The Bahamas participated in the Pacific Regional Workshop of the Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to support the participation of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the work of the Human Rights Council (HRC), held from 17 to 20 November 2025 in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, through the virtual intervention of Ms. Sasha Dixon, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of The Bahamas to the United Nations in Geneva and technical-level focal point for the CARICOM Group on human rights matters in Geneva.

Ms. Dixon participated as a panellist during the Fifth Plenary Session on 18 November, dedicated to “Sharing experiences and lessons learned from other regions (Asia and the Caribbean)”.

At the outset of her remarks, Ms. Dixon underscored the strong and growing ties between the Caribbean and the Pacific, rooted in their shared identity as SIDS and a common commitment to advancing climate justice and human rights. She highlighted the longstanding cooperation between the two regions at the HRC, including collaboration within the Informal SIDS Group in Geneva and joint efforts on key climate-related mandates such as the Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change and the recent resolution on sea-level rise and human rights. She further commended the Pacific’s leadership in securing the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change, whose guidance was recognised for the first time by the Human Rights Council in 2025.

In her intervention, Ms. Dixon shared experiences of how CARICOM States have engaged the HRC with the support of the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund, as well as partners such as the Commonwealth Small States Office in Geneva, underlining the progress made in strengthening CARICOM participation and visibility at the Council since 2017. She highlighted CARICOM’s milestone as the first of the Fund’s three eligible regions to have all of its Member States benefit from the Trust Fund, with nearly 50 delegates supported to date.

She also spoke to the significant increase in CARICOM group statements, from one in 2017 to seventeen (17) in 2023, as well as to the region’s growing engagement in side-events and resolution leadership. Notably, she shared the example of the first CARICOM-led resolution adopted by consensus in October 2023 to establish the Regional Office of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for CARICOM, hosted by The Bahamas, as an outcome of regional political will and collaboration under Agenda Item 10 of the HRC on technical assistance and capacity-building.

Ms. Dixon also reflected on how these efforts align with the priorities articulated in the Nadi Declaration Towards 2022, adopted in 2019 in Fiji at the Trust Fund’s previous Pacific Workshop, including the call for strengthened regional participation, attention to the climate crisis, and the establishment of the Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change, a mandate championed, by Pacific States led by the Marshall Islands as penholder and also including Fiji, alongside The Bahamas and others, as members of the core group.

She welcomed the growing number of CARICOM States with permanent representation in Geneva—now eight out of fourteen, up from four in 2012—and pointed to the establishment of an increasing number of National Mechanisms for Implementation, Reporting and Follow-up (NMIRFs) in CARICOM States, as a promising institutional development in the region.

Finally, Ms. Dixon underscored the importance of defending inclusive modalities for participation at the Council and called for renewed voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund, recalling that The Bahamas became the first beneficiary State to contribute symbolically in 2020 in the spirit of South-South cooperation.

Through its participation, The Bahamas reaffirmed its commitment to regional cooperation among SIDS, to inclusive and equitable participation in the Council’s work, and to strengthening the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund as a vital mechanism for ensuring the voices of small States are heard and supported at the global level.

During the ensuing interactive dialogue with the participants at the Workshop, in response to questions and comments raised, Ms. Dixon shared experiences of The Bahamas including in opening a new Mission in Geneva, campaigning for membership of the Human Rights Council and ways to continue leveraging the guidance of the landmark ICJ advisory opinion in the context of the Human Rights Council.