Democratization  •  19 Guidelines on Freedom of Association. The guidelines provide a comprehensive and hands-on toolkit to assist lawmakers in drafting human rights-compliant legislation on freedom of association. These guidelines have already been cited as a key reference and standard-setting document by a number of international organizations and INGOs, and have been used by various NGOs and other human rights activists to support their advocacy work. Throughout 2015, ODIHR participated in various events to present the guidelines, and widely disseminated the English, Russian and French-language versions of this tool across the OSCE region. 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. With these experts and the Venice Commission, the Office worked to complete revisions to a third edition of the Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and a second edition of the Guidelines on Political Party Regulation. Gender and Legislative Assistance Throughout 2015, ODIHR has continued its special efforts to ensure that gender is mainstreamed throughout its legislative assistance work, including through the increased use of legislation gender-proofing tools developed by international organizations and the systematic review of legislative guidelines to ensure that gender and diversity are taken into account in ODIHR’s legal reviews. The methodology for carrying out ODIHR’s Yevgenia Avetisova (l), Legal Officer at OSCE/ODIHR with Arsen Mkrtchyan (c) First Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, during a legislative workshop in Tsaghkadzor, Armenia, on 12 May 2015. (OSCE/Kristina Aghayan) legislative assistance work in general has also been revised accordingly. As a result, gender aspects were specifically addressed in three-quarters of all legal reviews (up from two-thirds in 2014). ODIHR also revised its methodology for conducting comprehensive legislative assessments, to ensure that gender and diversity are duly taken into account during assessment missions and final reports. DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND GENDER Participating States have committed themselves to build, strengthen and protect democratic institutions as vehicles for maintaining and developing pluralistic democracies. Yet many challenges still remain, particularly in relation to transparency of “ International treaties merely set out broad frameworks to protect our rights – and by their nature they don’t get into the everyday nuts and bolts of exactly what the rights look like on the ground […] That’s why these guidelines are so critical. They fill in the gaps, and help flesh out exactly what the right to freedom of association entails.” Mr. Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, speaking about the Guidelines on Freedom of Association