70 Trial Monitoring: A Reference Manual for Practitioners of creating the manual should be one of the first activities undertaken in organizing the programme. Manuals should be reviewed and updated as needed. Example: Amended version of the Manual of the Trial Monitoring Programme, OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina Trial Monitoring Manual (amended version) was adopted in September 2006. Its 85 pages outline the policy framework within which the programme operates, its principles and the roles of the justice actors. It also sets out monitoring techniques and good practices, and introduces the new reporting template of the electronic database. Its main novelty was the explanation of more than a dozen international human rights standards applicable in criminal proceedings, on the basis of authoritative international documents (ECHR, ICCPR, soft-law), case law of international courts and bodies, and analyses by scholars and international organizations. It includes the main problems faced in practice, sets out domestic provisions for each standard, and provides reference questions to assist monitors in identifying breaches of legislation and/or standards. The manual also outlined special considerations pertaining to war crimes, trafficking in human beings and witness-protection matters. 8.3.3 A manual as an educational resource for building domestic capacity In addition to providing a useful resource for a programme, a legal reference manual may be shared with other local institutions, allowing it to serve as an educational tool for the local legal community. This may be beneficial in settings where legal resources and educational materials are in short supply. In this way, a manual may help build awareness of fair trial standards and other legal issues among interested legal professionals and civil society groups that would not otherwise have access to such information. Example: Trial-monitoring Manual of the Trial-monitoring Programme, OSCE Mission to Moldova The Moldovan trial-monitoring manual, adopted in 2006, provides an comprehensive overview of international fair trial standards, including specific focus on ECtHR decisions involving Moldova and relevant domestic case law and criminal procedures. In addition, the substantive provisions of the criminal code were presented for the priority cases monitored by the programme, as well as other background information relevant to the right to a public trial and monitoring generally. The manual was intended not only as a reference for monitors in the day-to-day observation and analysis of fair trial standards but also as an educational resource for the local legal community. 8.4 Training sessions In general, comprehensive training should be provided at the inception of a programme to ensure that staff acquire the necessary knowledge of domestic legal issues, observation and reporting methodology, and advocacy. Thereafter, training should be provided on a regular basis, especially for newcomers or each time the programme changes the substance and methodology of monitoring. The following subchapters provide guidance in organizing trial-monitoring training, based upon the experience of OSCE programmes. 8.4.1 Scope of training Initial training sessions should, at a minimum, address the following areas: • Substantive legal knowledge. Training should focus on the specific substantive legal standards, laws and issues that will be observed and assessed in monitoring. International standards should not be discussed in the abstract. Instead, they should be raised and related to local laws, procedures and practices to provide grounding in the local context and ensure appropriate application and analysis. Trainers and trainees should be encouraged to discuss non-obvious breaches of standards, as well as other “grey zones”, namely problematic subjects for which there is