Bahá’í World/Volume 29/The Bahá’í International Community, Activities 2000-01

The Bahá’í World
Volume 29

THE Bahá’í

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Activities 2000—01

e Bahá’í International Community represents, at the United Nations and at other international gatherings, the more than five million Bahá’ís living in some 236 countries and dependent tern'tories around the world. Its 182 national and regional administrative bodies are engaged in a wide range of activities aimed at promoting a just and peaceful society. In recent years, Bahá’í International Community activities at the local, national, and international levels have centered on four maj 0r themes—human rights, moral development, the advancement of women, and global prosperity.

The Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office and its Office of Public Information play complementary roles in this work. The United Nations Office offers Bahá’í perspectives on global issues, supports UN programs, and has been assisting its national affiliates to engage in shaping policies and programs that will promote progress toward global peace and prosperity in their own countries. The Office of Public Information disseminates information about the Bahá’í Faith around the world,

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oversees production of the award—winning newsletter One Country, and maintains the official Web site of the Bahá’í International Community.

United Nations

The Bahá’í International Community (BIC) has consistently supported the social and educational objectives of the United Nations (UN) since its inception and has been formally affiliated with the UN since 1947. The BIC was granted special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1970, the first year such status was granted to international NGOs. Consultative status with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was accorded in 1976, and with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in 1989; that same year, the BIC established a working relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO). The BIC has United Nations Offices in New York and Geneva and maintains representations to United Nations regional commissions in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, and Santiago, and t0 the UN offices in Nairobi, Rome, and Vienna. Its Office of the Environment, established in 1989, and its Office for the Advancement of Women, established in 1992, function as adjuncts Of the United Nations Office. Over the course of the last decade, the Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office has increasingly encouraged its national affiliates to expand their work with the United Nations in their own countries and regions, focusing most recently on the Decade for Human Rights Education.

Human Rights

The Bahá’í International Community’s Human Rights Education Campaign is a natural extension of the Bahá’í commitment to justice and the belief that without a profound emphasis on human rights and responsibilities the cherished goal of creating a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world order will remain beyond our grasp. Human rights and responsibilities were, in fact, the subject of the first formal Bahá’í statement to the UN, delivered in 1947. Subsequent statements have elaborated the Bahá’í position on a wide variety of related issues, including such evils as

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racism, the subject of a major global UN conference to be held in South Africa in September 2001.

Preparations for the World Conference against Racism have been monitored by the Bahá’í International Community, which has participated in preparatory meetings held in Geneva in May 2000, and in J anuary and March 2001. It is also one of the twelve NGOs on the Coordinating Committee for the Conference and its NGO F orum. Representatives of National Spiritual Assemblies attended all Regional Preparatory Meetings for the conference, except in Asia; that conference was held in Iran, where the Iranian government refused to issue visas for the members of the BIC delegation.

While promoting human rights generally, the Bahá’í International Community has also sought to defend the right of Bahá’ís throughout the world to practice their Faith, making effective use of the United Nations’ human rights machinery. For more than twenty years, the Bahá’í International Community has sought to ease the suffering of the Bahá’í community in Iran, whose situation remains perilous to this day.1

The ability of National Spiritual Assemblies to intervene effectively has been enhanced by training seminars focused on coordinating efforts to defend the Faith and on strengthening the diplomatic skills of those charged with representing the Bahá’í community to their governments. The fifth such annual training session was held in September in Acuto, Italy.

This year the Bahá’í International Community was compelled to expose the persecution of Bahá’ís in yet another nation: Egypt, where several Bahá’ís were imprisoned this year.2

Human Rights Education Initiative

The Bahá’í International Community’s global campaign to support the UN Decade for Human Rights Education, 1995—2004, has attracted the participation of national Bahá’í communities. The campaign began with the publication of a 109-page human rights

' For information about the situation of the Bahá’í community in Iran, see the article on pp. 131411 and the statement on pp. 253—56.

3 For information about the situation of the Bahá’í community in Egypt, see the statement on pp. 257—60.

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education resource manual in 1997, followed by a series of regional training sessions, which involved nearly one hundred national Bahá’í communities. Sixty-two national communities have established offices for external affairs, 44 have developed a national plan for human rights education, and 50 have already undertaken some activities. In addition, 39 reported having conducted in—eountry training for those who, in support of the Decade, Will interact with government officials and NGOS, either nationally or locally.

Human rights education projects undertaken by national Bahá’í communities as part of this campaign emphasize, for the most part, cooperation with government agencies, UN offices, and other NGOS rather than unilateral action. Some communities have been invited to take part in national planning processes for the Decade or for the thematically related International Year for the Culture of Peace. Others have cosponsored conferences and seminars on human rights education; still others have assisted in the distribution of the UN Declaration on Human Rights to police departments, civic organizations, and schools. Several other communities have begun working toward the inclusion of moral education and human rights education in school curricula. Sharing Bahá’í statements on such related topics as world citizenship has helped some communities to engage government officials in discussions about the value of human rights education.

The Bahá’í International Community’s role in supporting these national efforts has included the distribution of issues of the Human Rights Education Newsletter, carrying news of diplomatic and training successes fiom around the world.

Advancement of Women

Throughout this year the Bahá’í International Community has continued to encourage the formation of national Offices for the Advancement of Women and to respond to requests for materials, advice, and guidance. At the last count, 58 national communities had created such offices—many others have committees or task forces—to assist National Spiritual Assemblies in their efforts to promote the full participation of women both in the life of the

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Bahá’í community and in the world at large. Through its newsletter, the BIC’s Office for the Advancement of Women stays in communication with national offices, NSAs, Bahá’í agencies, and individual Bahá’ís involved in promoting the equality of women and men. This year’s newsletter carried news about relevant UN activities, opportunities for involvement in upcoming regional UN initiatives, the latest Web sites and Internet resources, and stories from around the world about projects undertaken by Bahá’í communities to improve the status of women.

At the UN, the BIC’s Office for the Advancement of Women continued to monitor sessions of the General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women, and a variety of other UN bodies addressing the position of women. The BIC was present at the UN General Assembly’s special session, known informally as Beijing Plus Five, which was called to evaluate progress in implementing the platform for action adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. This special session, entitled “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the let Century,” established the agenda for the work of the Commission on the Status of Women for the next five years: namely, to oversee the “mainstreaming of a gender perspective” into future policy and program planning. This means considering the impact on both women and men of all plans, policies, and programs developed by governments and other institutions, the goal being to ensure that women and men benefit equally and that inequality is not perpetuated.

The welfare of children has been an important focus of activity for the BIC this year, and the Office for the Advancement of Women participated in the first substantive session of the Preparatory Committee for the September 2001 special session of the UN General Assembly—a follow up on the World Summit for Children. In connection with that event, it participated in an interreligious consultation entitled “Global Movement for Children: The Role of Religions” sponsored by UNICEF and the World Conference on Religion and Peace. While serving on the NGO Committee on UNICEF, the BIC has played a role in a major

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decentralization effort, underway for several years, aimed at empowering national and regional NGOs to work more closely with regional UNICEF offices on behalf of children. The plan to create nine regional NGO committees on UNICEF came to fruition this yean

The BIC’s Office for the Advancement of Women has also assumed a number of responsibilities within the NGO community at the UN. It cohosted a reception with the NGO Committee on UNIFEM in conjunction with the session of the UN committee monitoring implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The reception honored the members of the committee as well as UNIFEM’s NGO representative trainees and UNIFEM’s regional program advisors. The BIC cochaired, for the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, the planning group for NGO Consultation Day at the Commission. The BIC also continued to serve as convenor for the Advocates for African Food Security: Lessening the Burden for Women.

Environment and Development

Receptivity to a spiritual perspective on development, championed by the Bahá’í International Community at the UN for fifty years, has been growing during the last five years. Discussions about the relationship between spiritual and material development continued for the fourth year among development experts and spiritual leaders fiom nine major religions, including the Bahá’í Faith, under the banner of the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD). These consultations, sponsored by the president of the World Bank and the archbishop of Canterbury, now include the International Monetary Fund as a partner. Several ideas submitted by the BIC were incorporated into the official WFDD submission to the drafters Of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2000/2001. Likewise, a striking convergence of thinking among government representatives and members of civil society was observed at Copenhagen Plus F ive, the UN General Assembly special session called to evaluate progress since the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. Virtually all in attendance acknowledged that

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the problems of humanity are interconnected and can only be resolved through consultation, respect for basic human freedoms, the advancement of women, universal education, and an integrated approach to human development. The parallel NGO F orum drew some four thousand participants from civil society, including members of the European Bahá’í Youth Council and the European Bahá’í Business Forum, both of whom had displays and sponsored seminars. The National Spiritual Assemblies of Switzerland and the United Kingdom sent representatives to the UN session, as did the Bahá’í International Community.

One of the most remarkable documents produced by civil society in recent years is the Earth Charter, which was completed this year after a 10-year, highly participatory consultative process in which Bahá’ís took an active part. The final Earth Charter incorporated text offered by the Bahá’í International Community. Another project that began with the Earth Summit was brought to completion this year. The Peace Monument, a gift to the people of Brazil from the National Spiritual Assembly of Brazil and the BIC UN Office, on the occasion of the Earth Summit, was formally sealed after the last contribution of soil was poured into its core.

Millennial Activities

The Bahá’í International Community’s United Nations Office was actively involved in the three major millennial events which took place at the UN this year: the NGO Millennium Forum, the World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, and the Millennium Summit.3

Meetings

The Bahá’í International Community chaired three NGO committees and three NGO task forces this year: the NGO committees on UNIFEM, Freedom of Religion or Belief, and Human Rights; and

the NGO task forces on UN Reform, UN-NGO Relations, and Restructuring the NGO Committee on UNICEF. Meetings and UN

3 For a fill] report of the Bahá’í International Community’s involvement in the Millennium Forum, the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, and the Millennium Summit, see pp. 87—93. Also see the statements on pp. 23541 and 243=47.

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sessions monitored by the Bahá’í International Community this year, other than those already mentioned, include the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the UN General Assembly entitled “World Summit for Social Development and Beyond: Achieving Social Development for All in a Globalized World”; the ninth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development; the 39th session of the Commission for Social Development; the substantive session of ECOSOC; the 56th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; the 23rd and 24th sessions of CEDAW; the 53rd World Health Assembly; as well as meetings of the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the Committee 011 the Rights of the Child, and the UNICEF/WHO Joint Committee on Health Policy; the UNICEF Executive Board; and the Executive Committee of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Program.

Public Information Based at the Bahá’í World Centre in Haifa, Israel, with a bureau in Paris, the Bahá’í International Community’s Office of Public Information coordinates and stimulates public information work throughout the worldwide Bahá’í community.

From 21 April 2000 to 21 April 2001, the Office arranged more than 200 special visits for some 3,308 non-Bahá’í dignitaries, leaders of thought and prominent people from 71 countries. Visitors included government officials, diplomats, religious leaders, professors, researchers, educators, students, writers, j ournalists, film crews, tour operators, business people, and members of civil society and non-government organizations.

Visitors from Israel’s government included seven members of the Knesset, the ambassador of Israel to the Czech Republic, the former Israeli ambassador to Brazil, the former Israeli ambassador to Fiji; the director of the budget division of the Ministry of Finance; Haifa city councillors; and mayors from various cities in Israel.

Other government ministers and officials who Visited included the first lady of the Ukraine; the minister of transport of

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the Ukraine; the president of the All-Ukrainian Charity Fund “Hope and Kindness”; China’s minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission; the foreign minister of India; the New Zealand minister of research, science and technology; the foreign minister and the deputy foreign minister of the Czech Republic; the speaker of the Namibian government’s National Assembly; a member of the New Zealand Parliament; two members of the German Parliament; a senator of the Republic of Ireland; the director of the CIS division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hungary; and the Slovenian ambassador to the Czech Republic.

The Office also received ambassadors from Australia, Belgium, China, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, the Republic of Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Singapore, the Ukraine, the United States, and Yugoslavia.

Film crews, journalists, and photographers from Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Norway, Russia, the UK, and the US, representing local and national print, radio and TV media, Visited.

In addition to these Visits, public tours for some 2,050 people were arranged during a two-month period in 2000, in collaboration with the Haifa Tourist Board. This was a special one-time project in response to the Tourist Board’s request for assistance in supporting the local economy by promoting tourism to Haifa. Special arrangements were made for these Visitors to have a guided walk from the 19th terrace t0 the Shn'ne of the Bab in advance of the opening of the upper terraces t0 the public.

The Bahá’í World Web site,4 now in its fifth year, averaged approximately fifty thousand Visits per month in early 2001. The site underwent a redesign and relaunch in the spring of 2000. In the past four years, the English sections have approximately doubled in volume and the principal sections of the site are now available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese, with a Persian version planned for the near future. In November 2000, the Web site for the Bahá’í World News Service

4<www.bahai.0rg>; for more information, see also pp. 1 15—18.

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was launched.5 The site offers feature stories about the worldwide Bahá’í community.

The Paris branch of the Office of Public Information continued its monthly publication of the European Public Information Bulletin, which chronicles the public information activities of Bahá’í communities throughout Europe. Both the Haifa headquarters and the Paris branch of the Office, working with a network of national public information officers in Bahá’í communities throughout the world, were involved in preparing press releases, holding training seminars for public information officers, and liaising with media regarding the opening of the Terraces on Mount Carmel.

The eighth European Public Information Management Seminar was held in Acute, Italy, from 30 March to 1 April 2001 for European public information officers, with some 70 participants from 31 European countiies and two F rench-speaking countries in Afn'ca and the Indian Ocean.

The Paris Office continued to support the Royaumont Process project “Promoting Positive Messages through the Media,” initiated by the European Union to promote stability and good relations among countries in Southeastern Europe.6 During 2000—01, the process continued, with follow-up activities and assessment of pilot programs in schools in Romania. In Bulgaria, the Office created two TV programs for TV Rousse in collaboration with UNICEF. Discussion and preparation of the launch of the project in Kosovo was initiated at the request of the Office of Bernard Kouchner, former special representative of the secretary-general Of the United Nations and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

One Country, the official newsletter of the Bahá’í International Community, entered its twelfth year of publication. Published quarterly in English, French, German, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian, it

5 <www.bahaiworldnews.0rg> " See The Bahá’í World 1998—99, pp. 145—50, for a report on the Bahá’í International Community’s involvement in the Royaumont Process.

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reaches more than fifty thousand readers in at least 180 countries. Its Web site7 received an average of two hundred Visits per day.

During 2000—01, One Country won two prizes in the Apex 2001 Awards for Publication Excellence. “Reshaping God’s Holy Mountain,” which appeared in the July-September 2000 issue and tells the story behind the construction of the new garden terraces on Mount Carmel, won an award in the feature writing category. One Country also won an Award of Excellence for its on—line version.

Other articles covered the United Nations Millennium Summit and its companion conferences. In addition to a full report on the Summit itself, One Country wrote extensively about the Millennium Forum, held by NGOs at the UN in May 2000, as well as the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in August. As well, the launch in November 2000 of the Bahá’í International Community’s new agency, the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity, was the subject of a major article.

F eature stories in One Country included a report on the Ruaha Secondary School in Tanzania and a story about three white families in the US who moved into largely black neighborhoods to consciously promote race unity.

7 <www.onecountry.org>

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