17 October 1967
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
MORROW SIX INTERCONTINENTAL CONFERENCES INAUGURATING PROCLAMATION PERIOD ANNOUNCE BAHÁ'Í WORLD SIGNIFICANT STEP DEVELOPMENT RELATIONS UNITED NATIONS THROUGH ASSUMPTION BY UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE FUNCTION REPRESENTATION BAHÁ'Í INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CAPACITY NON- GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION AT UNITED NATIONS. TAKE THIS OCCASION EXPRESS NATIONAL ASSEMBLY UNITED STATES AND MILDRED MOTTAHEDEH GRATEFUL LOVING APPRECIATION MANY YEARS DEVOTED TIRELESS SUCCESSFUL SERVICES AS REPRESENTATIVE AND OBSERVER RESPECTIVELY.
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963 to 1986)
Background info:
In 1947 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada was accredited to the United Nations as a national non-governmental organization qualified to be represented at United Nations Conferences through a designated observer. One year later the eight existing National Spiritual Assemblies were recognized collectively as an international non-governmental organization under the title "The Baha'i International Community." Each National Spiritual Assembly designated the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States as its representative at the United Nations. Mrs Mildred Mottahedeh, who also served as a member of the International Baha'i Council from 1961 to 1963, was the observer for the Baha'i International Community for nearly twenty years. The Baha'i International Community, which now includes at least five million believers, 165 National Spiritual Assemblies, and approximately twenty thousand Local Spiritual Assemblies, maintains offices in New York and Geneva that are responsible for relations between the Baha'i International Community and the United Nations.
(Footnotes provided in ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986)
