Eighteen nations were set to mark Human Rights Day yesterday by signing a legal protocol that would allow women to file complaints to the United Nations about discrimination, sexual exploitation and other abuses.

The 21-article "optional protocol" to a 20-year-old women's anti-discrimination treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly in October and was open for signature at noon.

Under it, women will be able to submit sexual discrimination complaints directly to the UN as well as to protest against other violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a treaty approved by the General Assembly in 1979.

The treaty differs, however, from other human rights treaties in that women or their representatives have not been allowed to file individual grievances against their governments for allegedly violating the convention.

The new protocol would allow women to bypass governments and have the UN Commission on the Status of Women investigate their grievances.

The commission would then attempt to persuade governments to remedy abuses.

Among the countries expected to sign the protocol at a ceremony in New York were Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Senegal and Sweden.

Meanwhile, 38 members of the Oireachtas are among the signatories to an international appeal on Tibet sent to the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, to mark World Human Rights Day.

Over 200 non-governmental organisations, parliamentary groups and Tibet-support organisations worldwide have signed the letter calling for the resumption of the UN debate on Tibet, and the recognition of the Tibetan peoples' right to self-determination.

The letter also calls for the appointment of a special UN rapporteur to investigate human rights in Tibet, and a UN special envoy to promote a peaceful settlement of the Tibetan question.