Click play to listen.

Click here to download audio file.

26 April 2009, IQALUIT, NUNAVUT, Canada – Beth McKenty moved to sparsely populated northeast Canada – to Iqaluit on Baffin Island – in 1999 to fulfill a pledge, made 45 years earlier, to devote part of her life to reducing youth suicide.

Within two weeks of arriving she had begun a project to help children build self-esteem by exploring their creativity. The Arctic Youth Art Initiative has since grown to involve hundreds of children.

Ms. McKenty’s efforts were acknowledged this month when she was one of 75 individuals from across Canada named as recipients of the Caring Canadian Awards for 2009. Created in 1996 by the Canadian Governor General, the award is presented to individuals and groups whose unpaid, voluntary contributions over a number of years provide extraordinary help or care to people in their community. (more…)

Click play to listen.

Click here to download audio file.

2009 April 24, LONDON, UK – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has sent a message to UK Baha’is to mark Ridvan, the most important Bahá’í festival. In it he expressed his “respect and admiration” for the British Bahá’í community which, he said, “makes a contribution to British life out of all proportion to its size.”

In the letter, which was addressed to the annual reception hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís, Mr. Brown welcomed the Bahá’ís’ “participation in public life” and described as “tragic” the prejudice and discrimination faced by some Bahá’ís in the world. (more…)

Click play to listen.

Click here to download audio file.

2009 April 24, BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -This week, for the 70th year, the Bahá’ís of Buenos Aires gathered to elect their local Spiritual Assembly – one of the two oldest of what are now 600 such Bahá’í governing councils throughout South America.

A special program featuring historical photographs was presented at the annual meeting of the Buenos Aires’ Bahá’ís on April 20th, said Behrooz Khomassi, who has researched local Baha’i history and helped prepare the program. (more…)

Click play to listen.

Click here to download audio file.

2009 April 19, GENEVA, Switzerland – The Bahá’í International Community joined two human rights organizations in calling on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to address discrimination in his own country when he speaks this week at the conference known as Durban II.

The statement was issued as a joint news release by the Bahá’í International Community, the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LDDHI), and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH). (more…)

Click play to listen.

Click here to download audio file.

2009 April 17, CAIRO, Egypt – Egypt’s Ministry of Interior this week published a decree that allows individuals to obtain government documents without identifying themselves as belonging to a particular religion.

The decree is the result of a recent Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court ruling – in a case involving Bahá’ís – that on government ID cards and other documents, individuals may put a dash in the field denoting religious affiliation. (more…)

Click play to listen.

Click here to download audio file.

2009 April 2, OTTAWA, Canada – Canada’s House of Commons has unanimously adopted a strongly worded motion condemning the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran and calling on the Iranian government to release Bahá’í leaders imprisoned in Tehran.

The motion, which was approved on 30 March, stated that the accusations against the Bahá’ís – espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, and propaganda against the Islamic republic – are charges “frequently used by Iranian authorities to target human rights defenders and religious minorities, and there is nothing in the history or teachings of the Bahá’í community to lend any credence to such charges.” (more…)