Secretary General of the United Nations acknowledges Confidence-Building measures by the Religious Track (RTCYPP) in his report to the Security Council
In his latest 6-month report, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres, acknowledges the recent steps taken by the religious leaders of Cyprus to build confidence between the communities on the island and recommends that all restrictions on the freedom of worship, including those relating to access to religious sites, should be lifted.
The Secretary General expresses his appreciation for the commitment of the religious leaders of Cyprus to joint dialogue and the promotion of religious freedom supported by the Office of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process under the auspices of the Embassy of Sweden (RTCYPP).
Referring to the RTCYPP, Mr. António Guterres emphasizes the unprecedented joint initiative by the religious leaders to approve “Greek and Turkish language classes for members of the clerical orders, nuns and laypersons working in different religious institutions.” The Secretary General also acknowledges the third RTCYPP Round Table for Human Rights, organized in cooperation with UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), for its efforts in bringing together representatives from 16 religious groups and civil society organizations in Cyprus to discuss human rights.
The Secretary General also recognized the significance of religious services and pilgrimages as constituting a significant confidence-building measure. In that light he underlined the special pilgrimages to Hala Sultan Tekke, which is one of the achievements of the RTCYPP, where with the cooperation of UNFICYP, the Mufti of Cyprus and the full support of Archbishop of the Church of Cyprus a total of 2270 Muslim pilgrims of Turkish origin were able to pray in Hala Sultan Tekke during the reporting period.
The report to the Security Council mentions that UNFICYP has noted with concern the decline in the number of applications for religious services that it was asked to facilitate in the north, and a decline in numbers of approvals for such services, in comparison to the same period in 2016. The Secretary General states that the UN Mission in Cyprus remains also concerned about other restrictions that hampered religious worship on the island, including time limitations on religious worship in mosques in the south.
The 6-month report of the Secretary General (Reference: S/2018/25) on the operation in Cyprus was presented to members of the UN Security Council on 17 January when the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate for an additional six more months was discussed.
Reports of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Cyprus are made twice a year and cover UNFICYPs operations and the political developments on the island.
Full extract of the UN Secretary General references to the RTCYPP is found here below.
Extracts from the UN Secretary General’s 6 months’ report on the Operation in Cyprus (9 January 2018)
Paragraph 24. Opportunities to visit and hold services at religious sites continue to be important to both communities. During the reporting period, UNFICYP facilitated the participation of more than 5,375 people in 34 religious and commemorative activities either in the buffer zone, or at the required crossings to the other side, of which 27 were in the north and seven in the buffer zone. During the same period in 2016, a total of 36 services and commemorative events were held (29 were in the north, 7 in the buffer zone). Separately, UNFICYP facilitated crossings of nearly 2,270 pilgrims from the northern part of Cyprus to the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque in Larnaca on 26 June, 5 September and 29 November respectively. The pilgrimage on 29 November was the eleventh following the joint agreement of the religious leaders in 2014.
Paragraph 25. Given that such events constitute a significant confidence-building measure, UNFICYP noted with concern the decline in the number of applications for religious services that it was asked to facilitate in the north, and a decline in numbers of approvals for such services, in comparison to the same period in 2016. The Mission remained concerned about other restrictions that hampered religious worship on the island, including time limitations on religious worship in mosques in the south. All restrictions on the freedom of worship, including those relating to access to religious sites, should be lifted.
Paragraph 26. The religious leaders of Cyprus sustained their commitment to joint dialogue and the promotion of religious freedom within the framework of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process under the auspices of the Embassy of Sweden, with ongoing support from UNFICYP. During the reporting period, the religious leaders undertook an unprecedented joint initiative by approving Greek and Turkish language classes for members of the clerical orders, nuns and laypersons working in different religious institutions. The participants meet each other weekly in the buffer zone, broadening the circle of dialogue and cooperation between these religious institutions.
Paragraph 27. In cooperation with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on 28 September the Office of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process convened the third round table on human rights since 2013. OHCHR introduced Faith For Rights, an initiative launched in March 2017 via the Beirut Declaration, in which faith-based civil society actors recognized “religious or belief convictions as a source for the protection of the whole spectrum of inalienable human entitlements”. Religious leaders and representatives from 16 religious groups and civil society organizations joined the discussion in Cyprus, and the Beirut Declaration and its 18 Commitments were translated into Greek and Turkish by the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process.