E/2002/27 E/CN.6/2002/13 Council, the Commission being in this respect empowered only to make recommendations to the Council, which shall then decide what action may appropriately be taken on the emerging trends and pattern of communications”. The report of the Working Group was never fully examined by the Commission. The Commission did not complete even one reading of the report. As the distinguished delegates who attended the forty-fifth session of the Commission on the Status of Women last year will kindly recall, the Commission had not only examined the report of its Working Group but had also made substantial amendments and only then adopted it and included it in its report to the Council. The report however, did not elicit any recommendation. This year the Commission did not have the opportunity to examine the report of the Working Group. Paragraphs 4 (a) and (b) of Council resolution 1983/27 oblige the Working Group to bring to the attention of the Commission on the Status of Women communications which appear to reveal a consistent pattern of reliably attested discriminatory practices and to prepare a report indicating categories in which communications are most frequently submitted. The report of the Working Group did neither of these. It did not identify communications revealing consistent patterns of discriminatory practices. We also did not find any category indicated in which communications are most frequently submitted. Reliable attestation of discriminatory practices too had not been done. In view of these factors we do not consider it appropriate to include the report of the Working Group in the report of the Commission to the Economic and Social Council. The resolution of the Economic and Social Council governing the functions and interaction between the Council and the Commission and between the Commission and its Working Group do not require reproduction of the report of the Working Group in the Commission’s report to the Council. To conclude, ours is a position of principle. We have always upheld the supremacy of rules and regulations and procedures agreed by the Member States. We cannot be a party to transgression of mandate and violation of rules. We have therefore voted in favour of the point of order made by Malaysia and against the proposal of including the report of the Working Group in the report of the Commission to the Economic and Social Council. Statement of the Republic of Korea My delegation would like to add its voice to those of the other delegations that have expressed full support for the manner in which you have brought this very difficult issue to a closure. Given the sensitivities involved, given the differing views of the delegations, and given all the time we have spent considering the matter, your ruling, though perhaps not to the satisfaction of all delegations, was, I believe, the wisest way to bring this matter to closure. Many delegations have spoken about the limited time we had to consider the report of the Working Group. But we 66