DEMOCRATIZATION in the Parliament’s agreement to review the existing code of ethics for parliamentarians and set up a working group to elaborate a new code. In Ukraine, the Parliamentary Committee on the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime and ODIHR held a roundtable meeting on professional and ethical standards for parliamentarians on 11 December in Kyiv. The event resulted in specific recommendations, including the establishment of a policy discussion group on parliamentary ethics and the organization of an international conference on parliamentary ethics in order to present a roadmap for Ukraine’s parliament. ODIHR, together with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, organized a side event for OSCE participating States on enhancing public trust in parliaments on 30 September, during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. The event highlighted the work of the OSCE in the field of parliamentary support and discussed parliaments’ role in overseeing ethical standards and enhancing gender equality in elected office. A key component of ODIHR’s parliamentary strengthening work is to promote gender equality in all parliamentary processes. To this end, on 19 and 20 July, ODIHR, in co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, conducted training for representatives of different committees of Montenegro’s parliament on gender equality concepts as well as thematic issues such as women’s political participation, domestic violence and women in security. In early 2013 ODIHR published A Comparative Study of Structures for Women MPs. The study surveys parliamentary structures established to promote women’s meaningful participation in politics in the OSCE region and highlights the importance of cross-party co-operation on gender equality. ODIHR presented the study to parliamentarians in Finland, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland and the OSCE Mediterranean Partner Tunisia. ODIHR also presented the study and outlined good practices from OSCE countries in the establishment of women parliamentary structures during a study visit to Finland on women’s parliamentary networks¸ organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia, together with the Finnish Embassy in Belgrade, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, and the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia. The visit, from 14 to 17 May in Helsinki, provided a delegation of 25 women parliamentarians from Serbia with the opportunity to learn about good practices in running parliamentary structures for women and promoting gender equality in parliamentary work. Ensuring Pluralistic Political Party Systems Political parties perform critical functions in democratic societies, bridging executive and legislative branches of government and providing avenues for citizen participation in policy making. ODIHR continued its support to OSCE participating States to establish well-functioning regulatory frameworks that create environments in which political parties can most effectively perform their democratic functions. These principles are rooted in OSCE commitments and outlined in the 2010 Guidelines on Political Party Regulation, jointly developed by ODIHR and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission. Based on these guidelines, in 2013 ODIHR continued to support institutions, political parties, OSCE field operations and civil society in participating States in developing ways to sustain and advance political pluralism. Building on previous co-operation on the role of democratic opposition in parliaments, ODIHR participated in a conference on enhancing Kazakhstan’s political party system, co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana, the Public Foundation for Parliamentary Development and the United States Agency for International Development on 6 June in Astana. On the regional level, ODIHR gathered 50 experts from 24 OSCE participating States to discuss different measures that political stakeholders can take to make political parties more transparent, inclusive, accountable and democratic at a seminar on 10 and 11 July in Warsaw. Political-party financing in the OSCE region continued to be prioritized by ODIHR in 2013. ODIHR co-operated with state institutions, OSCE field operations, civil society organizations and experts in Georgia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Poland, Sweden and the OSCE Mediterranean Partner Tunisia to support efforts in reforming party financing regulations. For example, ODIHR continued a dialogue that began in 2012 on political party registration, party financing and gender equality with the Georgian Parliament and ODIHR’s long-standing partners the International Foundation for Electoral ODIHR Annual Report 2013  /   35