E/1999/27 E/CN.6/1999/10 “The Committee may, of course, take into account the information received with the communication, if it is relevant to its other functions, for example those under article 8 of the protocol and under article 20 of the Convention. * * * “The representative of Germany made a statement earlier today on behalf of all the member States of the European Union and the Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union as well as the other delegations listed in his statement. I have the honour to have been asked to add the following observations on behalf of the same delegations. “Having listened with great interest to the statements made by other delegations today, we have been struck by the number of recurring themes. We are particularly pleased to note the widely shared view that this optional protocol provides procedures for the enforcement of the human rights of women which are in no way less effective than the procedures available in other human rights instruments; indeed that its provisions build on those existing instruments and should be interpreted in the light of the rules of procedure and the evolving practice and experience of the other human rights treaty bodies. “We believe that in turn the CEDAW Committee, in exercising its functions under this protocol, will make a valuable contribution to the development of international human rights law.” United States of America “The United States of America wishes to record its continued and serious concern with article 17 relating to reservations. Article 17 has the potential to discourage ratification efforts and is contrary to the well established practice of permitting appropriate reservations.” 71