Bahá’í World/Volume 24/The Bahá’í International Community, 95-96
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THEBAHA’t
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Activities 1995—96
Bahá’ís have been involved with the United Nations (UN) since its inception. Bahá’í representatives were present in San Francisco fifty years ago when the UN Charter was signed, and the first official observer to the United Nations was appointed in 1947. The Bahá’í International Community was granted consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1970 and with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 1976. Over the years, the Bahá’í International Community has become known as an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) actively engaged in efforts to promote the advancement of women, human rights and responsibilities, universal education, and sustainable, participatory approaches to development. The Bahá’í International Community represents more than 5 million people in at least 235 countries and dependent territories and has 174 national and regional affiliates around the world. Its United Nations Office is based in New York with a branch in Geneva, and there are representations to regional UN agencies in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Nairobi, Rome, Santiago, and
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" Vienna. Its Office of Public Information, based at the Bahá’í World Centre and with a branch in Paris, disseminates information about the Bahá’í Faith around the world and oversees the production of an awardwinning quarterly newsletter, One Country. The Bahá’í International Community has in recent years established an Office of the Environment and an Office for the Advancement of Women as
part of its permanent United
General Gillian Sorensen, center, N ati 0 ns Offi C 6.
receives the statement ,
Turning Point for All Nations from Through NGOS hke the Bahá’í Bahd ’z’International Community International Community, the representatives Bani Dugal, left, people Of the world contribute
and TeCheSl‘e Ahdemm, right substantially to the programs and projects carried out under UN auspices. Indeed, one of the great accomplishments celebrated during the United Nations’ fiftieth anniversary year was the steadily increasing participation by civil society in the work of the organization, as anticipated and provided for in the opening words of the UN Charter: “We the peoples of the United Nations.”
United Nations Under-Secretary
High Points
The fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations (UN 50) provided the Bahá’í International Community and many of its national affiliates an occasion for both celebration and reflection.1 Reflection on the challenges ahead for the United Nations took a variety of forms. The Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office produced a major statement entitled T urning Point for All Nations, Which was published as a contribution
1. Celebrations around the world either sponsored or supported by Bahá’í communities and the Bahá’í International Community United Nations Office are covered in an article beginning on p. 159 of this volume.
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to the consultations about the future of the United Nations during the observation of its fiftieth anniversary. The statement reflects on past accomplishments—and shorteomings—of the UN and recommends modifications in the current structure that could equip the organization to meet the challenges that lie ahead.2 On the same theme, invited guests took part in a one-day seminar entitled “Turning Point for All Nations” to reflect on humanity’s collective future. Sponsored by the Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office, the seminar touched generally on the need for reform of the UN but focused on two specific issues: peacekeeping and the need for an international auxiliary language. The two dozen individuals from government
Seminar on Turning
E: Point for All Nations held at the Bahá’í' International Community ’5 ofices at the United Nations I in New York,
18 October 1995.
missions, UN agencies, academia, and nongovernmental organizations who attended the seminar generally agreed that any restructuring of the United Nations would require both a longterm Vision for the organization and a strong partnership between governments and nongovernmental organizations. “We can’t restructure the United Nations without a Vision of where we are going,” said Ruth Engo, Senior Liaison Officer With the office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries in the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, who chaired the afternoon session.
The keynote address by President Amata Kabua of the Marshall Islands set the tone for discussion by acknowledging that the United Nations had entered a new era and by calling for a
2. T urm'ng Point for All Nations is published in its entirety, pp. 241—83.
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response at once pragmatic and principled. “The immutable law of change and decay necessitates the need for the United Nations to dispassionately examine its performance, revise its aims, and reassess its structures in a genuine search for practical and long lasting solutions,” said President Kabua. “There is no Choice. The current political landscape is vastly different from that of fifty years ago. There is now more than a threefold increase in the number of nations with membership in the United Nations. The rapidly increasing desire on the part of Civil society and corporations to become more fully engaged in the change process itself has added a prominent dimension to the nature of active agencies in the field.”
UN Under—Secretary General Gillian Sorensen, who oversaw the United Nations’ fiftieth anniversary oommemorations, welcomed ideas for reform, assuring participants that new ideas represented an “opportunity and not a threat” to the organization. The morning session was chaired by J ohn Biggar, first secretary of the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN.
Three presentations laid the groundwork for the consultation. First, Virginia Strauss, executive director of the Boston Research Center for the let Century, gave an overview of current proposals for UN restructuring. Her talk focused on the response to the recent book, Our Global Neighborhood, the report of the Commission on Global Governance. Next, Brian Lepard, an assistant professor of law at the University of Nebraska, reviewed the successes and failures of UN peacekeeping operations over the last 50 years and pointed to the need for public support for a UN force that can respond quickly and impartially to global crises. Finally, Jeffery S. Gruber, a professor of linguistics at the University of Québec, explored how a universal auxiliary language, promoted under UN auspices, could help address the underlying sources of conflict, poverty, and miscommunication that so challenge the international community today.
The concerns of women also emerged as an important theme in the ensuing discussions. “In all the conflicts in the world today, it is men who made the decision in the conflicts and women who are the sufferers,” said Misrak Elias, senior advisor,
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women’s development program, UNICEF. “What would make the force effective and useful is the degree to Which women are decision makers.” Ms. Elias and others urged that any restructuring of the UN also address underlying issues of conflict. “When I look at issues of peace and Violence,” Ms. Elias continued, “it is clear to me that conflict among nations has to be closely related to conflict in the country and conflict in the family.”
Other participants stressed the practical importance of having a standing force that can step in quickly When efforts to prevent conflict fail. Participants agreed that NGOs have a special responsibility to contribute to a long-term Vision for the UN Which is based on efforts to eradicate the underlying sources of conflict—Whether poverty, human rights Violations, or misunderstanding. It is anticipated that this event Will be followed by other seminars designed to provide a forum for discussions on the key issues facing humanity at the end of the 20th century.
Human Rights
The protection of human rights, particularly those of Bahá’ís in various parts of the world, is an important part of the work of the Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Offices in New York and Geneva.3 Protection, however, is only half the work; the other half is the promotion of human rights, including human rights education. Among the human rights issues With Which the Bahá’í International Community is actively involved are those of the child, of women, and of minorities, including indigenous people; freedom of religion or belief; and the elimination of racism, genocide, torture, and extreme poverty. During 1995—96 representatives of the Bahá’í International Community attended and monitored annual sessions of the SubCommission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in Geneva and the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, presenting statements to these bodies on human rights education; the rights of minorities; and economic,
3. Developments during the past year in the human rights situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran are treated at length in a separate article on pp. 139—44 of this volume.
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social, and cultural rights. The Bahá’í International Community also cosigned joint statements on the rights of the child, freedom of religion and belief, the girl child, human rights defenders, and extreme poverty. During the 1995 session of the UN General Assembly in New York, representatives attended sessions of the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which is charged with overseeing human rights activities.
Public Information The Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information undertook a variety of initiatives during 1995—96. One of the most extensive projects was preparation of materials for an authoritative site for the Bahá’í International Community on the Internet’s World Wide Web, to be launched in the summer of 1996.
As a follow—up to the release of its statement T he Prosperity ofHumankind in J anuary 1995, the Office of Public Information provided advice to various national Bahá’í communities around the world on issues connected to the statement, and the Paris office conducted several seminars on the topic. A program was also launched for the dissemination of a scholarly resource on the Bahá’í Faith by William P. Collins, entitled Bibliography of EngliSh—Language Works on the Bde' and Bahd ’z' Faiths, 18441985, to some 1,500 major libraries around the world.
In Haifa, the office facilitated 145 Visits of some 2,200 dignitaries, media representatives, and other special Visitors to the Bahá’í World Centre during the year. Elsewhere, the Office coordinated public relations efforts connected to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and conducted training sessions on public relations in preparation for the Habitat 11 conference on human settlements in Istanbul, Turkey. It also arranged international coverage on the Bahá’í Faith in various media over the course of the year and disseminated public information materials to Bahá’í communities around the world.
The Paris office facilitated a series of public information training seminars, exploring ways in which Bahá’í communities can address the needs of society, particularly in the communities in which they live. These seminars occurred in the Czech
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Republic, Albania, Canada, Greece, and Turkey. The largest one, in Prague, was attended by representatives of 29 European National Assemblies. The Paris office also collaborated with numerous National Assemblies on other public relations proj ects, was responsible for the French translation of materials, and made a number of approaches to the French government concerning the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran and other human rights issues.
Representatives of the office assisted the Bahá’í community of Greece in arranging commemorations of United Nations Human Rights Day in Athens and in Bucharest, Romania, and facilitated the participation of a Bahá’í International Community representative at the Workshop Worldwatch conference in Bucharest in March 1996, held under the patronage of the President of Romania, Mr. Ion Iliescu.
During 1995—96, One Country, a quarterly newsletter produced by the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information, entered its seventh year of publication. Published in six languages—English, French, Chinese, Russian, German, and Spanish—it was circulated to more than 30,000 people in some 170 countries in all of its editions. One Country is distributed to individuals and organizations with a demonstrated interest in international affairs, sustainable development, human rights, the advancement of women, and the creation of a peaceful and just world.
This year One Country carried major news stories on the Summit on the Alliance between Religions and Conservation, the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, and the Fourth International Dialogue on the Transition to a Global Society. It also had feature stories on Bahá’í—sponsored social and economic development projects in Zambia, Bolivia, and Kenya. The story on the Summit on Religions and Conservation in the English edition was recognized with an APEX ’95 Award for Publications Excellence by Communications Concepts in the newsletter writing category. The Religious Public Relations Council, an international association of religious communicators, also recognized One Country with awards for editorial writing and feature writing during the year.
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Environment, Development, and Global Prosperity
At Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom, a Bahá’í delegation joined religious leaders representing nine major faiths at a ground—breaking Summit on Religions and Conservation. The representatives discussed among themselves and with key officials from several major secular institutions how the world’s religious communities might become more involved in protecting and preserving the earth’s environment.
This auspicious gathering, held from 29 April to 4 May 1995, was the second session of the Summit on the Alliance between Religions and Conservation, sponsored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Pilkington Foundation, and MOA International, a Japanese humanitarian foundation. The first session was held three weeks earlier in Japan.4 Prominent representatives from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, J ainism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism, and the Bahá’í Faith were invited to attend. By one count, the assembled leaders represented more than two billion religious adherents—roughly one third of the earth’s population.
The Bahá’í delegation was headed by Amatu’l—Baha Rúḥíyyih Khánum and included Kimiko Schwerin, International Counsellor, and Lawrence Arturo, director of the Office of the Environment. Arthur Dahl attended as a representative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s talk, Which covered theology, history, environment, the importance of involving children in the work of conservation, and the need for a world parliament, opened the way for substantial Bahá’í contributions during the three days of discussions between secular leaders and the various religious representatives. The discussions produced concrete results, including a plan for religious communities to collaborate with UNEP in monitoring changes in the local environment; and agreements for meetings between religious leaders and key directors of the World Bank, major industrialists, and global broadcasters, both public and commercial.
The 1995 Summit was called primarily to assess the work
4. See The Bahd ’2' World 1994—95, pp. 148—49, for a report of that meeting.
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done since 1986 when the WWF convened what was perhaps the first major international interfaith meeting on environmental issues. At that gathering in Assisi, Italy, representatives from five major religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam—created the Network on Conservation and Religion. In 1987 the Bahá’í Faith joined the network; in 1988, the Sikhs and J ains also became members; and at this meeting the Taoists were welcomed into membership.
“The crucial point of why we held the Summit,” explained Martin Palmer, director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture (ICOREC), which organized the Summit on behalf of the three sponsors, “is that some religionsand the Bahá’ís would stand as a notable example here, along with the Buddhists and some Christian groups—have done a tremendous amount of work in promoting conservation since Assisi. They have been busy creating new offices, funding proj ects, and producing material for their schools.” A major goal of the Summit was to stimulate other religions into action. The final statements of the nine faiths including their action plans were bound and distributed by the WWF.
The Office of the Environment was also heavily engaged in
Hand of the Cause of God Amatu ’l—Bahd Rdhz’yyih anum, center, with Buddhist representative Kushok Bakula, left, and Xie Zongxing Ofthe T aoist religion, at the Summit on the Alliance between Religions and Conservation.
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preparations for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) scheduled for June 1996 in Istanbul. At the international level, the Office participated in sessions of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the UN conference, where the draft agenda for Habitat II (the Statement of Principles and Commitments and Global Plan of Action) was negotiated; at the national level in Turkey, the Office supported the efforts of the National Spiritual Assembly of Turkey to assist the UN and the NGO organizing committee to prepare for the conference and NGO Forum in June.
Bahá’í participation in the third and final session of the PrepCom, which was held in New York City in February, was marked by a new level of involvement. Although NGOS with consultative status have for a long time been involved in shaping UN programs, documents, and processes, their participation in government meetings has often been strictly constrained, with genuine interaction confined to caucuses and working groups. At this PrepCom, however, as with the second PrepCom in Nairobi, local authorities and NGOs were allowed to offer text from the floor on each paragraph as governments negotiated the specific language of the conference documents. This process was not always smooth, but Dr. Wally N’Dow, the Secretary General of the conference, did not allow the PrepCom to retreat from this procedure even in the face of governmental opposition. The Bahá’í International Community distributed suggested changes to the text of the draft HabitatAgenda along with Bahá’í International Community publications The Prosperity ofHumankind and World Citizenship: A Global Ethic for Sustainable Development.
At least 14 Bahá’ís took part, including representatives of the European Bahá’í Youth Council, Health for Humanity, and the National Spiritual Assemblies of Brazil, Turkey, and the United States. Bahá’ís actively participated in numerous caucuses including those on family, human rights, Latin America, peace, rights of the child, sustainable societies, urban—rural linkages, the US citizens’ network, values, and youth. Many of these caucuses adopted text suggested by Bahá’ís participating in their deliberations.
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Advancement of Women
The Office for the Advancement of Women was deeply involved ' in the process leading up to and including the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the parallel NGO Forum in Huairou. Held in September 1995, twenty years after the United Nations convened its first global conference on women in Mexico City, the conference and the accompanying forum for nongovernmental organizations drew more than 500 Bahá’í women and men from around the world.5
As part of the preparations for the Conference in Beijing, a survey of the participation of women in Bahá’í community life—the third such survey in 20 years—was conducted by the Bahá’í International Community’s Office for the Advancement of Women. The survey found that the percentage of women in positions of leadership in the Bahá’í Faith compares favorably With the percentage of women in positions of political leadership worldwide. Women compose on average about 30 percent of the elected membership of national—level Bahá’í governing councils and some 47 percent of the membership in special Bahá’í appointed positions for the sub-national and regional level. The average percentage of women members in the world’s parliaments is about ten percent, according to the Inter-Parhamentary Union.
While these percentages fall short of an idealized 50 percent, they reflect the earnest efforts of a highly diverse worldwide community to live up to and put into practice a religious value that often runs counter to traditions and culture. “The equality of women and men is a cardinal principle for Bahá’ís,” said Rebequa Getahoun, one of the team that conducted the survey for the Office for the Advancement of Women. “The fact that women compose an average of 30 percent of our elected governing councils at the national level shows the degree to Which Bahá’íswwho use secret ballots when votingmhave already begun to overcome traditional prejudices.”
5. See pp. 145—68 for a full report of these activities. The text of the Bahá’í International Community statement distributed to all delegates at the Conference is on pp. 285—87.
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“Further,” Ms. Getahoun continued, “the fact that appointed positions d0 approach a 50/50 ratio shows that the community’s leadership is making an earnest effort to further combat the trends in society at large.” A report of the results of the survey appear in a book, The Greatness Which Might Be T heirs: Reflections on the Agenda and Platform for Action for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women: Equality, Development and Peace. Published by the Office for the Advancement of Women, this compilation of essays and Bahá’í International Community statements offers a Bahá’í perspective on nine of the twelve topics on the agenda of the conference in Beijing. Distributed in Beijing in English and Chinese, it is now available in both French and Spanish as well.
Around the world, national Bahá’í communities are promoting the advancement of women as an effort to influence the processes toward peace. Offices for the Advancement of Women have been established in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Puerto Rico. With support from the Bahá’í International Community’s Office for the Advancement of Women, national Bahá’í communities are strengthening relations with their governments, UN agencies, and organizations of civil society by advancing this principle.
Recently the crisis in the family has drawn the attention of governments and NGOS alike. On this topic, 1995 saw the release of a publication entitled The Violence-Free Family: Building Block of a Peaceful Civilization, the text of which is based on the keynote address by HE. Danesh, M.D., t0 the Symposium on Strategies for Creating Violence—Free Families, an event initiated in 1994 by the Bahá’í International Community and cosponsored by UNICEF and UNIFEM. The book, an Association for Bahá’í Studies publication, was distributed widely at the Fourth World Conference on Women, to all UN missions in New York, and to all Bahá’í National Assemblies.
Building on the success of last year’s symposium in New York, a number of spin—off seminars on Creating Violence—Free Families have been held at the national and regional levels. For example, the Bahá’í community of Antigua, in collaboration
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with UNIFEM, cosponsored a symposium in May 1995, at which 31 participants, including representatives of 11 Caribbean nations and UNICEF, gathered to consult on strategies for eradicating fami1y Violence. The Bahá’í community reported heartening resu1ts: “One participant shared afterwards that all her life she has been angry, fighting injustice, and that she dreads meetings about Vio1ence against women because they reactivate her anger. At this meeting, she added, she rea1ized for the first time that love was a much more effective way to address the problem, and that this is the first meeting on this subject that she is leaving with a sense of hope.”
One effort made in a number of communities to change family dynamics has been the Traditional Media as Change Agent proj ect, which seeks to improve the status of women by changing the attitudes and behavior of men. The proj eet was undertaken in Bolivia, Malaysia, and Cameroon, with funds from UNIFEM. The first phase of the proj ect was completed in 1993, and responsibility for the second phase of the project was transferred to national communities. In Cameroon, part of the second phase was a formal evaluation which found evidence in proj ect Villages that men have begun assisting their wives with tasks usually considered to be women’s work, that women are becoming more involved in community affairs, and that beliefs about male and female attributes related to work and making decisions are changing. Further, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) funded a mill for grinding grain to ease the burden of work borne by women.
Because of its ongoing involvement in deve1opment in many parts of Africa, the Bahá’í InternationaI Community was one of a select group of NGOs invited to participate in the midterm review of the United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s to take place in September 1996. When asked to submit a report on exemplary Bahá’í development projects in Africa, the Bahá’í International Community selected two: the Traditiona1 Media as Change Agent project in Cameroon and the Masethla Institute in Zambia, which operates the Banani Rural Secondary School for Girls.
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Meetings
Meetings and UN sessions monitored by the Bahá’í International Community during 1995—96 included the Commission 011 Sustainable Development in New York; the Commission on the Status of Women in New York; the Substantive Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council; the meeting of the UNICEF Executive Board in New York; and Flaming Meetings of the Second Biennial Session of the Youth Forum of the United Nations System in New York and in Brussels.
Much of the work of NGOs in consultative status is carried out through NGO committees which address specific issues. During this last year, a Bahá’í International Community representative chaired the New York NGO Committee on Human Rights and another chaired the New York NGO Committee on the Family.
Conclusion
The Bahá’í International Community, working with National Spiritual Assemblies around the world, undertook numerous and varied activities during 1995—96, mainly focusing on women, the environment, and human rights. Certain highlights, such as the F ourth World Conference on Women, the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, the Summit on the Alliance between Religions and Conservation, marked the year, but numerous other endeavors, enacted on a smaller scale in various parts of the globe, also helped the Bahá’í International Community pursue its cherished goal of promoting the establishment of a peaceful planetary civilization.
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