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Guide / manual / handbook

Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners, Revised edition 2012

This manual is intended primarily for practitioners involved in trial monitoring. It will, however, be of interest to anyone seeking information on trial monitoring and should also be useful to anyone involved in reforming the justice system.

Contents

List of acronyms
Foreword
Introduction

Part I: General Overview and Operational Aspects of Trial Monitoring
Chapter 1: Trial Monitoring: Purposes and Basic Principles

Part II: First Steps and Initial Considerations in Establishing a Trial-Monitoring Programme
Chapter 2: Conducting a Preliminary Assessment
Chapter 3: Choosing an Institutional Model
Chapter 4: Access to Court Proceedings and Other Access Issues
Chapter 5: Establishment of an Information-Management System

Part III: Systemic Trial Monitoring
Chapter 6: Main Aims, Outputs and Methods of Systemic Trial Monitoring
Chapter 7: Programme Structure And Staffing Issues
Chapter 8: Conduct and Capacity-Building of Trial-Monitoring Staff
Chapter 9: Information Gathering and Verification in Systemic Trial Monitoring
Chapter 10: Analysis Of Trial-Monitoring Findings
Chapter 11: Internal Reporting Systems
Chapter 12: Advocacy Strategies
Chapter 13: Measuring the Impact of Systemic Trial-Monitoring Activities
Chapter 14: Phasing Out and Sustainability of Systemic Trial-Monitoring Programmes

Part IV: Thematic Trial Monitoring
Chapter 15: Main Aims, Outputs and Methods of Thematic Trial Monitoring
Chapter 16: Main Themes Encountered in Trial-Monitoring Programmes

Part V: Ad Hoc Trial Monitoring
Chapter 17: Mandate, Principles and Aims of Ad Hoc Trial Monitoring
Chapter 18: First Steps and Initial Considerations in Establishing an Ad Hoc Trial-Monitoring Programme
Chapter 19: Operational Aspects of Ad Hoc Trial-Monitoring Projects
Chapter 20: Ad Hoc Project Monitoring Cycle

Annexes
Annex I: Code Of Conduct and Other Guidelines for Monitors
Annex II: Monitoring Court Proceedings – Issues and Sample Forms
Annex III: Conducting Interviews – Issues and Sample Forms
Annex IV: Reporting – Sample Forms
Annex V: Administrative Matters
Annex VI: Examples of OSCE Thematic Area Reports
Annex VII: Trial-Monitoring Programme Summaries of OSCE Field Operations
Annex VIII: Sources for Substantive Principles on Trial Monitoring

Date:
Source:
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
Publisher:
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Our work:
Rule of law
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Disclaimer

The views, opinions, conclusions and other information expressed in this document are not given nor necessarily endorsed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) unless the OSCE is explicitly defined as the Author of this document.

This document is part of multiple collections:

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Rule of Law Document Collection

A curated set of ODIHR’s most relevant Rule of Law publications, offering clear guidance, practical tools, and expert insights to support justice institutions, policymakers, and practitioners across the OSCE region.
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Publications on human rights protection within “Safeguarding Human Rights through Courts” Project

A series of publications produced by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine within its project “Safeguarding Human Rights through Courts”, implemented with financial support of the Government of Canada. The publications present international and Ukrainian national standards, best practice and tools in the sphere of justice and human rights protection.
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