The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)  has said in a report, which covers the period from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025, that “the persisting division of Cyprus continued to have a negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights by people across the island”.

It called on both sides "to seize the recent political momentum and renew their efforts to return to formal negotiations aimed at a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue, without which meaningful progress to advance human rights for everyone on the island will continue to remain elusive".

The report underlined that monitoring and reporting of the situation in the "northern part" of the island “remained limited,” while civil society continues to call for the resumption of negotiation and reunification “despite their continued doubts that a negotiated settlement remained possible”.

The report provides an overview of human rights issues in Cyprus, including the right to life and the question of missing persons, the principle of non-discrimination, freedom of movement and the right to seek asylum, property rights, freedom of religion or belief and cultural rights, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to education, as well as the importance of adopting a gender and youth perspective in the peace process.

At the political level, it is recalled that the leaders of the two communities agreed on Confidence-Building Initiatives, including “the opening of four crossing points, demining, the creation of a technical committee on youth, initiatives on the environment and climate change, solar energy in the buffer zone and the restoration of cemeteries”.

On the issue of missing persons, families expressed, as it is noted, frustrations over “the slow progress in the search for the missing persons owing to previously reporting challenges beyond the control of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus,” while the Working Group found that many recommendations “had been partially addressed or remained unaddressed”. The OHCHR welcomed the new strategy aimed at “accelerating efforts to realize the right of families to the truth about the fate of their loved ones”.

With regard to discrimination, the report noted that children of mixed marriages continue to face delays in obtaining citizenship, which limits “freedom of movement, access to basic services and educational opportunities within the European Union”.

Freedom of movement remains problematic, as queues at Agios Dometios crossing point “discouraged some individuals from attempting to cross and disproportionately affected Turkish Cypriots and Maronites living in the north,” it is noted. At the same time, at least “32 cases of pushbacks of persons in need of international protection from the northern part of Cyprus to countries or territories of origin where people were at risk” were recorded.

The property issue remains a source of tension, the report said. The judiciary held that some exploit “a de facto and not de jure situation created by the continuing division of the island,” while arrests on both sides “discouraged crossings between both sides, further limiting intercommunal contact”, is is noted.

As regards education, the report said that divisive narratives “continued to be perpetuated in schools across the island,” making the promotion of peace education imperative.

The report mentioned that the UN Security Council and the European Union continued to call for the immediate reversal of unilateral actions taken on Varosha since October 2020 that run contrary to Security Council resolutions, while the United Nations continued to hold the Government of Türkiye responsible for the situation. 

It is also emphasised that many people still visited the parts of the town progressively made accessible to the public, while vegetation clearing, electrical work, road paving and fence-building continued. OHCHR also recalled Commission on Human Rights resolution 1987/50, in which the Commission considered attempts to settle any part of Varosha by people other than its inhabitants as illegal.

In its conclusions, the OHCHR stressed that “the continued division of Cyprus since the Turkish intervention of 1974 remains the most significant obstacle to ensuring the realization of human rights for all people in Cyprus.”

It also emphasized that “urgently and effectively addressing human rights protection gaps and issues in Cyprus remains essential not only to realize human rights for all people in Cyprus, but also to support efforts to reach a just and lasting peaceful solution to the island’s division”.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.