78 Legal Digest of International Fair Trial Rights The right to a public hearing is founded on the idea of the open and transparent administration of justice, which is an important safeguard for the interests of the individual and of society at large.290 The right to a public hearing, which involves the ability of the public as well as the parties to a case to be present during judicial proceedings, lies at the heart of the role of the trial monitor, since the absence of this right would preclude the public monitoring of judicial proceedings. This role has been acknowledged by the OSCE participating States, who have decided to accept as a confidence-building measure the presence of observers at proceedings before courts.291 The conduct of hearings in public helps to ensure the transparency and the integrity of the judicial process and protect against potential abuse of that process. Public monitoring, in general, can influence judges and prosecutors to act impartially and professionally, can assist in motivating witnesses to speak truthfully, and allows the maintenance of public confidence in the administration of justice. As stated by the European Court of Human Rights: “the holding of court hearings in public constitutes a fundamental principle enshrined in paragraph 1 of Article 6. This public character protects litigants against the administration of justice in secret with no public scrutiny; it is also one of the means whereby confidence in the courts can be maintained. By rendering the administration of justice transparent, publicity contributes to the achievement of the aim of Article 6 § 1, namely a fair trial, the guarantee of which is one of the fundamental principles of any democratic society…”.292 Against this background, OSCE participating States have agreed that proceedings may only be held in camera in the circumstances prescribed by law and consistent with obligations under international law and international commitments.293 In such cases, participating States have agreed that the law will indicate if the presence of persons other than the parties can be allowed in order to assist the proceedings.294 The role of trial monitors is all the more important when hearings are conducted in camera, and participating States are encouraged, therefore, to allow and regulate their presence. As well as forming part of Article 14(1) of the ICCPR and Article 6(1) of the ECHR, the right to a public hearing is reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, albeit in much briefer terms.295 The Human Rights Committee has commented that, in principle, all hear 290 UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment 32 (2007), para 28. 291 Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, Copenhagen 1990, para 12. 292 Werner v Austria [1997] ECHR 92, para 45. See also: Lawlesss v Ireland (No 1) [1960] ECHR 1, p. 13; Golder v the United Kingdom [1975] ECHR 1, para 36; Axen v Germany [1983] ECHR 14, para 25; Diennet v France [1995] ECHR 28, para 33; Hummatov v Azerbaijan [2007] ECHR 1026, para 140; and Schlumpf v Switzerland [2009] ECHR 36; Riepan v Austria [2000] ECHR 575, para 27. 293 Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, Copenhagen 1990, para 12. 294 OSCE Reference Guide to Criminal Procedure, annex to the Report to the Belgian OSCE Chairmanship on the elaboration of a Reference Guide to Criminal Procedure (2007), para 4.2.4. 295 Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the UN General Assembly under its resolution 217 (III) of 10 December 1948, refers simply to the entitlement of every person to a public hearing, without describing any potential grounds of restriction. Article 11 of the UDHR, which concerns itself with criminal proceedings, speaks of the right of every person to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law “in a public trial…”.