Mr. Ban Ki Moon’s report marks the first time where a UN Secretary General assesses the role and impact of Cypriotcivil society on the peace process.
Mr. Ban Ki Moon’s assessment report on the status of the negotiations in Cyprus, published on the 8th of August, marked the first time that a UN Secretary General has evaluated the role of Cypriot civil society in contributing to the peace process. Mr. Ban Ki Moon devoted the whole of paragraph 16 of his recent assessment report on civil society efforts in the peace process, urging the two leaders to take into account all important civil society efforts that can contribute to a comprehensive settlement.
The UN Secretary General reasserted that United Nations agencies and programmes in Cyprus “are working closely with local partners in support of the peace process”. Mr Ban Ki Moon went on to mention and assess most of the projects of the United Nations Development Programme that have contributed to the peace process, during the last three months.
More specifically he reviewed the collaboration of projects of Cyprus 2015 and the joint NGO Support Centre and Management Centre project; ENGAGE – do your part for peace, through which various events were organized to facilitate public dialogue on issues related to the peace talks. He also went on to refer to the opening of the “Home for Cooperation” in the buffer zone as a landmark event which he estimates will provide a space for inter-communal education, dialogue and research.
Mr. Ban Ki Moon also referred to the other peacebuilding projects which are facilitating dialogue, reconciliation and cooperation between the two communities in social, economic and cultural issues. The Secretary General mentioned the first joint report on the current levels of economic interdependence between the two communities and stated: “Their findings confirmed that a settlement would be economically beneficial to both communities”.
In concluding this paragraph, the UN Secretary General also underlined the occasion when the youth groups of the two leading political parties on either side, sent him a joint letter, asking him to encourage the leaders to reach a solution now. He then reiterated his call to Mr. Christofias and Mr. Eroğlu “to engage civil society in the task of reaching a comprehensive settlement and to take into account these and other important civil society efforts to contribute to the peace process”.
As the ENGAGE bicommunal working group has stated in a Press Release, issued on the 7th of July, marking the two years since the launch of ENGAGE project, ‘NGO’s and Civil Society Initiatives for reconciliation in both communities of the island, strongly support the peace process in Cyprus’.
However, Civil Society recognises that more could have been achieved, and believes its role in supporting the peace process could also have been more significant. During the work over these past two years, through the ENGAGE working group, we have realized that unfortunately the public at large is not well informed about the framework of an agreement.
In therefore echoing Mr. Ban Ki Moon’s call to the leaders, we are also asking for more opportunities for collaboration with the leaders of the two communities in order to reach to a comprehensive settlement and to further engage civil society in the peace process.