Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly, thank you very much for the question, particularly because it's caused me to reflect. Here, I'm going to go back to the list of statistics of prisoners that we have. I have been surprised by the number of women prisoners of all ages who are Bahá'í. When I think about that I wonder if it's because Bahá'í women are empowered: they have voices, they raise their voices, they engage with neighbours, they educate children, and they're active in their families.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so very much. This is very helpful and we wish you luck with your work.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a very difficult question to answer. I'm not sure that I know what Canada can do to make that happen. Canada is doing so much at the multilateral level not only to tell Iran of its concern but also to get other countries on board and pay attention to it. I think there are key countries that have Iran's ear, that Canada could work bilaterally with those countries and say to them, “Look, you know what's going on in Iran; this is not the kind of thing you would support in your country.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Marston. It's a pleasure to see you again. I'm sorry that it's necessary to be here to do this. It's very difficult to get an accurate count of how many Bahá’ís there are in Iran, because clearly we don't have an administrative structure there. Just keeping track of people would be difficult.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Sweet. It's very difficult to respond to that question without first saying that the persecution any people face is intolerable. What is happening to the Bahá’í is symptomatic of what is happening to many groups of Iranian people. Probably what distinguishes the situation of the Bahá’ís that first, they are not recognized as a religious minority and are therefore not protected by legal structures; second is the “Bahá’í question” memorandum issued by the Iranian government in 1991, which was brought to light by the UN in 1993, in which a strategy is mapped out to deliberately block the development of the Bahá’í community.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so very much, Mr. Reid, for the opportunity to address the Subcommittee on International Human Rights. Thank you to you and all the members for providing us with this opportunity. The Iranian government violates the rights of many of its citizens, be they women, academics, human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, or members of ethnic and religious communities.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Dr. Akhavan.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, absolutely, I think it would be a wonderful thing to have a take note debate in the House. We understand that when those happen, when members of Parliament speak in the House, it's noted in Iran and it does have an impact. It not only cautions the Iranian government, but it encourages those who are sitting in prison that they're not sitting in the darkness, that people know about their situation.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think dialogue is always a good thing. To consult together with other people to resolve differences is very important. If we look, however, to Iran's record when it has been engaged in dialogue—I am thinking in particular of its dialogue with Europeans some five or six years ago.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I yield to Payam. Dr. Akhavan.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If my measure were what's happening to the people in the Bahá'í community in Iran, I would have to say that their situation continues to deteriorate. But I don't know if that necessarily translates into the sanctions not working, because we don't know what the situation would be like if there weren't sanctions.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  No, she's out of the country. She's not in Iran, and one of her colleagues, Mr. Soltani, who was also part of that practice, is in prison.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The parliaments of the predictable partners, the U.S. and the U.K., are taking action, and their governments are continuing their action. Every year, in advance of the discussion of the resolution at the United Nations, Canada, through its missions, makes representations to governments around the world to try to sensitize them to the human rights situation in Iran and get their support for the resolution.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I referred in my testimony to the Bahá'í Institute For Higher Education, which was established to provide university education to Bahá'í youth routinely denied access to Iranian universities. Much of that education has been put on the Internet. Much of it is through online courses.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Chair and distinguished members, thank you for the invitation to comment on developments in the religious persecution of the Bahá'ís of Iran since our testimony on the subject on February 26, 2009. As anticipated in your report, “Ahmadinejad's Iran”, and as documented by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and other civil society organizations, the general human rights situation in Iran and that of the Bahá'ís in particular has deteriorated markedly over the interim.