A/HRC/13/24 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 2 March 2010 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirteenth session Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the question of human rights in Cyprus Note by the Secretary-General* The present report has been prepared in accordance with the mandate contained in Commission on Human Rights resolution 4 (XXXI) of 1975. Moreover, at its forty-third session in 1987, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 1987/50 entitled “Question of human rights in Cyprus”, which, inter alia, reiterated its previous calls for the full restoration of all human rights to the population of Cyprus, in particular to refugees; called for the tracing of and accounting for missing persons in Cyprus without any further delay; and called for the restoration and respect of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Cypriots, including freedom of movement, the freedom of settlement and the right to property. It is in this light that this report reflects a variety of human rights concerns. In its decision 2/102, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to “continue with the fulfilment of their activities, in accordance with all previous decisions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and to update the relevant reports and studies”. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) understands decision 2/102 to preserve the previous annual reporting cycle in respect of this issue until otherwise decided by the Council. The last annual report on the question of human rights in Cyprus was submitted to the Council at its tenth session in March 2009 (A/HRC/10/37). The annex to this note, prepared by OHCHR and covering the period up to 31 December 2009, is herewith transmitted to the Council. It provides an overview of human rights issues in Cyprus based on the available information. For the purpose of this report, in the absence of an OHCHR field presence in Cyprus, or of any specific monitoring mechanism, OHCHR has relied on a variety of sources with particular knowledge of the human rights situation on the island. * Late submission. GE.10-11644 (E) 050310