Doha under fire for expelling members of Baha’i community from Qatar
Administrative deportations and blacklisting of Baha’is of numerous nationalities, across different employment fields and ages, had previously given cause for alarm leading to the decimation of the Baha’i community
Black News 
Qatar’s pluralism at risk, warn the United Nations experts.
The United Nations (UN) experts are expressing concern at what is being described as the potential erasure of the Baha’i religious community from the State of Qatar.
Reports of sudden administrative deportations and blacklisting of Baha’is of numerous nationalities, across different employment fields and ages, had previously given cause for alarm and led to the decimation of the Baha’i community.
“In recent weeks, this pattern appears to have been exponentially accelerated, giving rise to concern about the very viability of the Baha’i community of Qatar,” the UN experts pointed out.
Scores of Baha’is have reportedly been informed that their residencies will not be renewed, according to a statement from the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
“There have also been reports of detentions, most recently of a Baha’i long-term resident who has since been released and given just a few weeks to depart the country after the family has resided in Qatar for four generations,” says the UN Human Rights Office.
In another instance, the remaining two members of a family resident in Dawlat Qatar for three generations and already impacted by family members being blacklisted 21 years ago, running a successful business contributing to the economy of the country, have now been given just days to leave.
In some instances, those being blacklisted and family members under the sponsorship of those being blacklisted face serious refoulement risks.
Baha’i temples are also on the verge of being deleted from Doha.
“After decades of the gradual, yet purposeful, diminishing of the Baha’i community, we regret that the authorities – far from desisting from the continuation of this pattern – have increased its tempo, raising serious questions about Qatar’s demonstrable commitment to tolerance, peaceful coexistence and respect for cultural diversity,” maintained the UN experts.
Only recently, a number of special procedures mandate holders welcomed a positive verdict in Qatar which articulated the deep commitment of its Constitution, culture and values to freedom of religion or belief.
They expressed hope that these would translate into the lifting of restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association, and the rights of minorities, including Baha’is.
The experts urged the Qatari authorities to live up to the findings of that verdict and Qatar’s deep-seated values by reversing this alarming trajectory and targeting of the Baha’i community.
Islam is the official religion of Qatar, accounting for 65.5 percent of the population.
Other sects include Hinduism (15.1 percent), Christianity (14.2 percent) and Buddhism at 3.3 percent. The rest constitute of only 1.9 percent of the population.
Baha’i Religion
Almost an insignificant sect in Qatar, the Bahāʾī Faith, is a universal sect founded in the mid-19th century by Mīrzā Ḥosayn ʿAlī Nūrī, the religion began as an Islamic movement in Iran and was publicly declared by Bahāʾu’llāh in Iraq.
The principal Bahāʾī tenets and belief are the essential unity of all religions in the world and the unity of humanity.
