This book deals with a human rights monitoring mechanism that has been less studied in the legal literature. With a special focus on election missions of the European Union, it addresses the question of what contribution international election observation makes to the implementation of human rights. An in-depth look is taken at the aspects of election campaigns and the media, which are of central importance from a human rights perspective for the formation of a free and informed will of voters. In an empirical section, the implementation of the recommendations of EU election missions is examined in detail on the basis of the two case studies Guinea-Bissau and East Timor. In particular, possibilities for improving the effectiveness of this human rights control mechanism are identified.