UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/10/37 5 March 2009 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Tenth 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* In its decision 2/102, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General and the United Nations 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 United Nations 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. On the question of human rights in Cyprus, a comprehensive annual report (A/HRC/7/46) was submitted to the Council at its seventh session in March 2008. The annex to the present report, prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is herewith transmitted to the Council. It covers the period up to 20 December 2008 and provides an overview of human rights issues in Cyprus based on such information as is available. For the purpose of this report, in the absence of an OHCHR field presence in Cyprus, or of any specific monitoring mechanism, OHCHR relied on a variety of sources with particular knowledge of the human rights situation on the island. * Late submission. GE.09-11709 (E) 110309