Resolution 2723 (2024)
Adopted by the Security Council at its 9539th meeting, on 30 January 2024
The Security Council,
Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General of 3 January 2024 on his Good Offices (S/2024/13) and on the United Nations operation in Cyprus (S/2024/12), and expressing its full support for his Good Offices, including the existing body of work, to remain available to assist the sides,
Underscoring that the responsibility for finding a solution lies first and foremost with the Cypriots themselves, and reaffirming the primary role of the United Nations in assisting the parties to bring the Cyprus conflict and division of the island to a comprehensive and durable settlement with a sense of urgency,
Expressing its appreciation for the continuing personal engagement of the Secretary-General and that of his team, and welcoming the Secretary-General’s appointment of a Personal Envoy to assume a good offices role on his behalf to lead further engagement in the search for common ground with the goal of returning to formal negotiations,
Expressing full support for the Secretary-General’s ongoing efforts and reiterating the importance of openness, flexibility and compromise in finding common ground with the goal of returning to formal negotiations, and urging the sides to renew their efforts to achieve an enduring, comprehensive and just settlement based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as set out in relevant Security Council resolutions, including paragraph 4 of its resolution 716 (1991),
Noting the need for further progress towards restarting formal negotiations, strongly encouraging all parties to seize the opportunity presented by the Secretary-General’s appointment of a Personal Envoy, and stressing that the status quo is unsustainable, that the situation on the ground is not static, and that the lack of an agreement furthers political tensions and deepens the estrangement of both communities, risking irreversible changes on the ground, and reducing the prospects of a settlement,
Urging both sides and all involved parties to take steps to de-escalate tensions in and around the Buffer Zone, underlining the importance of respect for the integrity and inviolability of the Buffer Zone and UNFICYP’s mandated authority therein,
Recalling its Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2021/13), and all relevant resolutions and statements of its President regarding Varosha,
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Recalling its resolution 1325 (2000) and all related resolutions, recognising that the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of women is essential in building peace in Cyprus and will contribute to making any future settlement sustainable, welcoming efforts to bring together a broader range of women actors on both sides and underlining the importance of fully implementing the joint Action Plan on ways to ensure women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace talks, and encouraging the sides to ensure the needs and perspectives of women are addressed in a future settlement,
Recalling its resolution 2250 (2015) and related resolutions that recognise the important and positive contribution of youth in efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and as a key aspect of the sustainability, inclusiveness and success of peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts, and further encouraging the full, equal and meaningful participation of youth in this process,
Recalling the critical importance of full adherence to applicable international law in the handling of asylum seekers and refugees,
Recalling the Secretary-General’s finding that the socioeconomic disparity between the two Cypriot communities has widened further, and recognising that this risks leading to further estrangement on the island,
Expressing concern at the continued deterioration of the law and order situation in Pyla, welcoming the effective coordination by both sides through the extension of Joint Contact Room to Pyla, and urging both sides to continue to work with UNFICYP to establish effective measures to tackle criminal activities,
Stressing the importance of confidence-building measures and their timely implementation, and strongly encouraging the sides to continue engaging with each other in this regard, including to consider new military confidence building measures,
Urging the sides to step up their efforts to promote intercommunal contacts, intra-island trade, reconciliation and the active engagement of civil society, in particular women and youth, recognising that regular, effective contact and communication between the sides enhances the prospects for settlement and is in the interests of all Cypriots, and helps to address island-wide matters, including health, crime, environmental protection, economic issues, issues related to the adverse impacts of climate change, and challenges related to migration, welcoming efforts to remove obstacles to intra-island trade and urging both sides to strengthen such efforts,
Noting that the Government of Cyprus is agreed that in view of the prevailing conditions on the island it is necessary to keep the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) beyond 31 January 2024,
Welcoming measures to date to strengthen the liaison and engagement capacity of the mission, noting the importance of transition planning in relation to the settlement and in line with resolution 2594 (2021) and other relevant resolutions, and emphasising the need to review regularly all peacekeeping operations, including UNFICYP, to ensure efficiency and effectiveness,
Expressing appreciation to Member States that contribute personnel to UNFICYP, and noting the continued voluntary contributions to the funding of UNFICYP by the Government of Cyprus and the Government of Greece,
Noting with appreciation the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Special Representative Colin Stewart,
1. Reaffirms all its relevant resolutions on Cyprus, in particular resolution 1251 (1999) and recalls the importance of achieving an enduring, comprehensive and just settlement based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as
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set out in relevant Security Council resolutions, including paragraph 4 of its resolution 716 (1991);
2. Fully supports the Secretary-General’s ongoing engagement with the sides and encourages further rounds of informal talks and reiterates the importance of the sides and all involved participants approaching this process in the spirit of openness, flexibility and compromise and showing the necessary political will and commitment to freely negotiate a mutually acceptable settlement under United Nations auspices, and continues to urge the sides to engage actively and without further delay with the Secretary-General and his team to this end;
3. Welcomes the appointment of the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy to assume a good offices role on his behalf and further encourages the sides to engage constructively with the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy in the search for common ground with the goal of returning to formal negotiations for a lasting settlement in Cyprus;
4. Recalls the status of Varosha as set out in relevant resolutions, including resolutions 550 (1984) and 789 (1992), and its Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2021/13) which condemns the 20 July 2021 announcement by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the further reopening of a part of the fenced-off area of Varosha, expresses deep regret regarding the continuation of unilateral actions that run contrary to its previous resolutions and statements on Varosha and calls for the immediate reversal of this course of action and of all steps taken on Varosha since October 2020, deeply regrets the ongoing disregard of this call for immediate reversal, cautions against any further actions in relation to Varosha that are not in accordance with its resolutions, emphasises that any further unilateral action may prompt a response from the Security Council and continues to stress the need to avoid any unilateral actions that could raise tensions on the island and undermine the prospects for a peaceful settlement;
5. Recalls its press statement (SC/15391) of 21 August 2023 which condemns the assaults against UN peacekeepers and damage to UN vehicles by Turkish Cypriot personnel near Pyla/Pile on 18 August 2023, welcomes the Special Representative of the Secretary-General’s engagement with all parties to reach an understanding regarding arrangements for the Pyla/Pile plateau as outlined in paragraph 11 of the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/12), regrets that the emergence of new issues has resulted in a pause in all work and urges all parties concerned to work constructively with UNFICYP to implement the Pyla/Pile understanding as an important confidence building measure;
6. Expresses concern at the continuing tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and underlines that disputes should be resolved peacefully in accordance with applicable international law, remains convinced of the many important benefits, including economic benefits, for all Cypriots and the wider region that would flow from a comprehensive and durable settlement, reiterates the Secretary-General’s previous call to avoid escalatory steps, and further calls upon the leaders of the two Cypriot communities and all involved parties to refrain from any actions and rhetoric that might damage the settlement process and that could raise tensions on the island;
7. Recalls its resolution 2674 (2023) and calls upon the two leaders urgently to:
(a) reinvigorate their efforts to provide the necessary support and overall guidance to free the Technical Committees from political obstructions in their work and enable them to function effectively in coordination and cooperation on matters which have island-wide implications, overcoming recent political blockages that have slowed or obstructed progress, including through the effective use of the expertise available in the bicommunal Technical Committees on Health, Criminal Matters,
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Crisis Management, Humanitarian Affairs and Economic Matters, and to empower them to submit proposals for their consideration to enhance intercommunal contacts and improve the daily lives of all Cypriots, and consider the advice of the Good Offices Mission of the Secretary-General regarding further ways to empower the Technical Committees, improve their performance and protect and insulate them from wider political discussions;
(b) ensure effective coordination and cooperation on criminal matters;
(c) strengthen efforts to promote peace education across the island, including by reinvigorating the Technical Committee on Education and empowering it to implement the recommendations contained in its joint report of 2017, in particular those concerning policy-making, and to address impediments to peace by conducting a joint review of school materials, including text books, as a contribution to trust-building between the communities, on which there continues to be no progress, and by supporting peace education projects aimed at increasing contact and collaboration among the communities in Cyprus and facilitating the meaningful participation of youth in the peace process;
(d) improve the public atmosphere for negotiation to secure a settlement, including by preparing the communities for a settlement through public messages on the way ahead, and delivering more constructive and harmonised messages, including by more explicitly encouraging contact and cooperation between the communities and providing direct support to grassroots people-to-people initiatives, and by refraining from actions or rhetoric that detracts from a successful process or could make it more difficult to achieve;
(e) increase their support to, and ensure a meaningful role for, civil society engagement in peace efforts, in particular strengthening the participation of women’s organisations and youth in the process, and to support implementation of the recommendations of the gender sensitive socioeconomic impact assessment to address existing barriers and ensure a future peace agreement can more equally benefit men and women in Cyprus;
8. Regrets the ongoing lack of full, equal and meaningful participation of women and the participation of youth in the Settlement process, but welcomes the Action Plan on women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in the settlement process, to support and encourage engagement with civil society, including women’s organisations and women leaders, and to include a gender perspective in a future settlement process and urges the leaders of both sides as a matter of priority to support the Technical Committee on Gender Equality to accelerate the thorough and effective implementation of all recommendations under the Action Plan, and to review implementation of the plan every six months and provide recommendations as appropriate, and continues to note the Secretary-General’s call to ensure the inclusion of at least 30 per cent women in future delegations;
9. Deeply regrets the lack of progress on an effective mechanism for direct military contacts between the sides and the relevant involved parties, and urges flexibility and engagement by the sides and the relevant involved parties, facilitated by UNFICYP, to develop a suitably acceptable proposal on the establishment of such a mechanism, and its timely implementation;
10. Calls upon the sides to reduce existing barriers to intercommunal contact, emphasizes the importance of effective communication for risk-mitigation and trust-building between the communities, and in this regard welcomes the continuation of the regular dialogue between the sides and the United Nations, urges the sides to agree and implement further confidence building measures that can contribute to a conducive environment for settlement, including those related to the military,
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economic cooperation and trade, and including through the work of the Technical Committees, welcomes the continued flow of trade across the Green Line, while noting that trade levels have not yet reached their full potential, and encourages further progress on the removal of remaining obstacles and the opening of new crossing points and expansion of bicommunal contact, reiterates its support for the proposal of the Secretary-General for a dialogue between the parties and the Special Representative to explore a possible agreement on surveillance technology and unmanning of positions adjacent to the buffer zone but continues to regret the lack of progress in this regard to date;
11. Commends the ongoing work of the Committee on Missing Persons, and calls upon all parties to enhance their cooperation with the Committee’s work, in particular through providing full access without delay to all areas and responding in a timely manner to requests for archival information on possible burial sites;
12. Expresses its full support for UNFICYP, and decides to extend its mandate for a further period ending on 31 January 2025 affirms its intention to continue to monitor the situation in Cyprus closely and further affirms its readiness to review the implementation of this resolution as necessary, taking into account the advice of the Secretary-General in the reports requested in paragraph 24 of this resolution;
13. Condemns the continued violations of the military status quo along the ceasefire lines, the reported encroachment by both sides into the Buffer Zone and the risks associated, the challenges to the mission’s delineation of the Buffer Zone and the reported increase in number and severity of military violations and unauthorised construction as outlined in paragraphs 10, 17, 18, 19 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27 and 32, of the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/12) which poses significant challenges to UNFICYP’s operations and mandated authority;
14. Strongly urges the sides and all involved parties to respect UNFICYP’s mandated authority in and delineation of the Buffer Zone and to refrain from unilateral actions in contravention thereof, notes that the Security Council recognizes UNFICYP’s delineation of the Buffer Zone and expresses particular concern over the reported trend of repeated move forward violations across the northern ceasefire line and challenges to the status quo of the Buffer Zone in certain areas, reaffirms the importance of the use of the 2018 United Nations aide-memoire by the sides to ensure peace and security in the Buffer Zone, continues to request the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council and troop- and police-contributing countries any actions that impede UNFICYP’s ability to fulfil its mandate, including risks to the integrity of the Buffer Zone, as well as the safety, security, access and freedom of movement of UNFICYP personnel, and all instances of interference with UNFICYP’s activities across the island by all actors and efforts to hold perpetrators of such actions accountable, as applicable, and calls urgently on both sides to respect the integrity and inviolability of the Buffer Zone, to remove all unauthorised constructions and to prevent unauthorised military or civilian activities within and along the ceasefire lines;
15. Stresses that UNFICYP’s mandated authority extends throughout Cyprus, calls on all parties to continue to cooperate with UNFICYP and strongly urges full respect for UNFICYP’s freedom of movement throughout Cyprus and the cessation of all restrictions on the mission’s movement and access, including to ensure systematic and effective monitoring and reporting by the mission particularly on the situation in Varosha, as well as elsewhere, stresses that restrictions on freedom of movement can present serious risks to the safety and security of United Nations personnel serving in peacekeeping operations, welcomes UNFICYP making use of relevant tools to enhance its situational awareness and encourages further progress in this regard within existing resources and, as appropriate, in consultation with parties within existing practice, requests the Secretary-General, Member States and all
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parties to strengthen their efforts to take all appropriate measures to ensure the safety and security and freedom of movement of UNFICYP personnel with unhindered and immediate access, in line with resolution 2518 (2020);
16. Expresses concern over unauthorised or criminal activities in the Buffer Zone and the risks they pose to peacekeeper safety and security, condemns any attack on UNFICYP and its personnel and calls for the perpetrators of such attacks to be held to account;
17. Underlines the importance of a proactive approach to strategic communications, and requests UNFICYP to strengthen its existing efforts to monitor and to counter disinformation and misinformation;
18. Reiterates its 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 reaffirms that UNFICYP’s freedom of movement should be respected;
19. Continues to urge the leaders of both communities to agree and continue a plan of work to achieve a mine-free Cyprus, and to overcome the existing barriers to this work as outlined in paragraph 24 of the Secretary-General’s report (S/2024/12), in order to make expeditious progress towards clearing the 29 remaining suspected hazardous areas on the island;
20. Requests the Secretary-General to implement the following activities and existing obligations in the planning and conduct of UNFICYP’s operations within the limits of the mandate and area of operations and in line with existing United Nations guidelines and regulations:
(a) women, peace and security requirements under resolution 1325 (2000) and all resolutions addressing women, peace, and security, including by seeking to increase the number of women in UNFICYP in line with resolution 2538 (2020), including through ensuring the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women at all levels, and in all aspects of its operations including senior leadership positions, and through ensuring safe, enabling and gender-sensitive working environments for women in peacekeeping operations, as well as taking fully into account gender considerations as a crosscutting issue throughout its mandate, and reaffirming the importance of sufficient gender expertise in all mission components and capacity strengthening in executing the mission mandate in a gender-responsive manner;
(b) peacekeeping performance requirements under resolutions 2378 (2017) and 2436 (2018);
(c) the United Nations zero-tolerance policies on serious misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, and sexual harassment, and all actions under resolution 2272 (2016), and to report to the Security Council if such cases of misconduct occur;
(d) implementing more effective casualty and medical evacuation procedures, as well as deploying enhanced medical evacuation capacities;
(e) taking active and effective measures to improve the planning and functioning of UNFICYP’s safety and security facilities and arrangements;
(f) youth, peace and security requirements under resolutions 2250 (2015), 2419 (2018) and 2535 (2020);
21. Urges troop- and police-contributing countries to continue taking appropriate action to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, including vetting, predeployment and in-mission awareness training for all personnel, to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct involving their personnel, including through timely investigations of all allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse, to take appropriate disciplinary measures, and to report to the United Nations fully and
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promptly on actions undertaken, and calls on the Secretary-General, in line with Security Council resolutions 2272 (2016) and 2436 (2018), to repatriate units when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse by those units;
22. Requests troop- and police-contributing countries to implement relevant provisions of resolution 2538 (2020) and all other relevant resolutions on reducing barriers to and increasing women’s participation at all levels and in all positions in peacekeeping, including by ensuring safe, enabling and gender-sensitive working environments for women in peacekeeping operations;
23. Notes the United Nations Department of Operational Support’s Environment Strategy (phase II), which emphasises good stewardship of resources and a positive legacy of the mission, and identifies the goal of expanded renewable energy use in missions to enhance safety and security, save costs, offer efficiencies and benefit the mission;
24. Requests the Secretary-General to submit two reports, by 4 July 2024 and 3 January 2025 respectively, on his Good Offices, in particular on progress towards reaching a consensus starting point for meaningful results-oriented negotiations leading to a settlement, encourages the leaders of the two communities to provide written updates every six months to the Good Offices Mission of the Secretary-General on the actions they have taken in support of the relevant parts of this resolution since its adoption, in particular with regard to paragraphs 7, 8, 9 and 10, with a view to reaching a sustainable and comprehensive settlement, and further requests the Secretary-General to include the contents of these updates in his Good Offices reports; further requests the Secretary-General to submit two reports, by 4 July 2024 and 3 January 2025 respectively, on the implementation of this resolution that provides integrated, evidence-based and data-driven analysis, strategic assessments and frank advice to the Security Council, drawing on data collected and analysed through the Comprehensive Planning and Performance Assessment System (CPAS), the mission’s implementation of the Integrated Peacekeeping Performance and Accountability Framework (IPPAF) and other strategic planning and performance measurement tools to describe the mission’s impact and overall mission performance, including information on undeclared caveats, declining to participate in or undertake patrols and their impact on the mission, and how the reported cases of under-performance are addressed, and to keep the Security Council updated on events as necessary;
25. Decides to remain seized of the matter.