A/HRC/28/20 of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Turkey declared that it would implement the provisions of the Convention “only to the States parties with which it has diplomatic relations”. It added that it ratified the Convention exclusively “with regard to the national territory where the Constitution and the legal and administrative order of the Republic of Turkey are applied.” Furthermore, it made the reservation that it did not consider itself bound by article 22 of the Convention. “The explicit consent of the Republic of Turkey is necessary in each individual case before any dispute to which the Republic of Turkey is party concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention may be referred to the International Court of Justice.” 11. In its combined fourth to sixth periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, received on 10 February 2014, the Government of Turkey expressed the view that its declarations and reservation were permissible under international law and compatible with the object and purpose of the Convention.9 This was in reference to the concluding observations of the Committee made at its seventy-fourth session, when it had noted that the reservation to article 22 and the two declarations on the implementation and the territorial applicability of the Convention made by Turkey upon ratification could affect the full implementation of the Convention, and encouraged Turkey to consider withdrawing its reservation and declarations, including removal of the territorial limitation to the application of the Convention. 10 With regard to similarly worded declarations made by Turkey at the time of ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Human Rights Committee expressed concern in its concluding observations adopted at its 106th session, and stressed that Turkey should ensure that all persons under its jurisdiction and effective control were afforded the full enjoyment of the rights enshrined in the Covenant. 11 As emphasized by the Human Rights Committee in its general comment No. 31, “a State party must respect and ensure the rights laid down [in international human rights treaties] to anyone within the power or effective control of that State party, even if not situated within the territory of the State party.”12 III. Specific human rights concerns 12. The persisting division of Cyprus continues to have consequences on human rights throughout the whole island, including (a) the right to life and the question of missing persons; (b) the principle of non-discrimination; (c) freedom of movement; (d) property rights; (e) freedom of religion and cultural rights; (f) freedom of opinion and expression; and (g) the right to education. In addition, it is important that a gender perspective be adopted when negotiating and implementing peace agreements (see paras. 47 – 51 below). A. Right to life and the question of missing persons 13. According to article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Furthermore, article 1 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance provides that any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to human dignity, placing the persons subjected thereto outside the protection of the law and inflicting severe suffering on them and their 9 10 11 12 CERD/C/TUR/4-6, para. 4. CERD/C/TUR/CO/3, para. 8. CCPR/C/TUR/CO/1, para. 5. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13, para. 10. See also A/HRC/22/18, para. 10, and A/HRC/25/21, para. 11. 5