provide adequate protection to women and to prevent nationalistically motivated rape. She said that the information provided to members on that issue was based on research carried out by the Institute for Sociological and Criminological Reseerch at Belgrade. 339. On article 4, with regard to temporary special measures as a means of incraasing the number of women in decision-making bodies, political organizations and self-management organizations, the representative said that, prior to 1989, women had been elected on a regular basis to the highest levels in the federal and republican governmental organizations and social and labour organizations. Women’s associations and parties in Serbia had responded to the poor election results and the insignificant participation of women at the decision-making level in the last two years by demanding the introduction of separate lists of women candidates in the election procedure and an assurance of equal representation in the assemblies. In the Serbian Government, where the number of women representatives was very low, there had been a suggestion to establish a parallel women’s assembly and a ministry for women. 340. In response to a question on article 5 of the Convention, the representative explained that the results of measures in education, health, family planning and culture, which had been undertaken with a view to overcoming the traditional beliefs and prejudices concerning the position and role of women in the family and society, varied. That was on account of the considerable differences in the level of economic development and the differentreligious, ethnic and cultural heritage of the regions of the The representative said that the presentation of the social status country. of women in the mass media, and in television in particular, was still inadequate and inaccurate. There was a marked differentiation of approach between the press of a political and informative nature and women’s magazines. She added that the participation of women’s organizations in pre-election campaigns at the federal unit level, in the previous year, had received good coverage in the media. The essential problems related to the social status of women had been expertly dealt with, both at the national and global level, demonstrating the commitment and support of the media to the interests of women in society. 341. The representative said that there were no organized or reliable statistics available on the incidence of prostitution. Data came from the Internal Affairs secretariats and were based on the number of offences. There had been a decrease in the number of recorded offences from 200 to 75, between 1970 and 1985: however, that decrease was attributed to a higher level of tolerance of prostitution on the part of the authorities rather than to a true decrease in its incidence. She said that Eastern European migrants from low socio-economic levels formed a significant proportion of the prostitute population, but they were under strict police surveillance. The representative did not consider that there was a connection between the spread of AIDS in Yugoslavia and prostitution as, in general, prostitutes were alcoholics and not drug addicts. Responding to a further clarification of that statement, she stated that statistics had shown that there was no connection, and the prostitutes from the migrant population had been checked by the medical services. There were only 31 recorded cases of AIDS among women in the country, including two cases of mother-to-child infection. No discrimination of AIDS patients existed in the fields of education, employment and health care. -69-