against Women

Thirty-eighth session

Summary record of the 782nd meeting

Held at Headquarters, New York, on Tuesday, 22 May 2007, at 3 p.m.

Chair person:Ms. Šimonović

Contents

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)

Combined initial, second and third periodic report of Pakistan (continued)

The meetingwas called to order at 3 p.m.

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)

Combined initial, second and third periodic report of Pakistan (continued) (CEDAW/C/PAK/1-3 and CEDAW/C/PAK/Q/3 and Add.1)

1.At the invitation of the Chairperson, the members of the delegation of Pakistan took places at the Committee table.

Article 6 (continued)

2.Mr. Qazi (Pakistan), responding to questions posed at the 781st meeting about trafficking, said that the reference in paragraph 98 of the report (CEDAW/C/PAK/1-3) was not meant to indicate that Pakistan was responsible for 10 per cent of the trafficking problem in the world, but that it seemed implausible for one country to be responsible for such a high percentage. Despite many efforts by the Government and some NGOs, the exact scale of the trafficking problem in the country had not been ascertained. However, it was in recognition of the seriousness of the issue that the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance had been promulgated in 2002. To address the special situation of female victims of trafficking, a proposal had been made to amend the Ordinance to establish a clear distinction between trafficking, human smuggling and economic migration. However, that distinction was sometimes very difficult to establish, as in the case of Bangladeshi women entering Pakistan. Some of them came as economic migrants, others came under the family reunion scheme and others were victims of trafficking. Nevertheless, the Ordinance already prescribed harsher punishments if the victims were women or children, and women victims could also seek assistance at women’s centres, which provided many resources, including legal consultants. While the law could be made less ambiguous, it had already laid the groundwork for addressing some of the serious aspects of trafficking in the country.

3.Mr. MahmoodSalim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that most movement between Pakistan and Bangladesh was for the purpose of family reunification, because the two countries had been one until 20 December 1971. With regard to the trafficking of women, the Federal Investigation Agency had documented many cases where traffickers had been held and punished according to the quantum and the gravity of the case. Also, in response to a question in Parliament, the Minister of Interior had indicated that more than 30 officers and their staff had been punished, dismissed and even had their property confiscated because they had been involved in human trafficking.

4.Ms. Ishaque (Pakistan), in response to a question on prostitution, said that, under the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, trafficking or abduction for the purpose of exploitative entertainment was punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment plus a fine. The Government had also ratified the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution in 2003 and leaders of its member States had met in Islamabad for their first summit in 2004. Furthermore, Pakistan and Iran had held talks in 2003 to find ways of tightening their common border and sharing information on immigration and other security measures.

Articles 7 and 8

5.Ms. Gaspard said that, even though the report indicated that there was no restriction or bar on women participating in political activity, the fact remained that women did not participate as much as men, in part because of a generally lower voter turnout among women. While the law and the Constitution guaranteed the presence of women in the National Assembly, the Senate and the provincial assemblies by reserving a quota of seats for them, she wondered whether that apparent affirmative action was not in fact discriminatory, because the women could be seen as lacking legitimacy compared with their elected colleagues. She asked whether there were any plans to change the electoral system so that men and women were treated equally for election purposes and whether the delegation could provide some details about the number of women holding senior positions in the administration and the diplomatic service.

6.Ms. Tavares d a Silva, referring to the provision in article 7 that women should be ensured the right to vote in elections and be eligible for election on equal terms with men, said that, while the Government had enacted laws to ensure the presence of women in government and in the judiciary, their numbers were still very low. Consequently, she asked whether the Government was considering any actions, including temporary measures, in order to increase those numbers.

7.Ms. Belmihoub- Z e rdani, recalling that Pakistan had acceded to the Convention in 1996, commended it for reserving a special quota of seats for women in the legislature, as a form of affirmative action to encourage women to participate in political life. Nevertheless, she would like to learn more about the process of appointing women to fill those seats and about the number of women who had been elected for open seats. She urged the Government to take further measures to appoint more women to meaningful senior positions in public administration and the judiciary.

8.Mr. MahmoodSalim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that, under the electoral reforms of 2001, 33 per cent of seats at local and district levels had been reserved for women and, under the reform of 2002, 17 per cent of the seats for the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies had been reserved for women. Those reserved seats were filled from lists provided by the parties to the Election Commission, while judicial appointments were based on length of service and other qualifications and on recommendations from the bar, the provinces and the Chief Justice. Concerning positions in the civil administration, there were many women holding senior ministerial positions in the provinces, and the federal Government included seven women cabinet ministers.

9.Mr. Qazi (Pakistan) said that there were 45 women out of 400 members of the foreign service, 18 female ambassadors out of 60, and the head of the Foreign Service Training Academy was a woman. While those women earned their positions through civil service examinations, their ranks could swell even more with the 10 per cent quota reserved for women in senior positions.

10.Ms. Agha (Pakistan) said that it was only after the 1970s that women had started taking those examinations and that some of them had still not been appointed because they had not yet met the length-of-service criterion, but that the situation would change within a few years.

Article 9

11.Ms. Zou Xiaoqiao, referring to article 9 of the Convention and the requirement for States parties to grant women equal rights with men as regards nationality, noted with satisfaction that the 1951 Pakistan Citizenship Act had been amended in 2000 to enable children born of foreign fathers to claim Pakistani nationality. However, she wanted to know when the Ministry of Women Development would complete the process it had initiated to amend that Act in order to grant nationality to the foreign husband of a Pakistani woman, as recommended by the National Commission on the Status of Women.

12.Ms. Chughtai (Pakistan) said that the process of granting nationality to foreign husbands was still under consideration and that there were no guaranteed timelines for completion. However, the Government had decided to issue identity cards to those spouses and allowed them to own property, in order to ease their integration into Pakistani life.

Article 10

13.Ms. Simms, noting with satisfaction that efforts were being made to improve the situation of girls with regard to education and that girls were performing better than boys in private schools, urged the Government to pay more attention to public education, which concerned the vast majority of Pakistani children, and to ensure that girls in the tribal areas also received quality education.

14.Mr. Flinterman said that it would be useful to have additional data on the enrolment of girls in primary and secondary schools, including a breakdown of the figures by region. It would be interesting to learn more about the Government’s plans to identify the reasons that girls did not enrol in school or did not complete their studies and about activities to encourage parents to send their daughters to primary school. Additional information should be provided on efforts to eliminate stereotypes in textbooks and civil society’s role in those efforts.

15.Ms. Saiga said that it would be interesting to know the duration of compulsory education and whether education was free at the primary, middle and secondary levels. The high rate of illiteracy among girls and the high number of girls who were not enrolled in school remained a concern. Additional data should be provided on the percentage of girls attending middle schools and further information should be provided on plans to extend co-education to the secondary level. It should be clarified why some groups of society were opposed to the inclusion of human rights and HIV/AIDS issues in the school curriculum.

16.Ms. Coker-Appiah recalled that it was universally acknowledged that the advancement of women depended on their access to education. While the literacy rate had increased in Pakistan, it remained low. It was disturbing that a group of fundamental clerics had opposed women’s education. Girls had left school, female teachers had been harassed and girls’ schools had closed. It should be clarified how the Government was responding to threats made by fundamental clerics.

17.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan), referring to the high standards of private schools in Commonwealth countries, said that it was important to remember that students from indigenous groups rather than those who had attended private schools tended to progress to the higher ranks of the Ministries of Education and Health, the Armed Forces and Parliament.

18.Ms. Agha (Pakistan) said that students who attended private schools and took international examinations preferred to leave the country upon completion of their studies. While there were fewer schools for girls than for boys, it should be noted that girls studied the same curriculum as boys. Undoubtedly more needed to be done to improve the level of education in tribal areas. The drop-out rate for both girls and boys was higher in less developed provinces and in some provinces access to schools was hindered by the harsh terrain. With respect to gender stereotyping, it should be noted that the Government had reconsidered and revised the portrayal of men and women in school textbooks.

19.In 2002, the National Commission for Human Development had been established with the aim of achieving universal primary education and promoting adult literacy. Adult literacy programmes had targeted women living in remote areas. The Government was taking active steps to reduce the gender gap in education: in Punjab, girls who attended school were paid a stipend; at the federal level, half a million girls had been targeted in 29 of the poorest districts in the country with a programme that offered free lunches. Mothers had become involved in that programme because they were responsible for preparing the girls’ lunches and there were plans to expand the programme further. Following initial resistance, human rights, HIV/AIDS and family planning issues had been successfully incorporated into the school curriculum.

20.Ms. Patten said that it was difficult to provide accurate data on the number of home-based workers because the productive activities of those workers were often not correctly identified. It would be interesting to learn more about plans to address the exploitation and exclusion of home-based workers and to improve the access of those workers to competitive markets. While there was adequate legislation in the public sector, it seemed that certain labour laws did not apply to the private sector. It should be recalled that Governments were obliged to provide adequate legislation in the private sector under article 2 of the Convention and it would be interesting to know more about the Government’s plans to address that issue. In addition, it should be clarified how the Government ensured compliance with labour laws. Clarification should be provided on the measures that were being taken to diversify employment opportunities for women.

21.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that the Government had yet to ratify International Labour Organization Convention No. 177 on homeworking. It was difficult to obtain accurate data on home-based work because 65 per cent of the population lived in rural areas where each member of the family was responsible for carrying out multiple tasks. A conference on home-based work had been held in New Delhi in early 2007 and there were plans to hold a seminar in Islamabad in July 2007. Though it was difficult to apply labour laws to the informal sector, no efforts were being spared to improve the protection provided to female workers and a memorandum of understanding had been signed between the United Nations Development Programme and the Ministry of Women Development to allocate 50,000 jobs to female workers.

22.Mr. Qazi (Pakistan) said that it was becoming possible for women to enter more professions, including the army, police, peacekeeping forces and other areas.

23.Ms. Zou Xiaoqiao said that additional data should be provided on the high maternal mortality rate in urban and rural areas in order to identify the causes. It would be interesting to know whether the Government was taking steps to lower that rate and whether there were any plans to establish health centres in rural areas. It should be clarified whether rape victims were permitted to have abortions and whether any study had been carried out on the relationship between unsafe abortions and the maternal mortality rate. It would also be useful to know whether there were any plans to revise the laws on abortion and whether there were any activities to promote family planning.

24.Ms. Dairiam said that additional data should be provided on women’s access to health services in order to identify which groups of women did not have such access. It would be interesting to know more about the Government’s plans to identify the causes of maternal mortality and to increase the use of contraception and the provision of post-abortion services. Health indicators for women were better in areas that were covered by the Lady Health Visitors scheme and she asked whether there were any plans to expand that scheme.

25.Ms. Pimentel enquired whether the Government appreciated the linkages between poverty, maternal mortality and unsafe and/or illegal abortions and whether the Government, and the Ministry of Health in particular, approached the latter from solely a health-care perspective. Had any thought been given to expanding the definition of therapeutic abortion to include the termination of pregnancies resulting from rape and other acts of violence?

26.She would also be grateful for additional information about existing health infrastructures and the quality of services. Lastly, she wished to know whether the Government had clear policies, including monitoring and evaluation mechanisms, on maternal mortality and sexual and reproductive health.

27.Ms. Arocha Domínguez enquired as to the specific measures taken to reduce the fertility rate in the State party. She would be particularly interested to know whether any of those measures were geared to young men and whether they had had any tangible results.

28.Ensuring that women had access to health-care services was no guarantee that their specific needs were being addressed. In that connection, she asked whether any efforts had been made to determine the specific causes of female mortality. She also wished to know whether emergency room physicians were trained to deal with possible cases of domestic violence, and in particular whether appropriate follow-up mechanisms had been established.

29.Ms. Agha (Pakistan), responding to a question put by Ms. Dairiam, said that, while the Government did not conduct maternal mortality audits, research in that area was ongoing. Maternal mortality rates were highest in rural areas owing to a lack of resources and infrastructure but, in order to improve matters, Basic Health Units had been set up in all districts, and around 96,000 Lady Health Workers provided a wide range of health services to the rural population. In addition, the Women’s Health Project, a five-year initiative funded by the Asian Development Bank, was designed to expand basic health services for women, develop women-friendly district health systems and strengthen the capacity of health institutions. That Project, which had yielded very positive results, had also provided training for nurses and academic scholarships for health-care workers.

30.Awareness-raising campaigns designed to increase contraceptive use had borne fruit. In addition, the Government had provided family planning training for religious leaders, who endeavoured to address the issue in their interactions with the public. Several awards had been given to such leaders in recognition of their efforts.

31.Domestic violence was a significant problem in Pakistan and, although many physicians were aware of the phenomenon, they did not receive specialized training. The Government was making every effort to ensure that follow-up procedures were put in place.

32.Mr. Qazi (Pakistan) said that the fertility rate had decreased significantly in recent years. The crude birth rate had dropped from 40.6 per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 26.5 per 1,000 live births in 2003.

33.Ms. Chughtai (Pakistan) said that abortion was illegal in Pakistan because killing a foetus was regarded as murder. However, in some cases, pregnancies could be terminated on medical grounds for reasons of physical and mental health.

34.Ms. Zou Xiaoqiao commended the State party for its efforts to ensure that women had access to credit and loans, but expressed concern about eligibility requirements. Many lenders required collateral, and some would not consider applicants who did not have National Identity Cards. She wondered whether the Government had adopted any measures to address those problems.

35.She was also concerned about the fact that some religious groups in Pakistan prevented women from taking part in certain cultural and social activities. Had the authorities taken any steps to counter that trend by, inter alia, engaging in dialogue with the groups concerned?

36.Ms. Agha (Pakistan) said that the Government hoped to issue National Identity Cards to all citizens by the end of 2007. As far as eligibility for loans was concerned, collateral was normally required for all applicants, male and female. However, the First Women’s Bank, which dealt only with female clients, would issue loans to applicants with only two personal guarantees. Microcredit had proved to be an effective way of empowering women in Pakistan, and a growing number of institutions offered such facilities.

37.Mr. Zafar Hassan Mahmood (Pakistan) said that the State Party’s 39,000 female local councillors were actively involved in efforts to issue National Identity Cards to rural women.

38.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan) pointed out that 2007 was an election year in Pakistan. Accordingly, all stakeholders would be working to ensure that voters throughout the country were registered.

39.Ms. Tan asked when the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund had been established. She also wished to know whether any assessment of its effectiveness had been undertaken and how many rural women had benefited from its programmes.

40.Referring to paragraph 436 of the report, she requested statistical information about the number of female legislators from rural areas. She would like to hear more about the specific concerns and priorities they raised. She also enquired as to the mechanisms in place to ensure that rural women could participate in the elaboration and implementation of development plans. Lastly, in view of the fact that 68 per cent of the population of Pakistan lived in rural areas, she expressed concern about the apparent lack of a system for recording the incidence and nature of violence against rural women. She wondered whether any progress had been made in that area since the submission of the report, and asked how many female feticides had occurred over the past three years as a result of violent acts.

41.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that all 11 women occupying general seats in the National Assembly were from rural areas.

42.Mr. Qazi (Pakistan) said that the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund had been established five years previously. It had disbursed around 10.2 billion rupees on projects to assist the poorest segments of the population, and targeted rural areas in particular. Women accounted for around 47 per cent of its direct and indirect beneficiaries.

43.There was currently no formal consultation mechanism to ensure that women’s concerns were reflected in national development policies. However, women were able to participate in budgeting and development planning processes at the district level.

Articles 15 and 16

44.Ms. Coker-Appiah observed that many of Pakistan’s personal laws had been enacted long before the country became independent and, as such, did not respect fundamental human rights. She wondered whether the State party had taken or planned to take any measures to review those laws, especially those governing the Hindu community.

45.Ms. Belmihoub-Zerdani enquired as to the de facto implementation of personal laws in Pakistan. In particular, she wished to know which laws were applicable to the non-Muslim community and whether special courts had been established to deal with cases involving members of that community.

46.While men and women had equal rights to enter into marriage, the minimum age of marriage for women was 16 years whereas for men it was 18 years. Those arrangements violated the provisions of both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and she therefore wondered whether the State party intended to rectify that situation.

47.In cases of divorce, women became the custodians of their children while men remained their guardians. She pointed out that Islamic law did not prohibit joint custody agreements, and enquired as to the measures taken or envisaged to deal with that issue. She also asked how the Government planned to address the ongoing inequalities between women and men in the areas of inheritance and division of communal property following divorce. Lastly, she urged the Government to address the problem of forced marriage, which was often used as a means of resolving feuds between families.

48.Ms. Tan, noting that the selection of spouses by parents referred to in paragraph 493 was deeply entrenched in regional culture, asked whether the Government had made any efforts to work with rural communities, NGOs and religious leaders to educate them on the need for parents to respect their children’s choices. According to paragraph 495 of the report, while women could exercise khula, the right to divorce a husband under Muslim law, women whose husbands did not provide proper documentation on the dissolution of the marriage could be accused of adultery should they remarry. She would like to know whether there had been any attempts by the courts to ensure that men gave the appropriate documents to their former wives upon divorce. It was unclear why the courts could not give the documents directly to the women concerned. Furthermore, clarification was needed on whether, contrary to what was stated in the report, khula was viable only after the husband had agreed to grant it. The report stated in paragraph 499 that Pakistani law did not recognize any matrimonial relationship which had not been religiously sanctioned. Information was therefore needed on any provisions for civil marriages in Pakistan and on the rights of the children who had been born outside a religiously sanctioned union. She also asked whether, despite the equal right of men and women to own, manage and dispose of property, there had been cases of men asserting ownership over their wives’ property after having managed it and, if so, whether women had had difficulties in reasserting their rightful ownership over the property. Details were needed on whether family law specified the rights of divorced women and whether they were entitled to maintenance, custody of the children and property jointly acquired during marriage.

49.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that article 25 of the Constitution guaranteed equal rights before the law and prohibited any discrimination on the basis of sex. No law could be enacted which contradicted the spirit of the article. A bill to abolish the unacceptable practice of forced marriage was currently under consideration by the Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights and its report would be discussed in Parliament. The bill was likely to be adopted, as it had been proposed by the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly.

50.Ms. Ishaque (Pakistan) said that the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2004 made forced marriage a crime punishable by imprisonment for a minimum of three and a maximum of 10 years. Minorities were governed by their respective personal laws in areas such as marriage and the dissolution of marriage. There was a requirement for minorities, however, to file proper documentation under the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961. Most personal laws were not entirely based on customs. Some stemmed from their respective religions as well. In cases of khula, the judicial separation document was provided to the women concerned by the competent authorities, in most cases the Arbitration Council, not by their spouses. Women did not have to wait for their husbands’ consent to file independent khula proceedings with the Council.

51.Mr. Zafar Hassan Mahmood (Pakistan) said that the rights of divorced women were clearly laid down in the marriage and divorce documents. When khula proceedings were initiated, the woman was entitled to all the property which she had earned herself and also benefited from the property of the husband, including the dower.

52.Ms. Chughtai (Pakistan) said that under Pakistani law the natural guardian of children of divorced parents was the father. The courts nevertheless took the larger interests of the child into consideration and awarded custody to the mother if necessary. The parent without custody was entitled to visit the children at a convenient location. The law allowed the mother to remarry after obtaining a divorce. Pakistani law stemmed from Islamic jurisprudence, under which the responsibility for earning a living fell to men. Whatever men earned had to be shared with their families, whereas a woman personally owned whatever she earned or brought to a marriage. Under the law, if she shared the responsibility for providing for the family with her husband, she did so on a voluntary basis. There were also provisions for parents to give gifts during their lifetime. Maintenance remained the responsibility of the father regardless of whether he had guardianship of the children. While arranged marriages continued to prevail, there were cases in which the courts had ruled in favour of a woman’s right to choose her husband. There was in addition to religious marriages a system of civil or “court” marriages. Lastly, she concurred that there was a need to reconsider the differences in the minimum age for marriage of men and women.

Follow-up questions

53.Ms. Shin, noting that the figure cited for the percentage of the population of persons with disabilities was 2.3 per cent, asked how the data were obtained. The average percentage of persons with disabilities in most countries was at least 5 per cent. She noted with disappointment that there was no specific programme for women with disabilities and wondered why the Government had listed persons with disabilities as an area of concern if it did not have any such programme. Information was also needed on the number of women with disabilities who had used shelters. She encouraged the delegation to provide more information on the situation of women with disabilities in future reports.

54.Ms. Patten would like clarification on the bill to address domestic violence and whether marital rape had been included. She asked whether the labour laws also applied to formal employment in the private sector. It was unclear whether there were any provisions in labour law concerning sexual harassment at work.

55.Mr. Flinterman would like to know whether he was right to assume that the Declaration on the Convention referred to in the report was not a reservation aimed at curtailing Pakistan’s related obligations but merely a declaration, as the spirit of the Convention was in harmony with the spirit of the Constitution of Pakistan and of Islamic law. If that were the case, from a legal point of view, the Declaration was not necessary.

56.Ms. Tavares da Silva asked why the law exempted male relatives from the maximum punishment for honour killings. The fact of being a father, brother or husband should not be a mitigating factor. She also noted with concern that the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act gave law enforcement authorities discretion as to whether to register a crime as an honour crime or as a murder. As honour crimes currently carried greater penalties, she wondered whether such crimes were sometimes registered as murder. Information was needed on whether there were any rules to register an honour crime as such.

57.Ms. Belmihoub-Zerdani said that there was a need to address the problem of registration at all levels, including birth, marriage and death certificates as well as voter registration. Such registration was crucial for women to assert their rights and make their voices heard. She urged the delegation to report to the Government on the discussion held with the Committee to raise awareness of its position concerning the report and the country’s policies and to hold a press conference in the presence of the relevant NGOs.

58.Ms. Begum, commending the Government initiative to establish the First Women’s Bank Limited, would like to know how poor rural women gained access to the Bank, whether it had branches in rural areas and areas of conflict, whether the microcredit extended was collateral-free and what the interest rates for loans were.

59.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that the bill on domestic violence had been introduced in the National Assembly by two opposition members and later adopted by the Standing Committee on Women Development of the National Assembly. In the Committee’s final report there had been a few dissenting voices among the 23 members. The bill would be presented at the forthcoming session of the Assembly and provided for severe punishment for domestic violence.

60.The Government decision on sexual harassment at the workplace had originally been restricted to the public sector. Amendments had been made to the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules of 1964 and Efficiency and Discipline Rules, however, which provided for the removal from service of any employee found guilty of sexual harassment at the workplace and for severe legal penalties. The Government was also currently working with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to provide for the removal from the national stock exchanges of any company found guilty of sexual harassment in the workplace.

61.The First Women’s Bank Limited had been established for women and by women. The Bank had only 38 branches. The Ministry of Women Development held some 20 per cent of the shares in the Bank so as to regulate it for its intended purpose. Women did not have difficulty obtaining microcredit. Kitchen Cuisine was one example of a microcredit success story in which women who had started with a small loan from the Bank had established what was currently a leading pastry manufacturer in Pakistan. It should also be noted that the specialized microcredit institution Khushali Bank had branches to which rural women had ready access throughout Pakistan.

62.Mr. Qazi (Pakistan) said that Mr. Flinterman’s interpretation of the Declaration was correct.

63.Ms. Chughtai (Pakistan) said that her Government had recently developed a gender-sensitive policy to address the problems of persons with disabilities in areas affected by the earthquake of 2005. Vocational training was being provided to ensure that women with disabilities could generate income and become independent. Honour killings were normally committed by male relatives. The maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment for that crime had been changed to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment.

64.Mr. Mahmood Salim Mahmood (Pakistan) said that his delegation had noted carefully the comments by the Committee and would indeed be holding a press conference upon its return to inform the people of Pakistan what the Committee expected of the Government. He assured members that his Government would continue its honest and dedicated efforts to implement every provision of the Convention.

The meeting rose at 5.25 p.m.