News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

On 26 April 2016, UNFICYP made its regular delivery of humanitarian supplies from the Republic of Cyprus to the Maronite communities of Kormakitis and neighbouring villages. The fortnightly deliveries, coordinated by UNFICYP’s Civil Affairs Section, involve collaboration between the mission’s…

From 5-6 May 2016, Ms. Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, UN Women’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and Representative to Turkey, undertook a visit to Cyprus to lend her organisation’s support to local efforts to promote women’s rights on the island. Accompanied by UN Women Policy Adviser…

More than 200 children participated in a bi-communal ‘Education for a Culture of Peace’ event on 7 May at the Ledra Palace Hotel organised by the Post Research Institute and the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research and funded by the European Union. Supported by UNFICYP’s Civil Affairs…

The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus, Ms. Lisa Buttenheim, on 6 May presided over the last UNPOL Medal Parade under her tenure as Head of UNFICYP. Held at the UN Protected Area within the buffer zone, the event saw 16 members from seven contingents awarded medals in the…

A small UN Flight hangar at the abandoned Nicosia International Airport once more offered its shade for a UN Flight Medal Parade on 11 May 2016. Smartly turned out UN Flight peacekeepers, a display of Hughes and Bell helicopters and the fluttering Argentinian flag gave the humble hangar a ceremonial…

Last Saturday, the bicommunal Peace Works Children & Youth Festival held in the buffer zone showcased the great solidarity between civil society organisations as well as groups engaged in peacebuilding and peace education in Cyprus. Supported by UNFICYP’s Civil Affairs Section and funded by the…

The confidence that the world places in United Nations peacekeeping is reflected in its massive growth in recent years, in terms of both numbers and complexity. Fifteen years ago, the UN had fewer than 40,000 military and police personnel. Today, more than 105,000 uniformed personnel from 124 troop-…

UNFICYP joined the wider UN family on 30 May 2016 to mark the International Day of Peacekeepers (officially commemorated on 29 May), when we pay tribute to the men and women who have paid the ultimate price in the service of peace under the UN flag. Joining UNFICYP this year were representatives…

“The current political situation in Cyprus creates many obstacles to the exercise of cultural rights”, said United Nations human rights expert Karima Bennoune at the end of her first fact-finding mission to Cyprus. The UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, who visited the country…

Nicosia, 13 th June 2016 – The new Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Elizabeth Spehar, has arrived in Cyprus to formally assume her duties. Ms. Spehar will also act as the Deputy to the Secretary-General’s…

On Sunday 19th June 2016, the 2nd Annual Bi-communal Football tournament took place in the Futsal Stadium on 3rd Avenue in Pyla Village. The event, organised by local Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot football clubs with assistance of UNFICYP Civil Affairs, UNPOL and the Sovereign Base Areas’…

Today is Canada Day! UNFICYP pays tribute to a country that has supported the Mission, and the cause of peace in Cyprus, since 1964, when the very first Canadian troops arrived on the island. From 15 March 1964 to 15 June 1993, Canada maintained a battalion-sized contingent of peace-support troops…