[ Democratization ] Women political party members from Tajikistan taking part in the Human Dimension Seminar on the Role of Political Parties in the Political Process, Warsaw, 19 May 2011. (OSCE/Jolanta Cichoka) the Office provided input to Tajikistan’s draft national action plan, which was developed by the State Committee on Women and Family Affairs, in co-operation with women’s organizations. ODIHR also provided legal opinions on the Law on Gender-Related Amendments and Addenda to Legal Acts of the Republic of Moldova, as well as on the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In support of the latter, ODIHR contributed expertise to a working-group session on law amendments, on 14 July in Mavrovo. ODIHR also reviewed the new draft Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men drafted by the working group. Combating Violence against Women Violence against women is one of the most pervasive and traumatic violations of human rights, and combating this problem is a necessary precursor to activities in the field of women’s participation in public life. ODIHR’s efforts in this area include facilitating the participation of experts from the OSCE region in events organized by OSCE field operations and partners and, upon request, assisting participating States in improving legal frameworks to combat domestic violence. The Office’s financial support provided three experts on violence against women with the opportunity to participate in the “European Women’s Congress”, held in Warsaw on 17 and 18 September, under the auspices of the Polish Presidency of the European Union. The experts presented good practices for the judiciary, regional governments and civil society as part of the discussions on women’s participation in all spheres of public life. Strengthening Parliaments Effective, pluralistic and representative parliaments are a key requirement of democratic governance. ODIHR’s democratic governance programme provides assistance to parliaments, focusing on increasing their capacity to carry out their legislative, representative and oversight functions, with the support of a professional and modern parliamentary secretariat. This assistance is offered largely in collaboration with OSCE field operations, although work began in 2011 on research publications to be released by ODIHR in 2012. The Office co-operated closely with the OSCE Mission to Serbia in 2011 as the latter advised the National Assembly of Serbia on parliamentary codes of conduct. ODIHR participated in advisory meetings in June and helped the Mission to plan and organize an international conference on ethics and codes of conduct for parliamentarians on 24 and 25 November. The ODIHR Annual Report 2011 33