New York, Sept. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Baha’i communities of 9 nations yesterday delivered a letter addressed to His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, expressing their issues on the discrimination, restrictions, and human rights violations that Baha’is in Qatar have skilled for many years, and asking him to intervene within the scenario.
The letters had been delivered by hand by representatives of the Baha’i communities of Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States,to the Embassies of Qatar of their respective nations.
The 9 communities determined to behave on behalf of fellow Baha’resides in Qatar after observing worsening discrimination and restrictions in opposition to the group in that nation. Millions of Baha’is reside in virtually each nation of the world and see themselves as half of a world group working collectively for the well-being of one widespread human race.
“The Baha’i International Community (BIC) has repeatedly raised the alarm over a pattern of discrimination and human rights violations suffered over decades by the Baha’is in Qatar,” mentioned Diane Ala’i, a BIC Representative to the United Nations. “Now the move by nine national Baha’i communities, to convey their own concerns to the Emir of the State of Qatar, speaks to the gravity of this moment. Humanity is in danger of seeing the elimination of yet another religious minority from a Middle Eastern country.”
The presence of the Baha’is in Qatar predates the independence of the State of Qatar by some many years. Members of the Baha’i Faith in Qatar, residents and residents alike, have been a pure part of the society of Qatar and an energetic half of its growth. But regardless of this lengthy presence they’ve skilled many years of discrimination because of their non secular beliefs.
The Qatari authorities have exerted systematic makes an attempt, over a few years, to take away Baha’is from Qatar by blacklisting and deporting them, and denying them business licenses or work permits even once they had already obtained presents of employment from Qatari firms. A quantity of Baha’is have additionally been denied “certificates of good conduct”—regardless of having carried out nothing flawed—which then disqualifies them from employment or different facets of life.
Just a few Baha’is in Qatar have even confronted unspecified and false legal and nationwide safety prices.
The blacklisting and expulsions have separated married {couples} and households and have compelled some Qatari residents to go away their homeland in order to not be separated from their non-Qatari spouses. Baha’is in Qatar have additionally been barred from serving in “sensitive” sectors, particularly the schooling sector, regardless of having labored in and contributed over many years to the medical sector, banking, engineering, sports activities, media, entrepreneurship, public coverage, oil and gasoline, the crafts and trades, the authorized system, well being and security and the humanities.
The discrimination bears a placing resemblance to the therapy Baha’is have confronted in Iran and Yemen. Most of the Baha’is in Qatar who’ve confronted blacklisting and deportation had been born and raised within the nation, in households which were there for generations, and have recognized no different residence.
A 2019 report by the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on minority points and freedom of faith or perception mentioned that Qatar was “undermining human rights in the areas of religion and culture,” referring to the scenario of the Baha’is, in “what appears to be a disturbing pattern of discrimination against individuals based on their religion or belief.”
The Special Rapporteurs added that they had been “especially concerned” over “the deportation and blacklisting of individuals based on their adherence to a minority religion.”
And earlier this 12 months, in June, a reality sheet launched by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom mentioned that “Qatar’s Baha’i community faces limitations on freedom of religion or belief that are becoming increasingly systematic.”
“Baha’is in Qatar love their country and only want to contribute to its progress,” mentioned Ms. Ala’i. “And Baha’is the world over hope that His Highness, the Emir, can intervene on behalf of their fellow Baha’is before they are erased from his land.”
