Bahamas

March 2017: Attended GRULAC briefing hosted by Costa Rica on the Buenos Aires conference. Sent follow-up email requesting information about work on gang violence.

April 2017: Attended post-conference briefing for missions in New York.

June 2017: GCPEA met with the expert in the Mission of the Bahamas. She is personally convinced and strongly supportive of the Declaration. She promised to recommend endorsement but is struggling to make her colleagues in capital consider it as they view the context of armed conflict as irrelevant to them. We discussed the issue of attacks on education in the Bahamas and how the practical implementation of the Declaration can also contribute to protecting education in the Bahamas’ context. I shared with her the Ministries, Schools and technical guide paper and how they can offer advice. She was also interested to know which partners might be able to give more concrete advice to them on better protecting schools. I mentioned some of our member organisations and how they are supporting other states in this work. We also discussed the role the Bahamas could play in the region and internationally by endorsing the Declaration and elevating the issue in various fora. She will make a recommendation but with no guarantees (of course) that it will lead to any action.

May 2017: Statement at open debate on PoC urging that all educational institutions and specialist schools should be kept out of harm’s way in the planning and conduct of hostilities.

June 2017: GCPEA issued a thank-you letter and urged endorsement.

September 2017: GCPEA met with the expert in the Mission in Geneva who again expressed her support, but advised that it is difficult to engage her capital. She suggested that a visit to Nassau could be useful.

August 2018: Sent an email to the mission in Geneva requesting a meeting. No response.

December 2018: Meeting requests sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security, and Education in Nassau.

January 2019: Zama is planning a visit to capital to meet with the relevant Ministries.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” .

March 2019: GCPEA (Zama) conducted an advocacy visit to capital. She met with the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Deputy Director of Education of the Ministry of Education to encourage endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration in advance of the Spain conference. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded positively to the advocacy argument that endorsement will be timely as the Bahamas leads the preparation of the Ministerial statement of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development this summer. The HLPF will review SDG 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education.

June 2020: Zama and Nevena had a positive meeting with the Third Secretary of the Mission of the Bahamas in New York. She is personally convinced and supportive of the Declaration. She transmitted our letter to capital and promised to make a recommendation. Here are the highlights from our conversation: She asked about the relationship between the Guidelines and IHL and wanted to hear more about implementation of the Declaration. She highlighted that they use government buildings during crisis and that endorsement would require changes to their legislation. GCPEA explained that this isn’t precluded by the Guidelines. I underlined their key role as a current HRC member and that they could place the issue of the protection of education in this fora.

October 2022: On 28 October, we met in person with the H.E. Mr. Smith, Ambassador in NY, and Mr. Matthew Moxey, First Secretary. The Ambassador was not familiar with the issue so we provided a full brief on the SSD and attacks on education. He made a commitment that his country would endorse the Declaration and asked us for a summary of the key points to share with his capital. He personally committed to follow-up with his capital to ensure that they endorse, as he sees no reason why they cannot do it. It was a very positive meeting.

November 2022: On 30 November, Nevena met with the Ambassador and First Secretary at the Mission in Geneva. We had a very detailed discussion on where attacks are occurring, how the SSD can protect students, teachers, and educational facilities, and how this initiative is relevant for countries in the Caribbean region. The Ambassador reacted very positively. She highlighted that Zama had conducted a visit to Nassau in 2019, and that we recently had a meeting with the Ambassador in New York who was very positive too. She encouraged them to check with their New York Mission, and to follow-up with capital.

November 2022: Following Colombia’s endorsement to the SSD, GCPEA convinced and supported the Permanent Mission of Argentina in Geneva to send a Note Verbale to the remaining GRULAC non-endorsing states: Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela – encouraging them to endorse the SSD.