Baha’i school children in Iran continue to be harasses and abused by the school authorities and classmates.
Baha'i school children in Iran live in a culture of no regards for humanity and human rights and with fear of harassment and abuse by government and school officials
The important question we can ask is: what can I and should I do to make the crooked right? Following is some suggestions for action:
- Write letters to your government officials wherever you are in the world and to the government officials of the Islamic Republic Regime to stop their harassment and show regards and respect for the human rights of their citizens.
- Blog about it and educate others to blog about it and use the social media like Face Book to create global awareness and support.
- Draw pictures and create cards of love and support and send it to us to be posted on Drawing the Circle of Unity in the support of the human rights of the Baha’i children in Iran.
- Write papers about the condition of human rights for the Baha’is in Iran especially the school children.
- Make a poster and put it up where it can be seen. Invite your friends to a poster making party for human rights of the Baha’i children in Iran.
- Talk to the media about your concerns for the human rights of the Baha’i school children in Iran.
- Visit the human rights webs and blogs and share your outrage about the violations of the human rights of the Baha’i school children in Iran.
- Organize a Baha’i school children human rights day campaign in your school and invite the students to give talks and write papers and draw pictures of love and support for the Baha’i school children in Iran.
- Brain storm with your friends about what would you wished others do for the support of your human rights, if you were in the painful shoe of the Baha’i school children in Iran.
- Send us your ideas and suggestions and we will put it on our blog and share it with the world.
The government authorities of Islamic Republic Regime of Iran do care about what the rest of the world sees, thinks, and feels in relation to the treatment of their citizens and the status of human rights of minorities under the Islamic Law. The word Islam means peace and Moslems of all people must not dishonor the name of Islam by their ignorance, prejudices and shortsightedness.
Following is a summary account of the violations of the human rights of the Baha’i school children in Iran as of May 2007. The situation since then has become worse and more frightening for the innocent Baha’i children. One of the children confided that she did not want to tell her parents what she suffered because she was afraid her parents might take their complain to the school authorities and then officials come and put them in jail like other Baha’is! What a state of terror the Islamic Republic Regime is representing! What dark night for humanity and human rights.
Baha’i schoolchildren in Iran increasingly harassed and abused by school authorities
NEW YORK, 5 April 2007 (BWNS) — Baha’i students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, according to recent reports from inside the country.
During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Baha’i students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.
“These new reports that the most vulnerable members of the Iranian Baha’i community — children and junior youth — are being harassed, degraded, and, in at least one case, blindfolded and beaten, is an extremely disturbing development,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.
“The increasing number of such incidents suggests a serious and shameful escalation in the ongoing persecution of Iranian Baha’is,” said Ms. Dugal. “The fact that school-aged children are being targeted by those who should rightfully hold their trust — teachers and school administrators — only makes this latest trend even more ominous.”
Ms. Dugal said the Baha’i International Community has been aware of scattered reports of abuse directed at schoolchildren but has only recently learned that young Baha’is are now widely being forced to identify their religion — and are also being insulted, degraded, threatened with expulsion, and, in some cases, summarily dismissed from school.
“They are also being pressured to convert to Islam, required to endure slander of their faith by religious instructors, and being taught and tested on ‘Iranian history’ in authorized texts that denigrate, distort, and brazenly falsify their religious heritage,” said Ms. Dugal. “They are also being repeatedly told that they are not to attempt to teach their religion.”
According to Ms. Dugal, one Baha’i has reported that the school-age children of a relative in Kermanshah were called to the front of the classroom, where they were required to listen to insults against the Faith.
“Another student, accepted at an art institute, has been followed by the authorities and on three occasions seized, blindfolded, and beaten,” said Ms. Dugal.
“While a few of these may be isolated attacks, the extent and nature of this reprehensible activity has led the Baha’is in Iran to conclude that this is an organized effort,” said Ms. Dugal.
Of special concern, she added, was the fact that a high proportion of the attacks against high school students have been against girls.
“While the attacks reported to have taken place in elementary and middle schools were leveled evenly against boys and girls, those at the high school level targeted girls to a far greater degree: of 76 incidents, 68 were against Baha’i girls,” said Ms. Dugal.
Ms. Dugal added that the ages of the children and junior youth affected are as follows: at the elementary school level, grades 1-5, students 6 to 11 years old; at the middle school level, grades 6-8, students 11 to 13 years old; and at the high school level, grades 9-12, students 14 to 17 years old.
The reports of attacks on innocent Baha’i schoolchildren come at a time when a growing number of older Baha’i students seeking to enter Iranian universities have been expelled after being identified as Baha’is.
So far this year, at least 94 college-age Baha’i students have been expelled from institutions of higher education. That figure is up from 70 as reported in late February.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, the 300,000-member Iranian Baha’i community has faced ongoing and systematic persecution. In the early 1980s, more than 200 Baha’is were killed, hundreds were imprisoned, and thousands were deprived of jobs and education.
At the present time, more than 120 Baha’is are out on bail and awaiting trial on false charges, solely because of their religious beliefs and activities. Over the last year, as well, international human rights groups have expressed concern at the Iranian government’s efforts to step-up their covert monitoring and identification of Baha’is.
By: Baha’i World News Service
