E/1999/27 E/CN.6/1999/10 Chapter V Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, including the elaboration of a draft optional protocol to the Convention 1. The Commission considered item 6 of its agenda at its 15th meeting, on 12 March 1999. Action taken by the Commission Report of the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 2. At the 15th meeting, on 12 March, the Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Aloisia Wörgetter (Austria), introduced and orally revised the draft report of the Working Group (E/CN.6/1999/WG/L.1 and Add.1). 3. The Commission also had before it an informal paper containing a compilation of interpretative statements made by delegations during the negotiations, and agreed to include the statements in the report of the Working Group. 4. The Commission then adopted the draft report of the Working Group and agreed to annex it to the present report (see annex II). Draft optional protocol to the Convention and draft resolution 5. At the 15th meeting, on 12 March, the Commission had before it the revised draft optional protocol to the Convention (E/CN.6/1999/WG/L.2), submitted by the Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on the basis of informal consultations held on the compilation text in the report of the Commission on the Status of Women on its forty-second session. 6. At the same meeting, the Commission had before it a draft resolution entitled “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women” (E/CN.6/1999/WG/L.3), submitted by the Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on the basis of informal consultations. 7. Also, at the same meeting, the Secretary of the commission read out the following statement on the programme budget implications of the draft resolution: “1. Should the Commission on the Status of Women adopt draft resolution E/CN.6/1999/WG/L.3 as recommended by the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, such decision would, in principle, entail programme budget implications related to the additional meetings required for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. “2. At present, based on current standard costs, one additional week of meetings of the Committee (i.e., five working days and two meetings a day) would entail additional requirements of $67,620 for subsistence allowance to the members of the Committee and $107,400 for conference services, at full cost. At this stage, however, it is too early to provide precise estimates for the requirements of the Committee. These requirements 44