The lack of legal safeguards results in instituted discriminatory policies and practices, 6 particularly targeting Baha’is. In 1991, the Government institutionalized a policy against Baha’í citizens in a memorandum entitled ‘The Baha’í Question’, produced by Iran’s Supreme Revolutionary Cultural Council and approved by the Supreme Leader. The document outlines a series of measures aiming at restricting Iranian Baha’ís access to education, economic and cultural life. Although the Government affirmed that the Baha’is had not been singled out for discrimination,7 the document remains in force today. On 26 March 2018, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued, via his website, a new religious decree (fatwa) concerning “association and dealing with Baha’ís”. He stated that, “[y]ou should avoid any association and dealings with this perverse and misguided sect.”8 While Iranian law theoretically forbids the investigation of individual beliefs, discrimination against member of religious minorities in access to employment is institutionalized through the practice of gozinesh, a mandatory screening process that anyone seeking employment in the public sector must undergo.9 The gozinesh criteria not only bar adherents of non-recognized religions from seeking employment, but also disadvantage anyone who holds views contrary to the official values of the Islamic Republic. Baha’is, for instance, government jobs including jobs in civil service, education, and law are frequently denied to Bahai’s.10 Baha’is also face serious restrictions in the private sector. For example, the authorities have refused to issue commercial licenses to Baha’is and have shut down scores of Baha’i-owned businesses for closing on Baha’i holy days.11 Since 2013 until 2019, there have been more than 803 incidents of violations of economic rights of the Baha’is, including arbitrary shop closures, unfair dismissal from employment and the actual or threatened revocation of business licenses.12 13 Reportedly, Iranian authorities “systematically seal Bahá’í-owned shops, giving spurious reasons for doing so.”14 Applicants for business licenses in general are asked to sign a form declaring 6 Article 23, The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch01.php 7 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 18 July 2019, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N19/222/62/PDF/N1922262.pdf?OpenElement 8 Baha’i International Community, https://www.bic.org/sites/default/files/pdf/iran/the_bahais_of_iran__a_persecuted_community.pdf 9 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documenttion Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf 10 Baha’I International Community, https://www.bic.org/focus-areas/situation-iranian-bahais/current-situation 11 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documenttion Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf 12 Baha’i International Community, www.bic.org/sites/default/files/pdf/iran/overview_of_persecution-0119_2.pdf 13 https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-and-religious-minorities-inIran.pdf page 35; Baha’I International Community, ‘Their Progress and Development are Blocked’: The Economic Oppression of Iran’s Baha’is https://www.bic.org/sites/default/files/pdf/the_economic_oppression_of_irans_bahais_151030.pdf 14 Baha’I International Community, https://www.bic.org/sites/default/files/pdf/iran/overview_of_persecution-0119_2.pdf at 7 2

Select target paragraph3