Meet with university faculty and administrators to inform them of the issue and ask them to write letters of protest
Letters of protest may be written to the UN Secretary General, the UN high commissioner for human rights, UNESCO’s director-general, UNICEF’s executive director and Iran’s representatives to the United Nations.———————————————————————-
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
United Nations
Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary General
United Nations, S378
New York, NY 10017
———————————————————————-
His Excellency Mohammad Khazaee
Permanent Representative of the
Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
———————————————————————-
Judge Navanethem Pillay
High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
———————————————————————-
Director-General Koichiro Matsuura
UNESCO
2, United Nations Plaza, room 900
NY 10017 New York
———————————————————————-
Supporters could also be asked to write to local and national think tanks, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations, concerned with education, the rights of children, social development, and minority rights, encouraging them to take action on behalf of the Iranian Baha’i students. Information on such organizations can be found online or in local directories.
Professors can be asked to write letters of protest to their counterparts in the same discipline at universities in Iran. You can help your professor identify appropriate individuals to write to by researching the internet at sites such as the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Iran
Letters from university presidents:
President Faust of Harvard University also sent a letter in 2007 to the Permanent Representative of Iran at the United Nations expressing her concern regarding the systematic denial of access to higher education to members of the Baha’i community in Iran.
In 2007, with a strong desire to assist Baha’i students in Iran, Baha’i faculty members in Western Massachusetts came together and consulted about how they could best raise awareness about the situation in the many colleges and universities in their region. They realized that with a collective name, they could have a much stronger impact, and decided to form the Association of Baha’i Higher Education Professionals of Western Massachusetts. Through this Association, they wrote an open letter to their fellow colleagues informing them about how Baha’i students are denied access to higher education in Iran, and also asking them to take action in three different ways:
- Learn more about the situation by visiting the site: http://iran.bahai.us/support-bahai-students.
- Write a letter of protest to the UN Secretary General, the UN high commissioner for human rights, UNESCO’s director-general, and Iran’s representative to the United Nations.
- Speak out to other colleagues, students and to the person who sent this message and if appropriate request a speaker or panel from our speakers bureau for their class or professional gathering.
Please share your ideas and experiences below!
3 Comments » Last modified on Oct 9th 2008
diujen Feb 3rd 2009 at 12:45 pm 1
help meeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Takur Buck Mar 15th 2009 at 07:27 am 2
Allah-u-Abha! I am currently requesting that the Chancellor of my university, the University of Pittsburgh, write a letter of protest. There was a request on his behalf for a list of all U.S. colleges that have written letters of protest. Apart from the three samples given above, I was wondering if such a list could be made available? This would be very helpful.
Khashiar Apr 2nd 2009 at 11:55 am 3
Hello,
The St. Olaf Baha’i Club just hosted a letter writing campaign in conjunction with an inter-religious campus association. We have about 25 letters, and 1 faculty letter! (from a Baha’i adjunct faculty member here).