Bahá’í International Community

Bahá’í International Community
Location of Bahá’í International Community
Location of Bahá’í International Community
B.I.C. representatives meeting with the President of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, 1959.
Established 1948
Official Website https://www.bic.org/

The Bahá’í International Community is the body responsible for representing the Bahá’í community externally on the international level. It also aims to make contributions to international policy discourse by offering insights from the Bahá’í teachings for the purpose of empowering humanity to work effectively toward spiritual and material betterment.[1]

It has offices in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Cairo, Geneva, Jakarta, and New York.[2] It is registered with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization, and has consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council and UN Children's fund, and works with other UN agencies.[3] The senior officer of the Bahá’í International Community is the Secretary-General.[4]

History

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In the spring of 1947, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada was accredited to the United Nations Office of Public Information as a national non-governmental organization qualified to be represented through an observer.[5][6] By 1948, all eight of the existing National Spiritual Assemblies in the world—North America; the British Isles; Germany and Austria; Egypt and Súdán; ‘Iráq; Írán (Persia); India, Pákistán and Burma; and Australia and New Zealand—were recognized collectively by the UN as an international NGO under the name of "The Bahá’í International Community".[7] Initially, each National Spiritual Assembly established the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States as its representative to direct the work of the Bahá’í International Community at the UN, and international relations were channeled through a United Nations Committee appointed by the US Assembly.[8][9]

By the end of 1956, due to the growing scope of international activities, the tasks previously assigned to the Bahá’í United Nations Committee were divided: the US committee focused on relations between American Bahá’ís and the UN, while the work of the Bahá’í International Community was assigned to part-time international observer Mildred Mottahedeh in consultation with the community's executive secretary, Horace Holley.[10][11] In 1965, the Bahá’í International Community established its own offices in New York facing the UN complex, and John Wade was appointed as its first Secretary-General, serving in the role from the Bahá’í World Centre.[12][13] In 1967, the Universal House of Justice assumed direct supervision of the Bahá’í International Community's work from the US National Spiritual Assembly and appointed Victor de Araujo as its full-time accredited representative, succeeding Mottahedeh, who became alternate representative.[14][15][16][17]

In 1970 the Bahá’í International Community achieved consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council and in 1976 it achieved consultative status with the United Nations Children's Fund. In 1988 it expanded by establishing an Office of the Environment and also became the convener of Advocates for African Food Security, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations established by the United Nations in 1986.[18] In 1989 the body was granted consultative status with the U.N. Development Fund for Women,[19] and in 1992 it established an Office for the Advancement of Women.[20]

In 1995 the Bahá’í International Community was appointed to moderate a discussion at an NGO Forum held in preparation for the United Nations Commission on Social Development.[21] In January 2005 the Bahá’í International Community's Principal Representative was invited to speak at a conference on the role of women in conflict prevention held in Islamabad, Pakistan.[22]

In 2007 the Bahá’í International Community established a Brussels office in Belgium to coordinate its work in Europe,[23] and in 2014 it established an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to coordinate its work in Africa and another office in Jakarta, Indonesia.[24][25] As of 2022 an office had been established in Cairo, Egypt.[26]

Secretary-Generals

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Name Served
John Wade 1965 - 1979[27][28]
Donald Barrett 1979 - 1988[29]
Ronald Bates 1988 - 1991[30]
Albert Lincoln 1994 - 2013[31]
Joshua Lincoln 2013 - 2019[32]
David Rutstein 2019 - present[33]

Representative at the United Nations

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Name Served
Mildred Mottahedeh 1948 - 1967[34][35]
Victor de Araujo 1967 - 1990[36][37]
Techeste Ahderom 1990 - 2001[38][39]
Bani Dugal 2003 - 2025[40][41][42]
Rachel Bayani 2025 - present[43]

Subsidiary Agencies

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Publications

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Some major publications of the Bahá’í International Community, published in the early 1980's.

Notes

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  1. ↑ https://www.bic.org/about/about-us
  2. ↑ https://www.bic.org/#offices-map
  3. ↑ https://reference.bahai.org/en/bic.html
  4. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/969/
  5. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 12 (1950-1954), Pg(s) 597. View as PDF.
  6. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 229. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 12 (1950-1954), Pg(s) 597-598. View as PDF.
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1956). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Wilmette, Ill. Volume 12 (1950-1954), Pg(s) 597-598. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 229-230. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 278-280. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 230. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 90. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 314. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1974). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 14 (1963-1968), Pg(s) 89. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1981). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 17 (1976-1979), Pg(s) 230. View as PDF.
  16. ↑ https://www.onecountry.org/story/mildred-mottahedeh-first-bahai-international-community-representative-united-nations-passed
  17. ↑ Baha'i News (1979). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 576, Pg(s) 7-11 May 2020‎‎. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ 10 December 1992 message from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2006). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 33 (2004-2005), Pg(s) 148. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1999). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 26 (1997-1998), Pg(s) 40. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2006). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 33 (2004-2005), Pg(s) 149. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2006). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 33 (2004-2005), Pg(s) 153. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1424/
  24. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1124/
  25. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1139/
  26. ↑ https://www.bic.org/news/bic-cairo-cop-27-shares-egyptian-bahai-communitys-development-activities
  27. ↑ Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press, London. pp 68-69., p 334.
  28. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 315. View as PDF.
  29. ↑ Bahá’í World, Vol. 20, p 123
  30. ↑ Redman, E. The Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, George Ronald Press, London. pp 68-69., p 334.
  31. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/968/
  32. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1357/
  33. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1357/
  34. ↑ The Baha'i Faith and the United Nations, Baha'i World, Vol. 12, p 601
  35. ↑ https://www.onecountry.org/story/mildred-mottahedeh-first-bahai-international-community-representative-united-nations-passed
  36. ↑ Baha'i News (1979). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 576, Pg(s) 7-11 May 2020‎‎. View as PDF.
  37. ↑ Baha'i World, Vol. 29, p 269
  38. ↑ One Country, Vol. 2, Iss. 4, p 3
  39. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/222/
  40. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/222/
  41. ↑ https://www.weforum.org/people/bani-dugal
  42. ↑ https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:Bahai_Canada_Vol16_No4.pdf&page=37
  43. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1840/bic-new-york-new-principal-representative-bahai-international-community-appointed
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 https://www.onecountry.org/story/institute-studies-global-prosperity-joins-family-agencies-bahai-international-community
  45. ↑ https://news.bahai.org/story/1822/bic-new-york-new-book-contributions-discourse-equality

References

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  • Publications listed in Collins, W. P. (1990). Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Babi and Baha'i Faiths 1844-1985. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-315-1. p 52-53.
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