Palestinian women 4. One representative expressed concern that the report of the SecretaryGeneral on the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women (E/CN.6/1995/8) did not take account of the fact that Palestinian women much more than Palestinian men were facing violation of their human rights both in the family and in society. Palestinian women experienced physical violence in their lives owing to harmful traditions, customs and armed conflicts. She referred to the restriction of the girl’s access to education, and early marriage, and spoke about some measures that had been taken in order to provide women with legal support. She emphasized the importance of women’s participation in the peace process. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women 5. Many representatives indicated that they had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and urged those States that had not done so to follow their example. 6. A few representatives stated that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women should be strengthened by inclusion of the right to petition, involving a procedure through an optional protocol that would allow the redress of individual and group grievances. This would create a broader public awareness of women’s human rights and would place the Convention on an equal footing with other human rights instruments. The drafting of such a protocol should be started as soon as possible in order to use the momentum of the Beijing Conference. 7. A few representatives indicated that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) should be given adequate time to review the national reports submitted by States parties. 8. The Chairperson of CEDAW informed the Commission on the Status of Women about the results of the fourteenth session of the Committee presented in document E/CN.6/1995/CRP.1. In particular, she referred to the request for additional meeting time, noting that accession to that request would allow the Committee to eliminate some of its overwhelming work backlog. 9. She appealed to the Commission to adopt an optional protocol to the Convention, which would establish a clear framework in which the Committee could elaborate the normative content of women’s rights as enshrined in the Convention. Communications concerning the status of women 10. The Commission had before it a confidential list of communications concerning the status of women (SW Communications List No. 29), which was distributed in a sealed envelope to the representatives of each of its States members, and a non-confidential list of communications (E/CN/6/1994/CR.31). 11. The rapporteur of the Working Group on Communications introduced the report of the Working Group and expressed support for the communication procedure and said that the communications had not reflected all aspects of violations of human rights against women world wide and the Secretariat should give more publicity to the communication procedure and the report of the Group should be published. -52-