HUMAN RIGHTS human rights since the Human Rights Assessment Mission. In response to the needs expressed, ODIHR supported the work of human rights defenders engaged in documenting human rights violations during armed conflict and in post-conflict situations, by organizing a safety and security training workshop in December. At the request of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, ODIHR conducted a training workshop on human rights monitoring for regional human rights and reporting focal points of the Mission from 12 to 14 November. Nineteen monitors received an introduction to human rights monitoring, information analysis and reporting, as well as specific knowledge on monitoring in post-conflict and conflict situations. Applicable international and domestic legal norms were also discussed. On 17 December, ODIHR released its second report on Monitoring Freedom of Peaceful Assembly in Selected OSCE Participating States. The report is the result of ODIHR’s second cycle of monitoring public assemblies, carried out in nine participating States from May 2013 to July 2014. As part of this exercise, in 2014 ODIHR observed 19 demonstrations in Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands and Spain. The main goal of monitoring was to identify gaps and challenges, as well as examples of good practices, in how participating States meet their commitments on freedom of peaceful assembly. The ensuing report includes the main findings of the monitoring exercises, as well as a set of recommendations to participating States aimed at promoting full compliance with OSCE human dimension commitments and other international human rights standards. In December 2014, ODIHR organized its first Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Monitoring Roundtable, in Vienna, where civil society groups and OSCE field operations exchanged experiences in monitoring public assemblies. The event provided a forum for an open discussion of obstacles to observation, ways to address them and on how to use assembly monitoring findings most effectively. ODIHR also continued to follow and take action on individual cases of human rights defenders. In July and December, ODIHR officials visited prominent Kyrgyz human rights defender Azimjan Askarov in prison in Bishkek. The Office continued to monitor the status of the death penalty in the OSCE area and published its report The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area: Background Paper 2014. The publication is compiled annually to facilitate the exchange of information among participating States on the use capital punishment. Human Rights Education and Capacity Building ODIHR launched its Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, on 10 and 11 June Professor Alan Miller, the Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, at the first NHRI Academy, Budapest, 25 June. Daniel Vegel 44 ODIHR Annual Report 2014