The Council of Europe is an intergovernmental organization established in 1949 to defend human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across Europe.
The European Court of Human Rights works with the Council of Europe. All European countries except Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the Vatican are members of the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe was formed by the establishment of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers and the parliamentary wing representing the governments in 1948, together with the establishment of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors at that time.
On May 5, 1949, 10 countries – Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg, and Norway – signed the Treaty establishing the Council of Europe, center Strasbourg. There are currently 47 member states in the Council of Europe.
The Council’s work areas are human rights, media, legal cooperation, social solidarity, health, education, culture, sports, youth, local democracies, cross-border cooperation, environmental and regional planning.
The Agency is a separate international organization with no organic ties to the European Union. Today, however, the European Union uses the flag of the Council of Europe, as well as the close cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU. There are joint projects of the European Union and the Council of Europe in many countries. The Council of Europe is a different organization from the EU Council of Ministers. The budget of the Council consists of the contributions of the member states, calculated according to their population and GNP. The budget for 2002 is approximately € 169 million. The official languages of the Council are English and French.
European Court of Human Rights
ECHR is an organization of the Council of Europe.
The concept of human rights, in general, is the whole of the rights that people have in accordance with human dignity because they are human. It encompasses fundamental rights and public freedoms in the broad sense of domestic law and the rights envisaged and protected by international law. Since these rights are of interest to all people, they need protection in the international arena.
First practices on the protection of human rights are mostly at the national level. International law treats human rights in a general way through the United Nations treaty. This treaty does not include an explanation of what these rights are, although they speak of human rights a lot. Therefore, the Human Rights Commission was established under the Economic and Social Council. It was also assigned to work on this issue.
The Commission has adopted the draft Bill prepared for this purpose as Universal Declaration of Human Rights by a resolution of the General Assembly on 12.12.1948. Because this paper does not have a binding character and does not regulate any guarantee mechanisms, developments after the notification have aimed at eliminating these deficiencies.
In this framework, there are new regulations at two levels. These arrangements are the Universal Convention on Personal and Political Rights and the Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Furthermore, at the regional level, the American-African Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights differs from other treaties. Therefore, the constitution of human rights is not the other conventions, but the European Convention on Human Rights. These differentiating features; the clarity of the materials in the text is that they are precise, detailed, directly applicable rules.
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
The Congress of European Local and Regional Authorities is the advisory body of the Council of Europe. It also supports local democracy by representing local governments within the Council of Europe. Moreover, there are two chambers, one of which is a chamber of local administrations and the other is a chamber of regional administrations.
Founding Countries of Council of Europe
On May 5, 1949, there were 10 members:
Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Luxembourg, and Norway.