Baha’i delegates Arthur L Dahl and Tahirih Naylor in conversation in Windsor Castle with HRH Prince Philip, ARC Secretary-General Martin Palmer, and UN Secretary-General HE Ban Ki-moon

Is this, as has been suggested, “the biggest civil society movement on climate change in history”?

Representatives of the Bahá’í International Community joined some 200 delegates from nine major faith communities and a range of environmental organisations in Windsor on Monday 2 November  and Tuesday 3 November to commit to long-term practical action to save the environment

The three-day event, which concluded today, was sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), which was founded in 1985 by Prince Phillip.

Leading representatives from the Bahá’í, Buddhist, Christian, Daoist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Shinto and Sikh communities announced a huge range of environmental initiatives to help combat the impact of climate change.

At the heart of the gathering was a ceremony in Windsor Castle during which HRH Prince Philip and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented certificates to representatives of 31 faith-based projects, ranging from the development of an Islamic environmental labelling system and the greening of the Hajj – the Muslim pilgrimage – to the Sikh plan to urge gurdwaras – Sikh temples – to recycle, compost, use green energy, use eco-stoves, start rainwater harvesting, purchase reusable plates and cups.

The Bahá’í representatives presented a plan that focuses on using a system of regional training institutes to encourage within the worldwide Bahá’í community “acts of service related to environmental sustainability.”

“Bahá’ís believe that religious belief and spirituality lie at the foundation of human motivation and behaviour,” said Tahirih Naylor, a Bahá’í International Community representative to the United Nations who was one of two Bahá’í delegates to the Windsor event.

“So we believe that efforts to change harmful human behaviour – such those actions that contribute to global warming or environmental degradation – can be greatly facilitated by processes that lead to a better understanding of our own spirituality, and of humanity’s relationship with nature. And it is also from such understanding that action naturally arises.”

In his speech at the Windsor Castle ceremony, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said,, “I have long believed that when governments and civil society work toward a common goal, transformational change is possible. Faiths and religions are a central part of that equation.

“Indeed, the world’s faith communities occupy a unique position in discussions on the fate of our planet and the accelerating impacts of climate change,” said Mr. Ban.

Delegates also met in a series of plenary sessions and workshops at Windsor’s Harte and Garter Hotel to discuss how they can reach a new level of collaboration in the face of global warming, water shortages, deforestation, and other environmental threats.

“Climate change is complex and dealing with it requires us to change at many levels,” said UN Assistant Secretary-General Olav Kjørven on Monday.

“It requires a change of ethos. Religions have an unparalleled ability to reach out to people at the grassroots and to touch hearts and minds. Religious institutions are the third largest actors in international markets. Environmentally friendly purchasing decisions by them would have a huge impact across the world.”

Tony Juniper, special adviser to the Prince of Wales’ Rainforests Project and former executive director of the Friends of the Earth, likewise emphasized the important role that religions can play.

“Scientific rationalism gave rise to good science, which in turn gave rise to strong political arguments for cleaning up the environment,” said Mr. Juniper,

“As a result, governments dealt with acid rain and other environmental threats. But these changes were only superficial,” he said.

“Purely scientific rationalism cannot change our fundamental understanding of who we are and how we should live. Religion and science must work together to bring about a fundamental transformation in our relationship to the world. This kind of change needs a spiritual foundation,” he said.

Delegates process into Windsor Castle.

The Baha’i World News Service has more on this.

[Picture courtesy of Alliance of Religions and Conservation]

Technorati Tags: ARC, UNDP, Baha’i, Windsor Castle, Prince Philip, environment, climate change, religion, faiths, social action

The Baha’i International Community has become a partner in a UN sponsored programme to address climate change and environmental stability.

According to the Baha’i World News Service, the programme, which is co-sponsored by the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), seeks to promote lifestyle changes that will help slow global warming and other environmental problems during a seven-year period from 2010 to 2017.

Tahirih Naylor, a representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, will join leading members of the world’s other religions at Windsor Castle next week for the formal launch of the ARC/UNDP programme.

“We are very pleased to join with other world religions and with the United Nations in this inspiring initiative to promote lasting change in the way people interact with the environment,” Ms Naylor said.

“The significance of this effort is the manner in which it capitalises on the strengths of faith communities – such as their strong grassroots network and the transformative power of religious belief – to address environmental problems at their foundation, which is human behaviour.

“One of the long-term goals of the Baha’i Faith is to promote the positive transformation of individuals and communities, and to this end we already sponsor thousands of study circles, children’s classes, devotional gatherings, and youth groups in more than 180 countries.

“We look forward to learning more about the efforts of other faith communities and are confident that we can make a useful contribution to this exciting program,” said Ms Naylor.

The 2-4 November Windsor Castle event will be hosted by HRH Prince Philip and will feature a keynote speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

Arthur Lyon Dahl, former UNDP deputy assistant executive director, author and a well-known specialist on coral reefs and biodiversity, will join Ms Naylor in representing the Baha’i International Community at the launch.

More than 200 faith and secular leaders are expected to be present, and many faith groups will announce commitments to practical initiatives, like the Baha’i plan, to meet global environmental challenges.

“The worldwide Baha’i community has long been involved in promoting sustainable development and in creating small-scale projects that include environmental conservation,” Ms Naylor said.

“This initiative is especially exciting because of the way it concretely addresses the underlying attitudes and values that are at the root of many of humanity’s environmental problems.”

Baha’is around the world will be encouraged to explore what the Baha’i sacred writings say about the relationship between humans and the environment and to take practical action as individuals and local communities.

“In our experience, connecting the hearts of people to sacred writings is the best way to provide the motivation for social change and action,” Ms Naylor said.

Baha’is everywhere engage in a coherent framework of action that promotes the spiritual development of the individual and channels the collective energies of the Baha’i community towards service to humanity.

These activities include the systematic study of the Baha’i writings in small groups to build capacity for service, devotional gatherings aimed at connecting the hearts of participants with the Creator; neighbourhood children’s classes that offer lessons that lay the foundations of a noble and upright character; and groups that work to assist young teens to navigate a crucial stage of their lives and become empowered to direct their energies toward the advancement of civilisation.

The full story can be found on the Baha’i World News Service.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, ARC, UNDP, environment, climate change, Windsor Castle, Prince Phillip, Ban Ki-moon

Iran's Baha'i leaders before their arrest

The United States House of Representatives voted yesterday, 22 October, to condemn the Iranian government’s persecution of the Baha’i minority and its continued violation of its international human rights obligations.

According to this story on the US Baha’i community’s website, this is the eleventh congressional resolution since 1982 about the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran.

Commenting on the passage of the resolution by 407 votes to 2, Kit Bigelow, director of external affairs for the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the US, said, “Given current human rights violations against the Iranian citizens, we welcome Congress speaking out again against the persecution of Iran’s largest religious minority”.

The resolution also called on President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to demand the release of religious prisoners, including seven Bahá’í leaders who have been detained for more than a year without a trial—Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm.

Read the rest of this story here. And there are more stories on the Baha’i World News Service.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Iran, United States, House of Representatives, human rights

“The time has come for these seven innocent people to be immediately released on bail,” said Diane Ala’i, the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

“The seven, whose only ‘crime’ is their religious belief, are once again in legal limbo, held with no idea of the legal process ahead of them. The whole charade cries out for an end to their unlawful detention,” she said.

The seven are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm.

Official Iranian news accounts have said the seven are to be accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic.” They have also been charged with “spreading corruption on earth.”

Last week, it appeared likely that the trial would indeed be postponed again, since attorneys for the seven had not yet received the proper writ of notification.

“The fact that their attorneys did not receive proper notification and that there is no new date for the trial is just one among many gross violations of Iran’s own legal procedures, not to mention the violations of due process recognized by international law, that have marked this case from the beginning,” said Ms. Ala’i.

This story is reproduced from the Bahá’í World News Service © 2009 Bahá’í International Community

Technorati Tags: Bahai, Baha’i, Iran, persecution, human rights, religious freedom

The trial of seven imprisoned Bahá’í leaders in Iran is scheduled for Sunday. However, defense lawyers have not received the standard advance notification required under Iranian law.

“It is unclear whether the trial will take place on Sunday, or whether it will be postponed again,” said Diane Ala’i, the  Bahá’í International Community representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

“If the trial does not go ahead, the seven  Bahá’ís should be released on bail, as Iranian law requires,” she said. “They are completely innocent of the accusations against them and should not have been imprisoned in the first place.”

Ms. Ala’i explained that Iranian law requires that attorneys receive a writ of notification at least two business days before any trial takes place. She noted that Friday is not a business day in Iran, and since lawyers have not yet received the notice, it may be an indication that the trial will be delayed again.

The trial for the seven prisoners had originally been scheduled for 18 August. But on 17 August it was postponed to 18 October, after court officials agreed to requests from defense attorneys for more time to prepare, since they had not been given adequate access to the prisoners.

The seven are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm.

All but one of the group were arrested on 14 May 2008 at their homes in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 while in Mashhad. They have been held in Tehran’s Evin prison ever since, spending their first year there without formal charges or access to lawyers.

Official news agencies in Iran say the seven are accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” They also reportedly face charges of “spreading corruption on earth.”

“All of these accusations are absurd and baseless,” said Ms. Ala’i. “Take, for example, the idea that they have been spying for Israel. That stems entirely from the fact that the religious and spiritual center of the  Bahá’í Faith is, through a fact of history, located in Haifa, Israel.

“Just as a Catholic archbishop is expected to communicate with the Vatican, so it is that these seven – with the knowledge of the Iranian government – communicated with their spiritual center, which happens to be in Israel. There is nothing wrong with that.”

A notice saying that 18 August has been set as the trial date was recently sent to Abdolfattah Soltani – a key member of the legal team representing the seven Baha’is who is himself currently detained in Evin prison. The writ of notification was specifically addressed to Mr. Soltani, a well-known human rights lawyer and a principal of the Tehran-based Defenders of Human Rights Centre, which has since last year undertaken to defend the seven Baha’is. Meanwhile, Nobel Laureate Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the senior member of the legal team, remains outside the country.

“The judiciary’s decision to schedule the trial under these circumstances is an effrontery and yet another tactic aimed at depriving the seven Baha’i leaders of competent legal counsel,” said Diane Ala’i, the Bahá’í International Community’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva. “The Iranian authorities know full well who is serving as legal counsel for the Baha’is. Indeed, authorities have several times tried to pressure the seven to change lawyers. It is the height of absurdity to issue a trial notice to a lawyer who has himself been unjustly imprisoned.”

Ms. Ala’i also said that the 18 August trial date could not be taken as firm, noting that the families of the seven had been told in June they were to be tried on 11 July, only to have that date come and go.

Official Iranian news accounts have said the seven Baha’i prisoners are to be accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic”, charges that are rejected completely and categorically.

For more information, go to Baha’i World News Service

Mr Brown’s remarks were made at a meeting which took place this afternoon at the Prime Minister’s office in the Houses of Parliament, attended by Lembit Öpik, MP for Montgomeryshire – who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís group – and a delegation of three Bahá’ís, including two members of the national governing council of the Bahá’í Faith in the United Kingdom.

It was the first ever meeting between a UK Prime Minister and representatives of the Bahá’í community, which was established in Britain in 1898.

The prisoners – five men and two women – were arrested in spring 2008. Prior to their arrest they were members of an informal committee looking after the affairs of Iran’s 300,000 strong Bahá’í community, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. Charges against the seven have been reported in government-controlled mass media as “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities” and “propaganda against the Islamic republic”. A further accusation of “spreading corruption on earth” has also been cited.

For more than a year, the seven have been detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison without charge or access to their legal counsel, the Nobel laureate Dr Shirin Ebadi. Expectations that a trial would take place earlier this week were not realised. Some 30 other Bahá’ís are currently in prison in Iran.

The Bahá’í delegation was led by Dr Kishan Manocha, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom. Also present were the Honourable Barney Leith, Director of Diplomatic Relations for the UK Bahá’í community, and Mrs Bahar Tahzib. Mrs Tahzib – originally from Iran, but now living in Sussex – shared with the Prime Minister her first hand experience of religious persecution. Her father Yusuf Subhani was executed in Iran for being a Bahá’í in June 1980. Her uncle, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, is one the seven detained Bahá’í leaders in Iran.

“My uncle is 75 years old and he has been kept in unsuitable conditions for more than a year,” Mrs Tahzib told the Prime Minister. “This is clearly a cause of great concern for the family and their wish is for a fair trial.”

“I was very touched by the Prime Minister’s genuine expressions of sympathy and concern,” said Mrs Tahzib after the meeting.

“We expressed our gratitude to the Prime Minister for the government’s ongoing support of our persecuted co-religionists in Iran,” added Dr Manocha, “and we particularly thanked Mr Brown for his personal support and understanding. We raised with him the need for the seven Bahá’í leaders to be released immediately – and that if Iran refuses to do this, a public trial must be held that respects internationally recognized trial standards.”

“Recent events in Iran have clearly demonstrated to the world the methods utilized by the government – particularly the manipulation of the judiciary process, to arbitrarily impose its will on those it declares to be its enemies,” said Mr Öpik. “The examples of the case of Roxana Saberi, the protestors picked up on the streets, in their homes and hospital beds, and the arrests of foreign and domestic journalists, among others, illustrate a pattern of arbitrary arrest, coercion, false confessions, baseless charges, and summary judgments.”

“The persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran is a matter of religious prejudice and has nothing to do with state security. The seven – along with the 30 other Bahá’ís currently in prison in Iran – are being held solely because of their religious beliefs. Their imprisonment and impending trial are part of a systematic effort to dismantle the Bahá’í leadership as part of a larger process to destroy the Bahá’í community in Iran,” said Dr Manocha.

In an article published in last Thursday’s edition of The Times, Mrs Blair writes that, in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed Presidential election result, there is a risk that the ongoing threat to the country’s largest non-Muslim religious minority may be overlooked. “They face a very uncertain, dangerous future,” writes Ms Blair.

Read Cherie Blair’s article here

The five men and two women, detained in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since the spring of 2008, helped see to the minimum needs of Iran’s Bahá’í community after all Bahá’í institutions were banned by the Iranian government. Their informal committee was disbanded along with all local-level Bahá’í administrative groups in Iran in March this year. Family members of the seven have recently been told that they will face trial on Saturday 11 July. Spurious allegations made against them include “espionage for Israel”, “insulting religious sanctities”, “propaganda against the Islamic republic” and “spreading corruption on earth.”

“We must urge that the Iranian Government give the leaders of the Bahá’í community a fair trial,” writes Mrs Blair, “and allow independent observers access to ensure this happens. We must also call on Iran to live up to their international obligations to protect all their citizens and allow them to hold and practise their religious beliefs, without discrimination or fear.”

Mrs Blair’s article also pays tribute to Iranian lawyer and Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, who announced that she would defend the Bahá’í prisoners. As a result, Dr Ebadi’s “offices were raided and shut down, angry mobs appeared outside her home and she, and her family, received renewed and serious threats to their safety,” writes Mrs Blair.

“Shirin Ebadi is a courageous woman and a brilliant advocate. But we can not let her carry this burden on her own,” Mrs Blair says.