E/CN.4/1995/91/Add.1 page 40 Since the Baha’i faith is not recognized by the Iranian Constitution, members of the Baha’i community are reportedly classified as ’unprotected infidels’ and their rights denied. Marriages and divorces among Baha’is, and their inheritance rights, are reportedly not recognized. Usually denied passports or exit visas, they are not free to travel outside Iran. The Baha’i community has constantly been refused the right of assembly and of electing persons to head their administrative institutions, these being a cornerstone of the community, which has no established clergy. For the past 13 years, many young Baha’is are said to have been systematically prevented from entering institutes of higher education, such as colleges and universities. The decline in the level of training among young people is reportedly causing concern, with serious consequences for the Baha’i community as a whole. Many Baha’is in Iran still lack the means of earning a living. In the early 1980s, more than 10,000 people were dismissed from their jobs as civil servants and teachers because of their religious belief. Many of them are reportedly still unemployed and receive no benefits. Some Baha’is dismissed for religious reasons are not receiving their retirement benefits, while former civil servants who were also dismissed have reportedly been forced to return wages or pensions previously paid to them. It is alleged that Baha’is are not allowed to set up their own businesses. In the cities of Karaj and Aran (Kashan province), they have reportedly been harassed to the point where they were obliged to close their stores. Baha’i farmers are allegedly not admitted to farmers’ cooperatives, a source of credits, seeds, pesticides and fertilizer. According to further information received, ownership rights of Baha’is are not respected. Over the past 10 years, many of their businesses, undertakings and private properties, including houses, have been confiscated. Incidents of this kind have occurred in Sayran and Ilkhchi. Notices of confiscation have been issued by Islamic revolutionary institutions in Iran in respect of assets belonging to Baha’is in Yazd, Tehran and Isfahan. It has been reported that, in September 1992, several Iranian Government officials in Isfahan occupied the house of a Baha’i man over 80 years of age and seized his property. A dozen other houses have been searched by officials from the Isfahan Office of the Ministry of Justice, who are said to have carried off household utensils, radio and television sets, recording machines, books, cameras and money found on the premises. No acknowledgement has yet been made of complaints filed by the owners.