DEMOCRATIZATION Mr Link, Director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, giving his opening speech at the political parties seminar in Warsaw, 1 July. OSCE/Murat Gungor Combating Violence against Women Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence requires not only the development of adequate legal frameworks, but also policy measures to ensure their effective implementation. While many OSCE participating States have adopted laws on domestic violence, their implementation remains weak due to persistent gender-based stereotypes and the tendency to view this human rights violation as a private or family matter. In 2014, ODIHR supported participating States in improving their legal frameworks for preventing violence against women and domestic violence, protecting victims and punishing perpetrators. Upon request, ODIHR published a Legal Opinion on the Draft Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Safeguarding and Protection from Domestic Violence, and an Opinion on the Impact of the Ratification of the Istanbul Convention on Legislation in Montenegro, making concrete recommendations for improvement of the legal framework towards effective prevention of violence against women and domestic violence. Strengthening Parliaments In close co-operation with OSCE field operations, ODIHR continued to provide expertise on ethics and public integrity to parliaments of OSCE participating States. ODIHR’s Background Study: Professional and Ethical Standards for Parliamentarians offers practical measures that the OSCE participating States can take to promote ethical parliamentary behaviour. ODIHR shared its expertise on parliamentary ethics in Georgia, Italy, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mongolia, Poland, Serbia and S ­ weden. The Office organized a regional workshop for 25 Members of Parliament and experts from Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, ­Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom on 18 and 19 March in Warsaw. ODIHR also supported the ­efforts of the Parliament of Serbia in reviewing and finalizing their parliamentary code of conduct in a meeting on 1 and 2 October in Belgrade, in ­co-operation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, ODIHR provided expertise to the regional meeting “Achieving Financial Autonomy of Parliaments to Adequately Fulfill Member of Parliaments’ Rights and Obligations” on 3 and 4 July in Sarajevo. The meeting discussed policy measures that can be taken by parliaments to ensure greater accountability and financial autonomy. ODIHR organized a side event on ­Parliamentary Openness on 22 September in Warsaw on the margins of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. The event highlighted the 2012 Declaration of Parliamentary Openness and explored strategies for promoting parliamentary openness, accountability of elected officials and ­citizen engagement in policymaking. ODIHR Annual Report 2014 35