ment, then the mission may close its file on the individual complaint. Likewise, if it is clear that the government is taking appropriate action to redress a violation and to bring the perpetrator to justice, there should be no need for further mission involvement. On the other hand, if no information is provided or no action taken, the mission will need to decide what further steps to take, if any. This decision involves political judgements on whether further intervention is merited by the seriousness of the case and whether further mission involvement is likely to bring any positive result. If a mission decides to proceed, one obvious option is to raise the case again with government officials at a higher level. As the level of concern and the level of the government officials approached rises, it becomes necessary to involve staff of the mission with corresponding levels of responsibility, up to, in some cases, the Head of Mission. The intervention of the Head of Mission may be required when the human rights violations are particularly serious and/or when the violations may have been committed or sanctioned by a high-level government official. If a case remains unresolved after a mission has raised it at as high a level as it can – usually ministerial level or above – the mission still has other options available to it for showing concern. These are described below. 10.2 OTHER WAYS TO EXPRESS INTEREST AND CONCERN The types of written and oral démarches described in the previous section are, in general, confidential diplomatic contacts. Because they are carried out in private, they avoid public embarrassment or criticism and give the government an opportunity to right a wrong without appearing to do so under international pressure. There are other measured ways in which OSCE field operations can also express interest in, and concern about, individual cases of human rights violations. These approaches are more public than diplomatic, but they stop short of outright public criticism. There are many ways of showing support for individual victims or groups of victims or for people or groups suffering harassment or otherwise in danger of becoming victims. Such steps can be carried out without fanfare as part of the normal human dimension work of a field operation. It is likely, however, that the government will notice the mission’s actions, which may thus provide a measure of protection to the individuals concerned. As such, the measures may be preventive and may encourage remedial action by the government. 93 10