Security Council resolution 2506 (2020) [on extension of the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2020]
Symbol: S/RES/2506 (2020)
Date: 2020-01-30
Status: adopted
Agenda: S/75 [43] UN PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN CYPRUS
S/75 [42] CYPRUS QUESTION
S/ X The situation in Cyprus.
Subjects: UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus|PEACEBUILDING|CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES|PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS|GOOD OFFICES|CYPRUS|CYPRUS QUESTION
Votes in favour: 15
Votes against: 0
Abstentions: 0
Voting record:
country: BELGIUM
vote: yes
country: CHINA
vote: yes
country: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
vote: yes
country: ESTONIA
vote: yes
country: FRANCE
vote: yes
country: GERMANY
vote: yes
country: INDONESIA
vote: yes
country: NIGER
vote: yes
country: RUSSIAN FEDERATION
vote: yes
country: SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
vote: yes
country: SOUTH AFRICA
vote: yes
country: TUNISIA
vote: yes
country: UNITED KINGDOM
vote: yes
country: UNITED STATES
vote: yes
country: VIET NAM
vote: yes

               United Nations                                                                    S/RES/2506 (2020)
               Security Council                                                  Distr.: General
                                                                                 30 January 2020




               Resolution 2506 (2020)
               Adopted by the Security Council at its 8709th meeting, on
               30 January 2020

                    The Security Council,
                     Welcoming the report of the Secretary-General of 14 November 2019 on his
               Good Offices (S/2019/883) and of 7 January 2020 on the United Nations operation in
               Cyprus (S/2020/23), and expressing its full support for his Good Offices to remain
               available to assist the sides, should they jointly decide to re -engage in negotiations
               with the necessary political will,
                     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,
                     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), and stressing that the status quo is unsustainable,
                     Expressing deep concern at the further escalation and increased tensions in the
               eastern Mediterranean over hydrocarbons exploration, convinced of the many
               important benefits, including economic benefits, for all Cypriots that would flow from
               a comprehensive and durable settlement, and reiterating the Secretary-General’s call
               for serious efforts to avoid any further escalation and to defuse tensions,
                     Recalling its resolution 1325 (2000) and 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, encouraging the sides to ensure the unique concerns of women are
               addressed in a future settlement, and looking forward to the outcome of the gendersensitive socio-economic impact assessment requested in its resolution 2453 (2019),
                     Recalling its resolution 2250 (2015) that recognises 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 peace building efforts, and further encourages the full, effective
               and meaningful participation of youth in this process,




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                    Recognising that 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 environmental protection and crime,
                    Expressing concern at the deterioration of the law and order situation in Pyla,
               and urging both sides to continue to work with UNFICYP to establish effective
               measures to tackle criminal activities,
                     Emphasising the importance of confidence-building measures and their timely
               implementation, and urging the sides to step up their efforts to promote
               intercommunal contacts, reconciliation and the active engagement of civil society, in
               particular women and youth,
                    Noting that the Government of Cyprus is agreed that in view of the prevaili ng
               conditions on the island it is necessary to keep the United Nations Peacekeeping Force
               in Cyprus (UNFICYP) beyond 31 January 2020,
                     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 emphasising the need to regularly review all peacekeeping operations,
               including UNFICYP, to ensure efficiency and effectiveness,
                    Echoing the Secretary-General’s gratitude to the Government of Cyprus an d the
               Government of Greece for their voluntary contributions to the funding of UNFICYP,
               and expressing appreciation to Member States that contribute personnel to UNFICYP,
                    Noting with appreciation the efforts of the Secretary-General, his Special
               Representative Elizabeth Spehar, and senior United Nations official Jane Holl Lute,
                     1.  Welcomes the trilateral meeting of the leaders and the Secretary-General
               on 25 November 2019 in Berlin, at which both sides reaffirmed their commitment to
               a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as set out in relevant
               Security Council resolutions, including paragraph 4 of its resolution 716 (1991), the
               Joint Declaration of 11 February 2014, the prior con vergences, and the six point
               framework presented by the Secretary-General on 30 June 2017 at the Conference of
               Cyprus;
                     2.   Further welcomes the Secretary-General’s agreement to extend his efforts
               to achieve terms of reference to serve as a consensus starti ng point for phased,
               meaningful, and results-oriented negotiations at the earliest feasible opportunity, and
               urges the sides and all involved participants to renew their political will and
               commitment to a settlement under United Nations auspices, including by engaging
               actively and with a sense of urgency with the Secretary-General and senior United
               Nations official, Jane Holl Lute;
                    3.    Calls for a reduction of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and calls
               upon the leaders of the two Cypriot communities and all involved parties to refrain
               from any actions and rhetoric that might damage the chances of success;
                    4.   Reaffirms all its relevant resolutions on Cyprus, in particular resolution
               1251 (1999);
                    5.    Recalls its resolution 2483 (2019), and calls upon the two leaders to:
                    (a) put their efforts expeditiously behind further work on reaching
               convergences on the core issues;
                    (b) reaffirm their political support for all Technical Committees, 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



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           Offices Mission of the Secretary-General regarding further ways to empower the
           Technical Committees and improve their performance;
                (c)   ensure effective coordination and cooperation on criminal matters;
                 (d) promote peace education across the island, including by further
           empowering the Technical Committee on Education to implement the recommendations
           contained in its joint report of 2017, in particular those concerning policy making,
           and to address impediments to peace in school materials, including text books, as a
           contribution to trust-building between the communities;
                (e) improve the public atmosphere for negotiation to secure a settlement,
           including by preparing the communities for a settlement through public messages on
           convergences and the way ahead, and delivering more constructive and harmonised
           messages, and by refraining from actions or rhetoric that detracts from a successful
           process or could make it more difficult to achieve recalling the Secretary -General’s
           statement of 25 November 2019 in this regard;
                (f) 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, including by empowering the Technical
           Committee on Gender Equality to meet and develop an action plan supporting
           women’s full, equal and meaningful participation in peace talks and providing direct
           support and encouragement to civil society organisations to enhance inter-communal
           contact and trust-building;
                 6.     Calls for the establishment of an effective mechanism for direct military
           contacts between the sides and the relevant involved parties, and urges UNFICYP, as
           facilitator through its liaison role, to submit proposals in this regard;
                 7.    Calls upon the sides to reduce existing barriers to intercommunal contact,
           and emphasizes the importance of effective communication for risk -mitigation and
           trust-building between the communities;
                 8.    Welcomes the progress towards the inter-operability of mobile phones
           across the island, and calls for further work to ensure the arrangement is made more
           broadly available and affordable to subscribers on both sides of the island, and urges
           the sides to agree and implement further confidence building measures, including
           those related to the military, economic cooperation and trade;
                 9.    Commends the work of the Committee on Missing Persons, and calls upon
           all parties expeditiously to enhance their cooperation with t he Committee’s work, in
           particular through providing full access to all areas and responding in a timely manner
           to requests for archival information on possible burial sites;
                 10. Expresses its full support for UNFICYP, and decides to extend its mandate
           for a further period ending on 31 July 2020;
                 11. Expresses serious concern at the increased number of violations of the
           military status quo along the ceasefire lines, calls once more on the sides and all
           involved parties to respect UNFICYP’s mandated authority in, and delineation of, the
           buffer zone, urges the use of the 2018 United Nations aide-memoire by the sides to
           ensure peace and security in the buffer zone, and calls on the two sides to prevent
           unauthorised activities between the ceasefire lines;
                12. 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, recalls the status of
           Varosha as set out in relevant resolutions, and reaffirms that UNFICYP’s freedom of
           movement should be respected;



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                    13. Welcomes the announcement that 18 suspected hazardous areas across the
               whole island have now been cleared of mines, and urges both leaders to agree and
               continue a plan of work to achieve a mine-free Cyprus;
                    14. Requests UNFICYP to take fully into account gender considerations as a
               cross-cutting issue throughout its mandate; requests the Secretary-General and troopand police-contributing countries to increase the number of women in UNFICYP and
               ensure the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in all aspects of its
               operations;
                     15. Welcomes the initiatives undertaken by the Secretary-General to
               standardise a culture of performance in UN peacekeeping, recalls its requests in its
               resolution 2378 (2017) and resolution 2436 (2018) that the Secretary-General ensure
               that performance data related to the effectiveness of peacekeeping operations is used
               to improve mission operations, including decisions such as those regarding
               deployment, remediation, repatriation and incentives, reaffirms its support for the
               development of a comprehensive and integrated performance policy framework that
               identifies clear standards of performance for evaluating all United Nations civilian
               and uniformed personnel working in and supporting peacekeeping operations that
               facilitates effective and full implementation of mandates, and includes comprehensive
               and objective methodologies based on clear and well-defined benchmarks to ensure
               accountability for underperformance and incentives and recognition for outstanding
               performance, and calls on the United Nations to apply this framework to UNFICYP
               as described in resolution 2436 (2018), and notes the efforts of the Secretary-General
               to develop a comprehensive performance assessment system;
                     16. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to take necessary measures to
               ensure full compliance of all UNFICYP personnel, civilian and uniformed, including
               mission leadership and mission support personnel, with the United Nations zero -
               tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and to keep the Council fully
               informed about the Mission’s progress in this regard, stresses the need to prevent such
               exploitation and abuse and to improve how these allegations are addressed in line
               with its resolution 2272 (2016), and urges troop and police-contributing countries to
               continue to take appropriate preventative action, including vetting of all personnel,
               pre-deployment and in-mission awareness training, and to ensure full accountability
               in cases of such conduct involving their personnel, including through timely
               investigations of allegations by troop- and police-contributing countries, and
               UNFICYP as appropriate, and to take steps to hold perpetrators accountable and
               repatriate units when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual
               exploitation and abuse by those units;
                     17. Requests the Secretary-General to submit by 10 July 2020 a report on his
               Good Offices, in particular on progress towards reaching a con sensus starting-point
               for meaningful results-oriented negotiations leading to a settlement, encourages the
               leaders of the two communities to provide written updates 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 5 and 6, 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 report; further requests the Secretary-General to submit
               by 10 July 2020 a report on implementation of this resolution, and to keep the Security
               Council updated on events as necessary;
                    18.   Decides to remain seized of the matter.




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