62 CHAPTER 8 Conduct and Capacity-Building of Trial-Monitoring Staff Trial monitoring requires a high level of co-ordination and consistency of methodology, although monitoring and reporting is mainly performed individually or in pairs. Maintaining the integrity and consistency of a programme requires basic operational controls, including in procedures and in the provision of adequate support. 8.1 Standards of conduct for trial-monitoring staff The establishment of a code of conduct safeguards the monitoring programme and, in particular, the perception of its activities and professional staff by external actors and the public. A code of conduct should incorporate the principles of the programme into the working methods of the team by providing overarching professional standards of conduct. As an internal mechanism, a code of conduct helps ensure that monitors adhere to common standards. Hence, codes of conduct provide a basis for establishing accountability on the part of monitors. Unlike monitoring guidelines or instructions, which focus on case monitoring and reporting responsibilities, a code of conduct applies broadly across all monitoring activities.74 In the development of a code of conduct specific to trial monitoring, managers can benefit from efforts in recent years to develop a model set of ethical commitments for human rights professionals.75 Managers should acquaint their staff with these ethical guidelines and discuss their applicability to trial monitoring. These overarching principles can play an important role when unprecedented or complex situations arise, in which monitors may be have a dilemma regarding which course of action to take. For instance, the ethical guidelines state that “the primary commitment of human rights professionals is to the human rights of the individuals, communities and peoples they serve; in cases of professional dilemma or uncertainty, this commitment shall be the fundamental consideration.”76 The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, for instance, organized a meeting of its human rights staff in 2007 to discuss the applicability of these principles in the work of the department. Codes or principles of conduct should be put in writing and included as part of a programme’s guidelines for all staff. Where monitors are contracted and not subject to OSCE staff rules and regulations, the code of conduct may also be included as an annex to their contracts, to emphasize the monitor’s professional obligations.77 Since programmes may adopt different operating principles, there is no unified OSCE trial-monitoring code of conduct. Codes have been drafted in the OSCE, however, that serve to further the four basic working principles set out in the following sections. 74 See Annex I.A for a sample code of conduct. 75  See the Guiding Principles of Human Rights Field Officers Working in Conflict and Post-conflict Environments, launched in 2008 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, by the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations, with the participation of diplomats, NGOs and representatives of the major human rights field officer-deploying inter-governmental organisations. 76  See the first principle of the Statement of Ethical Commitments of Human Rights Professionals. 77  This was the case in Moldova and Montenegro.