Two-day Caribbean workshop for SIDS participation in Human Rights Council concludes with adoption of "Georgetown Declaration"

Geneva/Georgetown (21 November 2018) -- Participants at a first of its kind meeting in the Caribbean region have concluded a two-day workshop in the Guyanese capital after having adopted the “Georgetown Declaration: Towards 2022” aimed at enhancing participation of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the UN Human Rights Council.

More than 40 delegates from across the Caribbean region gathered in Georgetown on 19 and 20 November to exchange information and best practices to further the capacity of SIDS to effectively participate in Human Rights Council meetings.  Participating in the unique gathering, supported by the LDCs/SIDS Trust Fund, was Ambassador Vojislav Šuc of Slovenia, President of the Human Rights Council, marking the first time the President of the Geneva-based rights body carried out an official visit to the region.

The Georgetown Declaration sets out a series of recommendations and priorities looking towards 2022 when the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will produce a report outlining the activities of the Trust Fund.  Among the priorities agreed on are concerted efforts to improve the function of the Trust Fund, which has been operational since 2014, and ensuring relevant topics to the Caribbean SIDS were discussed at the Council.

Taking place against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the workshop also encouraged further efforts to develop the capacities of SIDS and Least developed Countries (LDCs) without permanent representation in Geneva, and to increase the number of SIDS members of the Human Rights Council.

In a keynote address, Ambassador Šuc of Slovenia stressed the need for “dialogue and cooperation on all levels”, especially between the Human Rights Council and regional organisations, in order to effectively confront the many “challenges we face amidst our interconnected globalised world”.

The Declaration recognizes the Caribbean workshop to be the first of a series of three such gatherings to be organized before 2022, when the Trust Fund will be celebrating its 10th anniversary.  In this vein, meeting participants requested the convening of a universal session of the Human Rights Council on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Trust Fund in March 2022. 

The document also recalls the “milestone” reached in June 2017 when the Caribbean region became the first of three eligible regions to have received 100 per cent support for all its 14 member States to participate in the work of the Human Rights Council. 

Addressing the opening of the two-day event, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo of Guyana stated: “It is important to note and acknowledge the contribution of the many big and more prosperous states to enable the presence of least developed countries and small-island developing states at the common table to review the changing landscape of human rights issues and to hammer out solutions to specific as well as global challenges.”

Background

The workshop was organized pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/40of 6 April 2017.  This resolution, the second most sponsored resolution since the establishment of the Human Rights Council attracted the support of 120 countries including all 14 member States of the CARICOM.

That resolution encouraged the Trust Fund to hold a series of workshops prior to its tenth anniversary in March 2022, in the three geographical regions that the Trust Fund supports, namely Africa, Asia and the Pacific and the Caribbean.  The objectives of the workshops include: reflecting on its achievements; identifying where further improvements might be made; and assessing the value of its activities in fulfilling its training and capacity-building in support of the engagement of LDCs and SIDS in the work of the HRC and its mechanisms."

ENDS

About the Trust Fund

About the UDHR70 campaign

For more information, please contact: (in Geneva) Fatou Camara-Houel: +41 79 444 3702 or fhouel@ohchr.org

For media inquiries related to the Human Rights Council please contact:  (in Geneva) Rolando Gómez: +41 22 917 9711/ rgomez@ohchr.org