A/HRC/34/56/Add.1 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights visited Cyprus from 24 May to 2 June 2016. The purpose of the visit was to identify, in a spirit of cooperation and constructive dialogue, good practices in and possible obstacles to the promotion and protection of cultural rights in all areas of Cyprus. The Special Rapporteur addressed key issues related to the rights of people to participate in cultural life, including the right to access and enjoy cultural heritage, without discrimination and irrespective of group affiliations. 2. The Special Rapporteur visited various sites of cultural, historical and religious significance, in both the south and north of the island, without any impediment. She met people who had connections with these sites and addressed their human rights with respect to that heritage. In particular, she visited the Apostolos Barnabas and Apostolos Andreas monasteries, the Ayia Marina church in Yialousa/Yeni Erenköy, the Deneia/Denya mosque, the Agia Sofia mosque in Paphos and the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque in Larnaca. She also travelled to Agia Marina/Gürpinar, a village currently under Turkish military control that used to be populated by Maronites and Turkish Cypriots, to the ruins of the Ayia Trias/Sipahi basilica/bazilikasi, to the world heritage site of Paphos and the walled city of Famagusta/Gazimağusa. 3. The Special Rapporteur met government officials at the national and municipal levels, including those in the areas of foreign affairs, culture, cultural heritage, gender equality, human rights and education. In the north of the island, she met with those dealing with foreign affairs, culture, cultural heritage and education. She had thorough discussions with the Technical Committees on culture, cultural heritage, education and gender, with the Office of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process, the Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights and the National Committee for the prevention of looting and illegal trafficking of cultural property. She held discussions with artists, academics, educators, civil society representatives, religious leaders, women’s human rights defenders and cultural heritage defenders and observed the Nicosia Pride march. The Special Rapporteur thanks all those persons and institutions for the information they shared with her. She also extends her thanks to the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for their assistance. II. General context and framework A. International human rights framework 4. The Republic of Cyprus has ratified many international human rights instruments, through which it has undertaken to respect, protect and fulfil cultural rights. In particular, article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognizes the rights of each person to take part in cultural life and to the freedom indispensable for creative activity. Article 13 guarantees the right to education. 5. Cyprus has also ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which protects rights bearing an important cultural dimension, in particular the rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (article 18), freedom of opinion and expression (article 19) and the rights of persons belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, or to use their own language (article 27). 6. The Special Rapporteur stresses the importance of the right to access and enjoy cultural heritage as a human right. That right includes the right of individuals and groups, inter alia, to know, understand, enter, visit, make use of, maintain, exchange and develop cultural heritage, as well as to benefit from the cultural heritage of others. It also includes the right to participate in the identification, interpretation and development of cultural heritage, as well as in the design and implementation of preservation and/ or safeguarding 3