CEDAW/C/1997/3/Add.3 English Page 22 important with the recent signing of the Convention by the three countries in question. The conference was entitled "Meeting of the Collective 1995 Maghreb Egalité - action to be taken before the year 2000". It was organized by UNESCO and held in Tunis from 19 to 24 April 1996. The conference adopted the following agenda: a second conference in the year 2000, an annual report on violations of women's rights, national and regional activities to promote the text of "100 measures". This text was originally prepared by "The Parliament of Women in Islamic countries" which was held in the NGO Forum in Beijing in September 1995. It puts forward 100 legal provisions based on traditional Islamic texts and the proposals of certain countries, Tunisia in particular. The measures were well received both in the Arab-Muslim world and in Asia and Africa. They will be promoted both at the national and regional level. The work of the Collective has made it possible and will continue to make it possible to analyse the difficulties of reconciling the Convention, and especially article 2, with traditional Islamic law. B. Articles 7 and 8 34. Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention concern the access to, and participation of, women in political and public life on equal terms with men. Article 7 deals with public and political life at the national level. Article 8 deals with political and public life at the international level. 1. UNESCO activities to promote equality of opportunity in political and public life at the national and international level 35. UNESCO is conducting programmes to improve women's access to, and participation in, political and public life and the public professions. It emphasizes programmes of advanced training in specialized fields, such as science and technology, in order to reduce the gap between the sexes and to give women a share in the political and public decisions of a country. In cooperation with non-governmental organizations, UNESCO organizes training activities and advisory services designed to encourage the full participation of women in democratic life, especially in management and administration. It also seeks to strengthen cooperation between parliamentary women. (a) Publication of Femmes africaines et démocratie 36. In 1995 the UNESCO regional office at Dakar published the book Femmes africaines et démocratie under the direction of Timothée Ngakouto. It was written because of Africa's concern to re-think the definition of relations between men and women and the need to integrate the question of the status of women into general questions of human rights. The authors consider that the private and public status of African women and their participation in public life to be essential for the development of the African continent. (b) Mission to observe the Palestine elections 37. Following a request by Mme. Leila Shahid, Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Paris, the Director-General decided to send a mission to observe /...