice of their own lives to preserve and uphold these principles on which the ultimate peace and security of all peoples depend.”
During the conference our observers and delegates had many opportunities to meet members of the United Nations Secretariat and members of other non-governmental organ- ' izations. Those attending on behalf of the Bahá’í International Community felt that the 1960 Conference was yet another step in the process of “strengthening our ties with the United Nations,” one of the ten goals which the beloved Guardian had set for the World Center of the Faith during the Ten-Year Crusade.
In 1962, for the second time in the nine—year period covered by this report, persecution of Bahá’ís made it necessary to appeal to the United Nations for redress. This time the events took place in Morocco in the form of arrests and imprisonment of a number of believers on April 12th of that year. It was not until October 3lst, however, that they were finally arraigned before the Regional Court of Nader, and not until December 10th that trial was finally held in the Criminal Court of Nador. Death sentences were imposed upon three, five were sentenced to life imprisonment, and one was sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen years.
As the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations was to close on the evening of the let of December, telegrams were sent to thirty-five delegations appealin g for help under the Genocide Convention, which is a part of International Law. The Bahá’í International Community wrote to U Thant, SecretaryGeneral of the United Nations, and the British United Nations Association, quite independently, cabled U Thant requesting his intervention.1
——Adapted from the report of Mildred R. Mottalzedelz, Bahá’í International Observer at the United Nations.
‘ Further details concerning the Moroccan affair are reported in TheBahá’í World, vol.xm,pp. 288—9.
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May 23, 1955 Mr. Dag Hammarskjo'ld Secretary-General United Nations New York, N. Y.
Dear Mr. Secretary-General:
The Bahá’í International Community, in its capacity of an international nongovernmental organization, submits recommendations for revision of the Charter of United Nations and the Statute of the International Court of Justice.
These recommendations constitute the considered views of the twelve‘ National Bahá’í Assemblies representing the Bahá’ís of Tran, India, Pakistan and Burma, Australia and New Zealand, ‘Irdq, Egypt and Sudan, Germany and Austria, Italy and Switzerland, the British Isles, Canada, Central America, South America and the United States. Their participation unites a wide diversity of national, racial and religious backgrounds in one common concept of the structure needed to establishjustice and peace.
In submitting its recommendations the Bahá’í International Community is concerned with the desperate condition into which the nations and peoples of the world have fallen. The seeds of destruction are sown within as well as without the present membership of United Nations. No minor and legalistic adjustment of the Charter, the Bahá’ís are convinced, can restore the supremacy of moral law in the conduct of human aflairs nor seize control of events from the chaos which engulfs mankind. The Bahá’ís appeal to every enlightened and responsible statesman associated with United Nations to grasp, before it is too late, this providential opportunity to create a political organism commensurate with the new and unprecedented character of the world in our time.
The Bahá’í recommendations are based upon three apparent truths: that real sovereignty is no longer vested in the institutions of the national state because the nations have become interdependent; that the existing crisis is moral and spiritual as well as political ; and that the existing crisis can only be surmounted by the achievement
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of a world order representative of the peoples as well as the nations of mankind.
The Bahá’í concept of world order is defined in these terms: A world Super-State in whosefavor all the nations of the world will have ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. This State will have to include an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the Commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members are elected by the peoples in their respective countries and whose election is confirmed by their respective governments: a Supreme Tribunal whose judgment has a binding efiect even in cases where the parties concerned have not voluntarily agreed to submit their case to its consideration.
Since action by peoples as well as governments is essential, the Bahá’í recommendations include the proposal that consideration of revision by United Nations be accompanied by wide dissemination of the principles of international relations and the calling of peoples’ conventions to register the general will.
Impossible as the achievement of world order may appear to traditionalist or partisan, mankind is passing through a crucial stage likened to that of an individual entering maturity and using new powers and faculties beyond the grasp of irresponsible youth. Unassailable is the position that any lesser international body represents a compromise with the forces of disaster and destruction.
In support of its thesis the Bahá’í’IntemationaI Community presents with this letter an annex citing references to the subject in Bahá’í writings, and an annexproposing specific revisions.
Sincerely, Bahá’í INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
' Since the submission of these Proposals? or Charter Revision the number of National Spiritual Assemblies comprising the Bahá’í International Community has (1968) increased to eighty-one. See Bahá’í Directory, p. 560.
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BAHA’I PROPOSALS TO THE UNITED NATIONS FOR CHARTER REVISION
THE experiences of the last decade have demonstrated the need for certain fundamental changes in the charter of the United Nations if that organization is “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war . . ., reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small; to promote social progress and better standards of living in larger freedom.”
In order to insure the realization of the principles proclaimed in the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, that organization must be given real authority and military power to maintain Peace and uphold international Justice; it must operate in accordance with the principle of equality of nations large and small; it must become the guarantor of human rights, faith in which was so eloquently proclaimed in the Preamble.
The authors of the Charter foresaw a time when its terms would need revision and provided, in articles 108 and 109, for changes and revisions. In this connection, the Bahá’í International Community submits, in addition to its statement of principle, a number of specific and general suggestions listed below.
I. Membership in the United Nations being an indispensable condition for the preservation of international peace, no nation should be allowed to leave the organization. It is therefore proposed that Article 6 of the Charter be amended to read:
A member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be subjected by the General Assembly, upon recommendation of the Security Council, to economic and other sanctions, and, in extreme cases, may be compelled by force to abide by the principles of the Charter.
II. In order to give the General Assembly more freedom of discussion, it is suggested that Article 12 of the Charter and all references to it which occur in any other Article (such as Articles 10, ll, 35, etc.) be eliminated.
111. It is suggested that membership in the General Assembly be apportioned according to some form of proportionate representation and Paragraph 1, of Article 18 of the Charter, be amended accordingly.
IV. The Principle of the equality of nations large and small, proclaimed in the Preamble, must not be disregarded or contradicted in any article of the Charter. Therefore, it is suggested that Article 23 be changed to read:
1. The Security Council shall consist of eleven Members of the United Nations elected by the General Assembly for a term of two years, no retiring member being eligible for immediate re-election.
2. Each member of the Security Council shall have one representative.
All reference to permanent members of the Security Council found in any of the articles of the Charter to be eliminated.
V. In conformity with Article 23 (as revised), Paragraph 2 of Article 27 shall read:
Decisions of the Security Council shall be made by an afi‘irmative vote of seven members; provided that in decisions made under Chapter VI, and under Paragraph 3 of Article 52, a party to the dispute shall abstain from voting.
Paragraph 3 of Article 27 to be eliminated.
VI. The maintenance of peace being a task incumbent upon all members of the United Nations, it is proposed that the first sentence of Paragraph 2, Article 47, be amended to read:
The Military Stafl' Committee shall consist of the Chiefs of Stafir of the members of the Security C ouncil or their representatives.
VII. In the interests of justice, it is proposed that Article 50 be amended to read:
If preventi ve or enforcement measures against any state are taken by the Security Council, any other state, whether a member of the United Nations or not, which finds itself confronted with special economic problems
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arising from the carrying out of those measures, shall have the right to ask the Security Council for a solution of its problems.
VIII. Having been written and adopted during the course of the Second World War, the United Nations Charter at times reflects the feelings and conditions which prevailed then and which do not exist any longer. It is inappropriate to perpetuate the use of the term enemy in relation to certain states which must inevitably cooperate in the establishment and the maintenance of world peace. It is suggested that Paragraph 2 of Article 53, as well as references to “enemy states” in any other article of the Charter, be eliminated.
IX. In the interests of Justice, which is the only principle upon which the edifice of durable peace can be raised it is proposed that the International Court of Justice be given compulsory jurisdiction in all legal disputes between states and Article 35 of the “Statute of the International Court of J ustice” be amended to read:
1. The jurisdiction of the Court comprises all cases and all matters especiallyprovidedfor in the Charter of the UnitedNations or in treaties and conventions inforce.
2. The states parties to the. present Statute
THE BAHA
i WORLD
declare that they recognize as compulsory ipso
facto and without special agreement, the
jurisdiction of the Court in all legal disputes concerning:
a. the interpretation of a treaty;
b. any question of international law;
0. the existence of any fact which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation;
d. the nature or extent of the reparation to be made for the breach of an international obligation;
3. In the event of a dispute as to whether the
Court has jurisdiction, the matter shall be
settled by the decision of the Court.
X. It is recommended that the United Nations adopt a Bill of Rights, which guarantees to every individual freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, and of thought, as well as freedom from racial and religious discrimination, freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, equality of sexes, equality before law, equality of opportunity, and other basic human rights. The individual human being is a spiritual as well as a physical creation and the purpose of society is to provide for the evolution of spiritual qualities in a framework of unity sustained by law.
(See Development of the Relationship Between the Bahd’! Community and the United Nations, 1963—1968.)
