In September 2021, the Secretary-General responded with his report, Our Common Agenda, a wake-up call to speed up the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and propel the commitments contained in the UN75 Declaration. In some cases, the proposals addressed gaps that had emerged since 2015, requiring new intergovernmental agreements. The report, therefore, called for a Summit of the Future to forge a new global consensus on readying for a future that is rife with risks but also opportunities. The General Assembly welcomed the submission of the "rich and substantive" report and agreed to hold the Summit on 22-23 September 2024, preceded by a ministerial meeting in 2023. An action-oriented Pact for the Future is expected to be agreed by Member States through intergovernmental negotiations on issues they decide to take forward. [Road to the Summit of the Future]

The BIC statement can be viewed here.

The raid last year prompted repeated calls by the international community for the release of the detained Bahá'ís. In August 2023 six members of the United Nations Security Council “deplored” the detentions and more recently, in May, a powerful coalition of United Nations Special Rapporteurs, European parliamentarians, ambassadors, international human rights organizations, and a Nobel laureate addressed the matter alongside the #FreeYemeniBahá'ís campaign online. Several Yemeni tribal leaders and religious figures also played a major role in the release of the Bahá'í detainees. [BIC News 20 August 2024; BSNS1746]

The presentations were:

On 25 May 2023, armed Huthi forces stormed a peaceful gathering of Baha’is in a private residence in Sana’a and arbitrarily detained 17 people, including five women. They forcibly disappearedthem for around four months until their families learned they were being held at Huthi-run security and intelligence detention centres in Sana’a. Between June 2023 and June 2024, 13 individuals including Abdullah al-Olofi and all five women were released following international pressure. The four remaining Bahá'ís continued to be held without charge and were denied their right to legal counsel.

Since 2015, Amnesty International has documented the cases of at least 100 members of the Bahá'í faith in Yemen, who have been detained by the Huthi de facto authorities and subjected to enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention, torture and ill-treatment and denied fair trial rights. [Amnesty International 27 May 2021; Posted on X by @BahaiBIV 22 June 2024]

Other related stories: BWNS1733; BWNS1732; BWNS1713; BWNS1524; BWNS1688

See as well In Conversation: Stories from temple dedication in Papua New Guinea.

A website has been established and they have a YouTube and a Facebook presence as well.

This book follows the story of the ‘Adasíyyih community, a farming village established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá , in what is now Jordan. Bahá'ís from Iran settled there and transformed a degraded parcel of land into the site of a thriving farm and prosperous community whose residents embodied the Bahá'í teachings. It was this farming village— along with several others in the region of the Galilee— that produced a surplus of crops, which enabled ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to keep famine at bay for so many people during World War I, a feat that would earn Him a knighthood from the British Empire. In time, ‘Adasíyyih would become a model village for Jordanians, and Jordan’s royalty would become frequent guests. Author Paul Hanley’ s extensive research, along with his deep interest in agricultural systems, provides a fascinating glimpse at this remarkable history and the lessons that can be applied to current agroecological efforts.

A video, Light in a Dark World, made for the occasion, was presented. In the video they enumerated the five principles that enabled the Assembly to govern more effectively. They were 1. using the principles of Bahá'í consultation, 2. turning to the guidance of the Universal House of Justice, 3. collaboration with the institutions of the Counsellors, and drawing on the experience of individual Counsellors, 4. the members of the Assembly's involvement in the work of the Universal House of Justice, and 5. the members of the Assembly championing the decisions of the Assembly itself. [BWNS1708]