Overview
The Council of Europe (CoE) is the oldest European institution geared towards integration. As stated in Article 1 of the Statute of the Council of Europe, ‘the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members' (Council of Europe, 2011). Since its creation in 1949, the CoE has sought to foster integration through the development of basic democratic principles, upholding the rule of law and the improvement of human rights throughout Europe. The CoE is comprised of 47 member states and is open to any European state which seeks to further the integration process, for this reason it is considered to have ‘a genuine pan European dimension’ (Council of Europe, 2011).
The Council of Europe is not a European Union institution, and therefore includes more members than the EU (47, rather than 27).
Background
The Council of Europe was created in 1949, following the Congress of Europe in 1948. At the Congress, representatives from pro-integration organisations and states were present, placing European integration on the political agenda. The establishment of the CoE the following year marked the first time an intergovernmental organisation had been founded in Europe since the end of the Cold War (Cini, 2010, p 19). The original members were Ireland, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. Cini argues that the CoE 'represented a victory for those... who wished only cooperation, not integration' (2010, p 19).
Shortly after creation, the CoE passed the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which was signed in Rome in November 1950, the first international legal instrument safeguarding human rights. Almost a decade later in September 1959 the European Court of Human Rights was established by the Council in Strasbourg, under the European Convention on Human Rights. The court was established with the purpose of ensuring observance of the obligations undertaken by contracting states. This was followed by the signing of the Social Charter in October 1961 in Turin, the Social Charter was perceived as the social and economic counterpart to the Convention of Human Rights. The structure of the Council can be considered both inter-parliamentary and intergovernmental. The reason for this combination is to allow a forum for political debate, in the form of the Parliamentary Assembly, whilst maintaining the features of a classical international organization with representatives of governments which is illustrated by the Committee of Ministers.
Aims
"The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress"
The Council of Europe
The Council has furthered European co-operation through a number of international conventions, covering subjects ranging from education and cultural exchanges to transport regulations and the promotion of democratic local government. Its most important achievement has been the signature of the European Convention on Human Rights (drawn up in 1950 as the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), and its application is supervised and enforced by the European Commission on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, both based in Strasbourg. The Convention on Human Rights, partly drafted by British lawyers, pools the sovereignty of member states by enabling individual citizens to appeal to the Commission and the Court on matters of human rights. It had 46 members in 2006. Several other nations have observer status.
Membership of the CoE is dependent on the acknowledgement of fundamental human rights and freedoms, the guarantee of democracy and the acceptance of the rule of law. Where member states of the European Union somewhat lose or pool their sovereignty to the Commission or the European Parliament, Council of Europe members commit themselves through conventions and unwritten laws. Member states work together to arise with conventions of common political issues, whereas European Community law is decided and legislated by institutions of the Union. The Council of Europe and the E.U are both organizations committed to European Integration. Geographically the CoE is larger and its conventions are open to adoption by non-members too.
Achievements
I. Protection of the rule of law and fostering legal co-operation through some 200 conventions and other treaties, including such leading instruments as the Convention on Cybercrime, the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, the Conventions against Corruption and Organised Crime, and the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
II. CODEXTER, designed to co-ordinate counter-terrorism measures
III. Protection of human rights, notably through:
- The European Convention on Human Rights
- The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
- The Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings
- The Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abus
- Social rights under the European Social Charter
- Linguistic rights under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
- Minority rights under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
- Media freedom under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on Transfrontier Television
- Protection of democracy through parliamentary scrutiny and election monitoring by its Parliamentary Assembly as well as assistance in democratic reforms, in particular by the Venice Commission.
- Promotion of cultural co-operation and diversity under the Council of Europe's Cultural Convention of 1954 and several conventions on the protection of cultural heritage as well as through its Centre for Modern Languages in Graz, Austria and its North-South Centre in Lisbon, Portugal.
- Promotion of the right to education under Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and several conventions on the recognition of university studies and diplomas (see also Bologna Process and Lisbon Recognition Convention).
- Promotion of fair sport through the Anti-Doping Convention and the Convention against Spectator Violence.
- Promotion of European youth exchanges and co-operation through European Youth Centres in Strasbourg and Budapest.
- Promotion of the quality of medicines throughout Europe by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Pharmacopoeia.
Bibliography
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