The UN Security Council is expected to adopt today during an open session the resolution which will renew for further six months the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
In the final draft of the resolution, which was agreed upon last Tuesday it is noted that the Security Council acknowledges the progress made so far in the fully fledged negotiations, but notes that this has not been sufficient and has not yet resulted in a comprehensive and durable settlement, and urges the sides to continue their discussions to reach decisive progress on the core issues.
It recalls Security Council resolution 2026 (2011), and calls upon the two leaders to: (a) Put their efforts behind further work on reaching convergences on the core issues; (b) Continue to work with the Technical Committees with the objective of improving the daily lives of the Cypriots; (c) Improve the public atmosphere for the negotiations, including by focusing public messages on convergences and the way ahead, and delivering more constructive and harmonised messages; and (d) Increase the participation of civil society in the process as appropriate.
It also urges the implementation of confidence-building measures, and looks forward to agreement on and implementation of further such steps, including military confidence building measures and the opening of other crossing points, while welcoming all efforts to accommodate the Committee on Missing Persons exhumation requirements and calls upon all parties to provide full access.
It expresses full support for UNFICYP and decides to extend its mandate for a further period ending 31 July 2014, and calls on both sides to continue to engage, as a matter of urgency and while respecting UNFICYP’s mandate, in consultations with UNFICYP on the demarcation of the buffer zone, and on the United Nations 1989 aide-memoire, with a view to reaching early agreement on outstanding issues.
It also calls on the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkish forces to restore in Strovilia the military status quo which existed there prior to 30 June 2000 and calls on both sides to allow access to deminers and to facilitate the removal of the remaining mines in Cyprus within the buffer zone, and urges both sides to extend demining operations outside the buffer zone.
The UN SC requests the Secretary-General to submit a report on implementation of this resolution, including on contingency planning in relation to the settlement, by 10 July 2014 and to keep the Security Council updated on events as necessary.
It also welcomes the efforts being undertaken by UNFICYP to implement the Secretary-General’s zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and to ensure full compliance of its personnel with the United Nations code of conduct, requests the Secretary-General to continue to take all necessary action in this regard and to keep the Security Council informed, and urges troop-contributing countries to take appropriate preventive action including the conduct of pre-deployment awareness training, and to take disciplinary action and other action to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct involving their personnel.
The Republic of Cyprus, an EU member state since 2004, is divided since the Turkish invasion in 1974. Turkey, since then, occupies 37% of Cyprus` territory.
