DEMOCRATIZATION Tove Skarstein (l), Norwegian Ambassador to Hungary at ODIHR event on promoting women as candidates in upcoming local elections, in Budapest, 3 October. Horváth Éva and thematic roundtable discussions with key stakeholders from a wide array of OSCE participating States. In 2014, ODIHR drafted new joint ODIHR-Venice Commission Guidelines on Freedom of Association, which were adopted on 12 and 13 December 2014 at the 101st plenary session of the Venice Commission. These guidelines are the result of a broad consultative process, which consisted of four events on key freedom of association-related matters, organized on 10 and 11 March in Florence, 7 and 8 May in Warsaw, from 9 to 11 September in Warsaw and on 3 and 4 November in Paris. These gathered experts on freedom of association issues and representatives from civil society organizations and the international community, from across the OSCE area. Furthermore, ODIHR continued to support the activities of its Panel of Experts on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, the Core Group of Experts on Political Parties and the Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief. In June 2014, new Joint Guidelines on the Legal Personality of Religious or Belief Communities were adopted at the 99th plenary session of the Venice Commission. Access to Law ODIHR collects human dimension legislation from across the OSCE region in its legislative database, www.legislationline.org, through which legislators 32 ODIHR Annual Report 2014 in participating States can obtain examples from other countries’ legislation and regulatory systems. This database has existed since 2002 and is one of the biggest on-line, free-of-charge platforms providing direct access to human rights legislation. It contains more than 10,000 documents, in particular, national and international legislation pertaining to 18 human dimension topics in all OSCE participating States. The database also contains key international instruments and materials pertaining to the protection of human rights. In 2014, the database was accessed 384,129 times, an increase of five per cent compared to the previous year. In 2014, almost all thematic areas reflected on ­Legislationline were extensively revised and updated, and the Legislationline website made more u ­ ser-friendly and transparent. ODIHR also conducted an on-line, tailor-made survey for ­Legislationline users, which demonstrated that, overall, users considered Legislationline to be a good comparative law research tool that helps them in their daily work. Democratic Governance and Gender ODIHR continued to promote pluralistic, representative and accountable democratic institutions in its portfolio of activities related to democratic governance and gender, which focuses on three main areas: increasing political participation of women and youth; strengthening parliaments;