A/RES/51/68 Page 2 Having considered the reports of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on its fourteenth3 and fifteenth4 sessions, Noting that the number of reports to the Committee has increased as a result of the growing number of States parties to the Convention and that the annual session of the Committee has been the shortest of all the annual sessions of the human rights treaty bodies, thus creating a considerable backlog of reports submitted but not considered, 1. Urges all States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to do so as soon as possible, so that universal ratification of the Convention can be achieved by the year 2000; 2. Emphasizes the importance of full compliance by States parties with their obligations under the Convention; 3. Urges States to limit the extent of any reservations they lodge to the Convention, to formulate any such reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible, to ensure that no reservations are incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention or otherwise incompatible with international treaty law, to review their reservations regularly with a view to withdrawing them and to withdraw reservations that are contrary to the object and purpose of the Convention or that are otherwise incompatible with international treaty law; 4. Invites States parties to the Convention to make all possible efforts to submit their reports on the implementation of the Convention in accordance with article 18 thereof and with the guidelines provided by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and to cooperate fully with the Committee in the presentation of their reports; 5. Urges States parties to the Convention to take appropriate measures so that acceptance of the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention by a two-thirds majority of States parties can be reached as soon as possible in order for the amendment to enter into force; 6. Approves the request made by the Committee and supported by the States parties to the Convention for additional meeting time so as to allow the Committee to hold two sessions annually, each of three weeks' duration, preceded by a pre-session working group, for an interim period starting in 1997; 7. Welcomes the report of the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination 3 Official Records of the General Assembly, Fiftieth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/50/38). 4 Ibid., Fifty-first Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/51/38). /...