[ Democratization ] Ambassador Andrew Tesoriere (l), the Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, Feruza Djamasheva (c), the Chairperson of the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan, and Dinara Bekboeva, a Judge from the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan, at a roundtable on strengthening judicial independence, Bishkek, 20 April 2011. (OSCE/Svetlana Levina) Most notably, the project developed the first-ever training resource on international criminal law and practice for local justice actors, in co-operation with the International Criminal Law Services (ICLS) and based on input from local judicial and prosecutorial training institutions. An e-learning and training portal, developed by UNICRI, went online in 2011, allowing for web-based professional development in this area.1 The Manual on International Criminal Defense, a practiceoriented reference tool for defense counsel working on war crimes cases in the region’s courts, was developed by the Association of Defense Counsel practicing before the ICTY (ADC-ICTY) and UNICRI. The first of its kind, the manual presents their most effective and innovative practices. More than 800 justice professionals working on war crimes cases in the region participated in a range of project-led training events and peer-to-peer meetings, which also provided a forum to strengthen regional cooperation. During the course of the project, 32 support staff were embedded in the justice institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia to bolster capacity in key areas, including prosecutorial analysis and legal research. A number of these support staff were retained by justice institutions beyond the project’s end date. 1 26 http://wcjp.unicri.it/ ODIHR Annual Report 2011 Finally, the project produced 60,800 pages of transcripts in local languages of ICTY proceedings identified by national legal institutions as the most relevant. The availability of these transcripts in the ICTY’s Court Records Database and the ICTY website greatly enhances the ability of local professionals to access and use testimony given before the Tribunal and ensures that the transcripts will remain accessible to the public at large long after the Tribunal has completed its work. Strengthening Capacity for Legislative Reform Decisions to conduct legal reform are ordinarily taken at higher levels of government and in legislatures. It is the drafters of legislation, however, who must reflect these political decisions in law, and they are sometimes faced with new and complex legislative issues or lack the relevant expertise to complete the task adequately. ODIHR provides the expertise needed to bridge this gap by assessing compliance of draft or existing laws with relevant international standards and OSCE commitments, making recommendations for improvement, and sharing good practices to help lawmakers explore other options. This process is often followed by consultations with legislators and civil society on draft or existing legislation.