Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 22 May 2008.

Iran: Baha'i Community

Question: My Lords, while I am grateful to the EU presidency for its statement, in view of the fact that Iran accounts for the largest number of urgent appeals by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and that the working group, the special rapporteur on freedom of religion and the independent expert on minorities have jointly and separately drawn attention to the serious concerns felt about the treatment of Baha’is over the past two years, does the Minister agree that the situation warrants an emergency resolution at the forthcoming eighth Session of the Human Rights Council, which is to be held in the first half of June this year?

Answer: My Lords, I agree that it warrants one; we will have to consider whether we can achieve it. It is possible to ask for a special Session of an emergency resolution at the Human Rights Council, but to date the way that we have had most success on Iran, including on the Baha’is issue, has been through the third committee of the UN General Assembly. We have used the Human Rights Council to raise issues of the treatment of the Baha’is, using the thematic special rapporteurs to which the noble Lord referred.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 701 c1556
Session: 2007-08
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Baha'i faith Religious freedom Iran UN Human Rights Council Arrests EU external relations
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk