• .t Le s !d, : that romen :s and He 65. The representative of the State party also stated that all questions and observations made during consideration of the initial report would be transmitted to his Government and would be taken into account in the elaboration of future reports. He eubmitted additional material to the experts of the Committee with excerpts from government aocuments on the promotion of women. 66. Some experts recommended drawing the attention of States parties to the desirability of using the positive experiences referred to in the above-mentioned report in order to make further progress in eliminating discrimination aga~nst women, not only de Jure, but also de facto. Mexico 67. The Committee considered the initial report of Mexico (CEDAW/C/5/Add.2) at its 13th ana 17th meetings v held on 2 and 5 August 1983 (ChDAW/C/SR.13 ana 17). s of ves ime tion, ical he d sional ntres ree were s 11 iety h full pay law. al out 68. The report was introduced by the representative of the State party who pointed out that his Government had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, since it cons~dered that its own domestic legislat~on guaranteed the same rights, because in recent years the State had made great efforts in revising all legislation to eliminate any trace of discrimination against women. In accordance with article 133 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, the Convention was considered the supreme law of the land. 69. In Mexico, there was no constitutional or legal basis for discrimination against women1 any difficulties in implementing certain provisions of the Convention arose from the general economic conditions in the country. As a developing country, Mexico had shortcomings in its social and economic structure. The current worla economic crisis, by accentuating those shortcomings, ~nevitably affected the situation of women, particularly the m~£e disadvantaged urban and rural women. Nevertheless, his Government was determined to deal with the problems, using all the means at its disposal. The National Development Plan for 1983-1988 reflected its concern to guarantee equal opportunities for women in all spheres of national life. 70. The Committee welcomed the initial report presented by Mex~co and noted that an impressive body of legislation haa been adopted to secure women's equality. It also remarked that it might be useful to receive more information on the app~icat~on of those laws. Several members regretted the lack of stat~stical data which did not allow the Committee to have a clear picture of the actual status of women in Mexico. In future, it was noted, empirical data should accompany every country report. 71. Regarding the above, it was asked what concrete benefits women had obtained through the adoption of equal rights legislation, what were the obstacles being encountered in their implementation and what solution or solut~ons were contemplated to overcome them. Other members inquired about the specific remedies and sanctions provided by law against acts of discriminat~on against women. In that regard, it was also pointed out that there seemed to be no ~nstitution(s) to assist women ~n the exercise of their rights and there was no information on the capacity of the CQurt system to provide remedies for women's grievances. Information was also sought as to the extent of women's util~zation of the court system to enforce their rights. -12-