§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) when Her Majesty's Government last made representations on behalf of the human rights of the Baha'is faith people of Iran; and if he will make a statement; [96980]
(2) when the Permanent Representative of the United Nations last spoke on behalf of the human rights of the Baha'is faith people of Iran; and if he will make a statement; [96983]
(3) when the Permanent Representative of the European Union last spoke on behalf of the human rights of the Baha'is people of Iran; and if he will make a statement. [96982]
§ Mr. HainIran is aware of our serious concern about the Baha'is. Persecution of individuals on religious grounds is totally unacceptable. We and our EU partners regularly press the Iranian authorities on this issue. I personally raised our concerns during a call by the Iranian Ambassador on 4 August. The EU regularly press the Iranian authorities over the plight of the Baha'is, most recently the Germany Presidency did so at the latest EU/Iran talks in May. I assured Barnabas Leith, Secretary General of the UK Baha'is Community of our continue support when we met on 18 October.
189WThe 1998 report on Human Rights in Iran by UN Special Representative Maurice Copithorne was particularly critical of Iranian treatment of the Baha'is. We expect his 1999 report to contain similarly critical language. We and our EU partners sponsored a Resolution on Human Rights in Iran at the 1999 UN Commission on Human Rights; this was adopted on 23 April and reaffirmed international concern about the Baha'is plight. We expect that a further resolution, also sponsored by the EU and containing equally firm language on the Baha'is, will be adopted at the current session of the United Nations General Assembly.