Democratization Eric Gourlan Participants from regional networks in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan attend a workshop on women’s leadership in Bishkek in April. the Law on Protection of Victims of Domestic Violence, adopted by Georgia’s Parliament in May 2006. Overall, some 150 police officers took part in the training. In addition, ODIHR continued to assist the Network in operating a crisis centre and a shelter for victims of domestic violence. This included provision of expert assistance on methods of victim rehabilitation and the development of legislative initiatives related to victim protection and rehabilitation issues. In Ukraine, ODIHR, jointly with the OSCE Office of the Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, conducted the first training workshop on the role of police in preventing and combating domestic violence with experts from the Austrian Federal Police for the heads of precinct police from all 27 territorial units of Ukraine. The aim of the training workshop was to give senior Ukrainian police officers insights into the problem of domestic violence against women and children, to raise their awareness of this issue, and to develop solutions on their own concerning the improvement of police work and means of combating domestic violence in practice. 32 Annual Report 2007 Developing effective national institutions to mainstream gender equality into policy-making ODIHR promotes the development of state institutions that are specifically mandated to promote gender equality within the executive or legislative branches of the national government. The effective functioning of such agencies is central to the development, implementation, and monitoring of state legislation and policies on gender equality. The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action points out that the main task of national mechanisms is to support governmentwide mainstreaming of a gender-equality perspective in all policy areas. They are also mandated to encourage the active involvement of a broad range of institutional actors in the public, private, and voluntary sectors to work for equality between women and men and to promote and establish co-operative relations with relevant branches of government, NGOs, academic and educational institutions, the private sector, and the media. In many countries in transition, particularly in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, such