E/CN.4/2002/77/Add.2 page 29 109. When H.H. the Amir launched the reform process, women were not forgotten. Learning from past experience, the drafters of the National Charter went back to article 1 (e) of the Constitution, specifying that it applied to “citizens, both men and women”. This restored women’s right to vote and allowed them to take part in the 2000 referendum on the National Charter: they voted en masse, and accounted for 49 per cent of all the votes cast. 110. Appointments of women to political and managerial posts, which used to be rare events, are picking up as the reforms proceed. Women have been appointed to the Shura Council for the first time, and a woman has been appointed ambassador to Paris. The Government has embarked on the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and a Supreme Council for Women has been instituted. Discussions are under way on a family code, and the wife of H.H. the Amir is taking an interest in the advancement of women and participating in activities designed to pursue that goal Another positive development is the proposal to abolish the rule that a husband must give his assent before a passport can be issued to his wife. 111. The Working Group welcomes these encouraging signs, encourages the authorities to pursue their efforts and invites them to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, thus helping to close a loophole that the Working Group found in Part Three of the 1973 Constitution, “Public Rights and Duties”, the first paragraph of which states that “…citizens shall be equal … before the law, without discrimination as to race, origin, language, religion or belief” but omits to mention equality between the sexes (see article 2, paragraph 1, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). V. CONCLUSIONS 112. The Working Group considers this visit to Bahrain to be one of the most successful it has undertaken, as regards both the letter and the spirit of its mandate. That it was so successful is largely due to five factors. 1. The exceptional spirit of cooperation displayed by the authorities both before and during the visit. While preparations were being made, the Working Group was kept constantly informed of how the transition process was progressing, and was consulted on some of the planned reforms during meetings its Vice-Chairman had with the authorities in 1999 in Geneva and Paris. 2. As the visit proceeded the national and local authorities, who had been given appropriate instructions, were always forthcoming and scrupulously respected the delegation’s methods of work; the delegation was given complete freedom of access to all places of detention, including the record offices and administrative services, and freedom to choose which of the detainees it met it would interview in complete confidentiality. 3. Another contributing factor was the sense of responsibility shown by the non-governmental organizations which, leaving aside their diversity, greatly facilitated the delegation’s task by presenting themselves all together at the Bahrein Human Rights