1. 2010-08-19. Iran's Genocidal Mentality. W. Andy Knight. The systematic, government-sanctioned persecution of the Bahá'í minority in Iran can be considered a crime against humanity. Newspapers.
2. 2009-03-15. Criminalizing the Bahá'í Religion. Christopher Buck. The opposite of freedom of religion is the banning of religion; the Bahá'í community in Iran being a case in point; the pattern of oppression. Newspapers.
3. 1999. Promoting a Culture of Human Rights: The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the Bahá'í community in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Ladan Rahmani. Functions of the CHR and its role in addressing persecution; case study on Iran; while the CHR’s influence has been limited, it demonstrates the potential of international mechanisms to effect incremental change in human rights practices. Articles.

1. 1984-10-19 — The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) appointed Andrés Aguilar of Venezuela as its Special Representative to Iran on human rights. Iran refused to engage with him and he eventually resigned in 1986, unable to persuade Iranian officials to cooperate with him in any way. [Wikipedia; BIC site History]
2. 1986-03-13 — The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution asking its chairman to appoint a new special representative to report to the General Assembly in November 1986 on the human rights situation in Iran, including the situation of the Bahá'ís. [BINS153:12]
3. 1990-00-23 — For the first time a representative of the United Nations was able to officially meet with a representative of the proscribed Bahá'í community in Irán. The report to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights resulted in a resolution being adapted on Irán in a session held in Geneva. [AWH76]
4. 2011-03-24 — The UN Human Rights Council voted to create a Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran. [Iran Press Watch 7657]
5. 2024-07-23 — The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Mai Sato, a Japanese lawyer and human rights defender, as its new Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran. She replaced Javaid Rehman, whose mission period had ended and became the seventh Special Rapporteur for Iran since the position's inception in 1984.

   The role was temporarily discontinued during Mohammad Khatami's presidency due to a relative improvement in Iran's human rights situation. However, it was reinstated in 2011 following the violent suppression of mass protests in 2009. The protests, also known as the Green Movement, were against disputed presidential election results.

   Despite the Islamic Republic's initial conditions for cooperation – that the rapporteur be male, Muslim, and not from an Arab country – the government has consistently refused to engage with appointees. This pattern of non-cooperation continued with Ahmed Shaheed (2011-2016) and Javaid Rehman (2018-2024), neither of whom were permitted to visit Iran. Mai Sato brings her extensive experience in international human rights to her new role. With a doctorate in law and a background in academic research, Sato has focused on issues such as the death penalty, fair trial rights, and prisoner treatment. Her appointment came at a critical time, following periods of severe repression in Iran, including the crackdowns on anti-government protests of November 2019 and September 2022 and a significant increase in executions. [Iranwire23Jul2024]

6. 2025-03-17 — The Bahá’í International Community issued a statement on the situation for Bahá'ís in Egypt during the 58th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It called for the international community to hold Egypt accountable for upholding the fundamental right to freedom of religion for all, including the Bahá’ís.

   This follows on the heels of a statement released on the 29th of January during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council, in Geneva, at which Egyptian authorities were held accountable for the systematic abuse of the rights of religious and other minorities in Egypt, which includes the Egyptian Bahá’í community. .

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