discussions and visual aids. Pointers on the use of such techniques are provided in section 2 of this Introduction, below. D. Audience specificity 5. OHCHR has learned that the mere recitation of vague principles of general applicability offers little hope of affecting the actual behaviour of a given audience. To be effective – indeed, to be at all worthwhile – training and education efforts must be directly targeted and appropriately addressed to a particular audience, be they prison officials, police, health-care workers, lawyers, students or development professionals. Accordingly, the content of OHCHR teaching materials focuses more on the standards directly relevant to the daily work of the professional trainees and less on the history and structure of United Nations machinery. E. A practical approach 6. OHCHR training begins with the recognition that professional groups in the real world want to know not just what the human rights rules are, but also how to do their job effectively within the confines of those rules. Without bowing to instrumentalist approaches to human rights, trainers must recognize that professionals will also want to know “what is in it for them?” – i.e. what value can a better understanding of human rights bring to their work? Training efforts which ignore either of these areas are likely to be neither credible nor effective. Accordingly, trainers and course designers must include practical information on proven techniques for performance of the actual duties of participating professionals, as derived from the recommendations of experts and 1 literature on current best practice for the profession in question. F. Comprehensive presentation of standards 7. Training courses should be thorough in their presentation of the relevant international standards. To this end, relevant instruments and simplified learning tools should be translated and distributed to participants. In every case, one or more persons specialized in human rights should be involved, to control the substantive content of the courses and workshops, and to supplement course presentations as required. G. Teaching to sensitize 8. In addition to imparting standards and practical skills, OHCHR courses should also include exercises designed to sensitize trainees to their own potential for contributing to violent behaviour, however unwitting. For example, well-developed exercises (including role-playing) which can make trainees aware of gender or racial bias in their 1 While practical recommendations are a key component of courses offered under this approach, it would not be possible to provide detailed training on technical professional skills in a human rights course. Instead, the existence of such techniques should be highlighted and targeted for further training as a follow-up to human rights training, and conceptual linkages should be made between the two sets of skills. 6