Chapter III COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING THE STATUS OF WOMEN 1. The Commission considered item 4 of its agenda at its 1st meeting, on 10 March, and at its 13th meeting (closed meeting), on 20 March 1997. 2. At the 1st meeting, on 10 March, pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolution 1983/27, the Commission established a working group to consider communications concerning the status of women. The following five members, nominated by their regional groups, were appointed: Lily Boeykens (Belgium); Ana Peña (Peru); Seyed Hossein Rezvani (Islamic Republic of Iran); Nonhlanhla Pamela Tsabedze (Swaziland); and Zuzana Vranová (Slovakia). The Working Group on Communications on the Status of Women held four meetings. ACTION TAKEN BY THE COMMISSION Report of the Working Group on Communications on the Status of Women 3. At the 13th meeting (closed meeting), on 20 March, the Commission considered the report of the Working Group on Communications on the Status of Women (E/CN.6/1997/CRP.3). 4. At the same meeting, the Commission adopted the report of the Working Group, as amended during the discussion, and agreed to include it in the report of the Commission. The report of the Working Group is as follows: "1. The Working Group on Communications on the Statusconcern at recurring situations of armed conflict, which sometimes amounted to genocide, leading to physical and psychological abuses of women and the continuing use of rape as a weapon of war. "6. The Working Group noted that specific forms of violence against women continued to exist. They included abduction, forced prostitution, forced marriage, trafficking in and sale of women, and forced intervention in the reproductive life of women, as well as female infanticide and the abandonment of female infants. It expressed its concern at violence against pregnant women and at sexual enslavement. It pointed out that the rights of migrant women workers and of internally displaced and vulnerable groups, including indigenous women, continued to be violated. The Working Group was also concerned about the number of arbitrary killings and torture of women. "7. The Working Group also noted the continuation of harmful traditional practices directed at women which persist owing to, inter alia, insufficient efforts of some States to confront those practices. "8. The Working Group expressed its concern at the continuation of the brutal treatment of women by persons misusing their authority, among others, and through the denial of fair trial, incommunicado and arbitrary detention, prolonged detention without trial, rape and sexual abuse by security forces and prison officials, cruel and degrading treatment, unlawful arrest and denial of legal protection through police negligence, as well as the continued practice of police discrediting of female complainants. -67-