A/HRC/43/22 I. Introduction 1. The present report was prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) pursuant to resolutions 4 (XXXI), 4 (XXXII) and 1987/50 of the Commission on Human Rights, and decision 2/102 of the Human Rights Council. 2. As at 30 November 2019, Cyprus remained divided, with a buffer zone maintained by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP). In its resolution 2483 (2019), the Security Council extended the mandate of UNFICYP until 31 January 2020. It expressed regret at the lack of progress towards a settlement since the conclusion of the 2017 conference on Cyprus and urged the sides and all the participants involved to renew their political will and commitment to a settlement under United Nations auspices, including by engaging actively and with a sense of urgency with senior United Nations official Jane Holl Lute to achieve agreement on terms of reference to enable resultsoriented negotiations leading to a settlement as quickly as possible. 3. On 25 November 2019, the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders met informally with the Secretary-General. They agreed that achieving a comprehensive and durable settlement within a foreseeable horizon was of the utmost importance to the future well-being of both communities and that the status quo was unsustainable. In view of the discussions, the Secretary-General agreed to extend his efforts to achieve terms of reference to serve as a consensus starting point for phased, meaningful and results-oriented negotiations at the earliest feasible opportunity. 1 4. To prepare the present report, in the absence of a human rights presence in Cyprus, OHCHR relied on a variety of sources with particular knowledge of the situation of human rights on the island and on the recent findings of international and regional human rights mechanisms. UNFICYP, the Secretary-General’s good offices mission, the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and various stakeholders were consulted in the preparation of the report. II. Challenges for the implementation of international human rights standards 5. United Nations human rights mechanisms have voiced their concerns at the factors and difficulties impeding the implementation of international human rights standards on the whole island owing to its continued division. United Nations treaty bodies and the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review have addressed questions and made recommendations to Cyprus in this regard. 6. The two documents prepared by OHCHR for the third universal periodic review of Cyprus contained information related to the division and chapters on the northern part of Cyprus (see A/HRC/WG.6/32/CYP/2 and A/HRC/WG.6/32/CYP/3). During the meeting of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review on 29 January 2019, the delegation of Cyprus stated that “the most serious obstacle to the enjoyment of human rights by the people of Cyprus was the continued illegal occupation of about one third of its territory by a foreign country since 1974” (A/HRC/41/15, para. 24). A number of States raised questions and made comments and recommendations regarding human rights issues related to the continued division. These included a statement recognizing that the unresolved Cyprus issue hindered the full enjoyment of human rights, including property rights, as well as recognizing other human rights violations in the area not under the effective control of the Government (ibid., para. 120). 1 2 Statement of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, 25 November 2019, available at www.uncyprustalks.org/secretary-generals-statement-on-cyprus-25-november-2019/.