New York, from I8 to 22 March 1991 and elected Mrs, Higgins as its Chairman/Rapporteur. At the forty-second sessionr the working group was composed of Messrs. El Shefei, Myullerson, Pocar, Prado Vallejo and Sadi. It met at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 1 to 5 July 1991 and elected Mr. Myullerson as its Chairman/Rapporteur. 12. The working group established under rule 62 was mandated to prepare concise lists of issues concerning second and third periodic reports scheduled for consideration at the Committee’s fortieth, forty-firot and forty-second sessions, and to consider any draft general comments that might be put before it. Additionally, the working group which met before the fortieth session was requested to review the Committee’s procedures under article 40 of the Covenant in the light of the ‘discussion on that subject at the Committee’s thirty-ninth session. The group which met before the forty-second session was requested to formulate recommendations relating to the meeting in September 1991 of the Preparatory Committee for the World Conference on Ruman At the fortieth session, the working group was composed of Rights. Ms. Chanet, Mr. Cooray, Mr. El Shafei and Mr. Wako. It met at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 15 to 19 October 1990 and elected Mr. El Shafei as its Chairman/Rapporteur. At the forty-first session, the workiqg~~gyovp rvaq composed of Mr. Aguilar Urbina, Us. Chanet, Mr. Dimitri jevic and Mr. El Shafei. It met at United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 18 to 22 March 1991 and elected Ma. Chanet as its Chairman/Rapporteur. At the forty-second session, the group was composed of Mr. Aguilar Urbina, Mr. Ando, Mr. Dimitrijevic and Mr. Wennergren. It met at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 1 to 5 July 1991 and elected Mr, Aguilar Urbina as its Chairman/Rapporteur . G. Other &rtieth . sessm 13. The Committee was informed by the Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights of the report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organisation submitted to the General Assembly at its forty-fifth session. 21 Referring to certain positive developments of the previous year and to the fact that the importance of human rights was receiving greater international recognition, the Under-Secretary-General stressed that, nevertheless, the underlying reality of the era continued to be marked by massive and widespread violations of human rights. The challenge to the international community to promote and ensure respect for human rights waa in fact greater than ever. The Centre for Human Rights was seeking, within the means at its disposal, to respond to that continuing challenge as energetically as possible. The General Assembly’s decision in 1968 to launch a World Public Information Campaign on Human Rights had greatly enhanced the practical possibilities in the months and years ahead for collaborating with various United Nations bodies, Member States and non-governmental organisations in an effort to reach out to the hundreds of millions of human beings who needed information about fundamental human The Under-Secretary-General for HumanRights also informed the rights. Committee of other significant developments of relevance to its work that had occurred since the Committee’s thirty-ninth session, notably the actions taken by the third meeting of persons chairing human rights treaty bodies, held at Geneva from 1 to 5 October 1990.