PART III 13 THE ODIHR’S ROLE IN INDIVIDUAL COMPLAINTS operations will usually be in a much better position than the ODIHR to gather information on individual cases and to follow up on a regular basis with officials at various levels. Because the ODIHR covers developments in all OSCE participating States and is usually geographically removed from the scene of alleged human rights violations, the ODIHR will normally be able to intervene only in a limited number of especially significant or serious cases. There may be circumstances, however, where the ODIHR and/or a mission judge that an intervention by the ODIHR might be more effective than one by the mission. This may be the case where ODIHR action would reinforce earlier action by the mission or take it to a higher level or where the ODIHR can draw upon its special expertise in making the intervention. The ODIHR may also have easier and more frequent access to the Permanent Council, the Chairman-in-Office, or other OSCE bodies than the mission would. One way of demonstrating that the mission and the ODIHR stand together on an individual case is for the Head of Mission to deliver a letter from the Director of the ODIHR to a senior government official and to personally reinforce the points in the letter. The ODIHR may also be in a position to take up individual cases as part of its normal work, for example, during visits to a country by the ODIHR Director, in briefing papers and recommendations for action by the Chairman-in-Office, and in statements to Human Dimension Meetings and to the Permanent Council. The ODIHR can also design technical-assistance projects aimed at alleviating certain types of human rights violations, as described in Chapter 11. It can propose that Supplementary Human Dimension Meetings be convened on issues that are a source of individual complaints in several OSCE countries. In responding to individual complaints received by mail, the ODIHR might also make use of any written handouts developed by field operations, as described in Chapter 9. 112