140 Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners concentrated on the defendant’s rights against possible abuse by the authorities, the monitoring of trials concerning trafficking in human beings is one area where particular focus is placed on protection of victims and witnesses. This entails many measures, including early identification, in order to avoid the prosecution of victims for offences such as prostitution or illegal immigration, and to ensure that they receive assistance and protection. Trial-monitoring programmes may need to develop additional mechanisms – e.g., questionnaires, interviews – to identify cases where protection is not afforded to the injured parties. Monitoring findings from organized crime cases are often used in reports analyzing other thematic areas, such as witness protection. In addition to monitoring reports on trafficking proceedings,210 monitoring programmes and ODIHR have undertaken a number of other activities to combat trafficking. These range from establishing help-lines to reviewing legislation, and include providing technical and financial assistance for the creation of websites for the competent national authorities.211 16.5 Monitoring cases with vulnerable persons Among the priority areas where trial-monitoring programmes focus their activities is monitoring proceedings in which members of vulnerable groups are involved as defendants or injured parties.212 Therefore, trial monitors will follow cases involving members of minority ethnic groups or cases of inter-ethnic crime and hate crimes, domestic violence, rape and crimes committed by or against mentally-ill persons, as well as proceedings involving juveniles. The extent to which the OSCE will operate a separate thematic project to monitor proceedings involving vulnerable groups will depend on various factors. The protection of vulnerable groups may stem directly from the mandate of the field operation,213 or result from the deterioration of a given situation in the host country.214 A lack of institutions to deal with vulnerable groups, such as mentally-ill persons or juveniles, may also ground the decision to establish a focal point or unit within a programme to follow such proceedings and conduct specifically tailored advocacy activities.215 In terms of advocacy and outreach, apart from issuing relevant reports, some monitoring programmes have contributed to raising public awareness regarding victims’ rights where monitoring findings pointed to a lack thereof. The programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, developed a “Template for Property Claims” for victims claiming compensation through criminal proceedings, and the leaflet “Know Your Rights and Duties”, addressed to victims testifying in criminal proceedings.216 16.6 Monitoring civil and administrative proceedings Although most trial-monitoring programmes globally focus on criminal proceedings, there is a growing tendency to expand activities to cover civil and administrative proceedings. Among the first programmes to do so was the LSMS of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo; this programme has been monitoring criminal cases since 1999, but expanded its focus to civil cases in 2004, and to 210 See Annex VI. 211  See for instance <http://www.osce.org/odihr/23708>. 212  Vulnerable groups or persons can be understood as those who are more likely to have additional needs when dealing with the justice system and who may face discrimination or experience poorer outcomes if these needs are not met. Vulnerable persons may include, for example, persons belonging to minorities or juveniles. 213  For example, the protection of ethnic communities in Kosovo. 214  The monitoring of domestic violence, juvenile or trafficking cases is often the result of a peak in the occurrence of these crimes. 215  In practice, it has been most common to create a group of monitors to follow domestic violence, cases involving ethnic communities and juvenile offenders, as in the field operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2006. See <http://www.osce.org/ bih/48001>. 216  See <http://www.oscebih.org/documents/osce_bih_doc_2010122712570728eng.pdf>.