Legislative Support For democracy to function properly, laws have to be drafted, The database has grown significantly in terms of content assessed, and adopted through a transparent process that and geographic scope since its beginning. Today, it contains involves both civil society and those responsible for law en- more than 5,000 pieces of legislation from throughout the forcement. And once enacted, laws have to be made acces- OSCE region - all 55 participating States - that are divided sible to society at large. In order to protect and promote into categories representing 13 human dimension issues. human rights, OSCE participating States have committed, Since 2002, the site has also been enriched by a legal-news through various treaties and other international instruments, service (see box on pp. 52-53). to recognize and enforce these rights in their national law. Navigational system Each piece of domestic and international legislation is bro- Legislationline ken down according to its thematic focus. It may be further broken down according to more-specific issues that have Legislationline (www.legislationline.org), a free-of-charge been defined within each topic, which allows users to nar- online legislative database, was created specifically to assist OSCE participating States in bringing their legislation into row their search. This is a key feature, as most legislative re- line with relevant international human rights standards. As a forms pursue limited objectives. Alternatively, legislation may joint initiative between the ODIHR and the European Com- be accessed through the section on each country, which can mission, the database was created as a drafting tool for law- provide an overview of how all the issues covered by the site makers, not simply as an archive of domestic or internation- are addressed in one particular state. al legislation. Its purpose is to provide assistance to those who prepare and draft laws at the working level. Through Features the database, they can obtain examples and options from other countries' legislation that can help them make their Legislationline is the only web-based legal library that own choices. The database may similarly assist all those that provides national laws through the prism of human rights have an interest in the issues being considered by legislators, issues from no fewer than 55 countries. It categorizes its e.g., NGOs and international organizations. content according to human rights issues, while combining a national and international focus. It allows users to compare, for instance, how the crime of trafficking in human Development beings is defined - or not defined - in at least 26 countries. The database began as a project devoted to legislative re- It makes comparison easy; for example, Legislationline form in South-Eastern Europe, where legislators have been can provide an instantaneous overview of the relevant legal impeded by a scarcity of resources and a lack of legal prece- provisions describing how election commissions are formed dents. Furthermore, many of the countries in that region in at least 23 countries. It combines brief information have been undergoing comprehensive legislative reforms to about legal, constitutional, and judicial systems with direct align their domestic legislation with international standards, links to official online gazettes, as well as the texts of con- particularly with European norms. The creation of a web- stitutions and criminal codes. All this legal information is based library has proved to be a powerful tool for providing provided free of charge. fast, comparative overviews of how issues are addressed in different legal systems. 46