This grave censure pronounced by the Mandates Commission of the League of
Nations on the administration of justice and the general conduct of
affairs in ‘Iráq, as well as the association of the humiliation afflicting
Bahá’u’lláh’s sacred dwelling-place with the obligations implied in the
Treaty of Alliance binding the Governments of Great Britain and ‘Iráq, not
only proclaim to the world the enhanced prestige of that hallowed and
consecrated spot, but testify as well to the high sense of integrity that
animates the members of the League’s honored Commission in the discharge
of their public duties. In their formal reply to the Bahá’í petitioners,
the members of the Permanent Mandates Commission have, with the sanction
of the Council of the League of Nations, issued this most satisfactory
declamation: “The Permanent Mandates Commission, recognizing the justice
of the complaint made by the Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly of Ba_gh_dád, has
recommended to the Council of the League such action as it thinks proper
to redress the wrong suffered by the petitioners.” A similar passage
inserted in the report of the Finnish Representative to the Council of the
League runs as follows: “The Commission has also considered a petition
from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq, a community
which has been dispossessed of its property by another community and has
been unable to recover it by legal means. The Commission is convinced that
this situation, which is described as an injustice, must be attributed
solely to religious passion, and it asks that the petitioner’s wrongs
should be redressed. I venture to suggest that the Council should accept
the Mandate Commission’s conclusions on this case, which is an example of
the difficulties to be met with in the development of a young country.”
This report, together with the joint observations and conclusions of the
Commission, have been duly considered and approved by the Council of the
League, which has in turn instructed the Secretary-General to bring to the
notice of the Mandatory Power, as well as the petitioners concerned, the
conclusions arrived at by the Mandates Commission.
Dearly-beloved co-workers! Much has been achieved thus far in the course
of the progress of this complicated, delicate and highly significant
issue. The Bahá’í world is eagerly expectant, and fervently prays, that
the Almighty may graciously assist the Government chiefly responsible for
the well-being of ‘Iráq to take “without delay” such steps as will insure
the execution of the considered judgment of the representatives of the
Sovereign States, members of the Council, and signatories of the Covenant,
of the League of Nations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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