Council of Europe
Founding States Other countries Observer States to the Parliamentary Assembly Observer States to the Committee of Ministers States official candidates
Creation	5 May 1949
Type	International Organization
Headquarters	Palais de l'Europe , Strasbourg
Language (s)	English , French
Budget	200 999 600 (2008) 218m (2010)
Member (s)	47 States
Secretary General	Thorbjrn Jagland
Website	www.coe.int

The Council of Europe is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1949. It is the oldest organization working on behalf of the European ^Location

The headquarters of the Council of Europe is at Strasbourg in France. It held its first meeting at the palace University of Strasbourg in 1949 and is now the Palais de l'Europe on a site which also grouped the Palace of Human Rights (seat of the European Court of man ) and other Council buildings and organizations that depend on it.

It is located near the European Parliament (Strasbourg seat of the latter whose parliamentary sessions alternate with those of the Brussels headquarters of the European Parliament), which facilitates cooperation between the EU-47 (Council of Europe) and Europe of 27 ( EU ), entities with no formal organizational links and therefore not to be confused.

The Development Bank of Council of Europe has its headquarters in Paris, the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe is based in Lisbon ( Portugal ), while the European Centre for Modern Languages is located in Graz , ( Austria ). The European Youth Centre has two facilities, one in Budapest ( Hungary ) and the other in Strasbourg. The Council of Europe has offices in Paris and Brussels and the capitals of several other member states. The Council of Europe has observer status with the UN and thus has an office in New York.

History

In 1945 , at the end of the Second World War , Europe, plagued by destruction and suffering unprecedented faces new political challenges, the reconciliation of the peoples of Europe in particular. This situation is conducive to the realization of an old idea: the construction of Europe through the creation of common institutions.

In his famous speech at the University of Zurich in 1946 , Sir Winston Churchill called his vows reconstruction of the European family in a kind of United States of Europe and the creation of the Council of Europe.

The Hague Congress which in 1948 brought together more than a thousand delegates from governments, policy makers and civil society in almost all European countries discussed the future structure of the Organization. There were two schools of thought: one in favor of a traditional international organization with representatives from the governments and the other leaning more to a political forum of parliamentarians. Both approaches were eventually combined to lead to the creation of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly.

The Council of Europe was founded May 5, 1949 by the Treaty of London. Its statute was signed in London the same day, for the following ten countries: Belgium , Denmark , France , Ireland , Italy , Luxembourg , Netherlands , Norway , Sweden and United Kingdom. Many states have followed, especially after the democratic transitions in the countries of Central Europe and East in the early 1990s. The Council of Europe now includes almost all countries of the old continent and the eastern states that at least part of the territory lies in geographical Europe, bringing together 800 million citizens of the 47 member countries, the exception of Belarus.

As part of its goal of promoting human rights , it has established the 4 November 1950 the European Convention on Human Rights which came into force in 1953. The European Court of Human Rights was established on 18 September 1959 to achieve compliance. But the promotion of human rights and humanitarian law in general are not the sole prerogative; addition to a cultural aspect with the European Cultural Convention of 1954 , with the creation of the Economic Recovery Fund ^Institutions

• Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe
• Committee of Ministers
• Congress of Local and Regional
• European Court of Human Rights
• Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe
• European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)
• European Pharmacopoeia
• European Committee of Social Rights
• Committee against Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
• European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)
• Conference of International Non Governmental Organizations (INGOs)
• Administrative Tribunal of the Council of Europe (TACE)

Organization

Committee of Ministers

The Committee is composed of foreign ministers , and meets at ministerial level once this year. Their delegates, permanent representatives, meet once a week and a quorum to deliberate in private. Ministers exercise the chair in turn, in alphabetical order, for a period of six months. The presidency is currently held by Turkey since November 10, 2010.

The Committee of Ministers is the main decision making body of the Council and shall:

• determines the main lines of policy and activities of the Organization. It adopts European conventions;
• approves the budget;
• decide on the admission of new members;
• ensures compliance with the commitments of Member States took part in agreements;
• ensure the enforcement of judgments by the European Court of Human Rights.

In practice, the decision was made unanimously, which can lead to paralysis in the system thus formula of constructive abstention.

European Summits

The Summit is the meeting of Heads of State and Government, held sporadically since the 1990s. They must also help the Committee of Ministers and to give new impetus to the Council of Europe.

Parliamentary Assembly

Historically, the first parliamentary assembly of the continent's history. It is composed of 318 members and 318 alternate members elected or appointed by national parliaments. The number of representatives per country depends on its population (from two to eighteen). The assembly meets four times a year for a week. The work of the meeting are prepared by special committees.

The Assembly shall:

• discuss key issues;
• make recommendations to the Committee of Ministers;
• it is behind many European conventions.

Congress of Local and Regional

Congress, together with the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers, the third pillar of the Council of Europe. It was established in 1994.Il plays a fundamental role in promoting democracy by involving local and regional work of the Council of Europe. It consists of two chambers:

• the Chamber of Local Authorities ;
• the Chamber of Regions.

The meeting of both chambers has 318 representatives and 318 alternates representing more than 200,000 local and regional authorities of the Member States. It meets twice a year in Strasbourg. Through discussion and exchange, Congress seeks to strengthen local democratic structures, particularly in new democracies.

Both chambers elect a president, who has since May 2008 Yavuz Mildon .

Conference of international non-governmental

Representing civil society, 400 are members of the INGO Conference. They contribute actively in various ways to the action and influence of the Council of Europe both in their contributions to reflection on the many topics as monitoring the implementation of various policies that can ensure its members in different European countries.

The Conference will be held 4 times a year at the Palais de l'Europe in Strasbourg on the same dates as the Parliamentary Assembly. In addition, it applies its expertise in the various steering committees and expert groups.

Endowed since 2003 of a participatory status, it is one of four pillars of the Council of Europe, in close and complementary with the other 3 (Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly and Congress of Local and Regional)

Secretary-General

Elected by the Parliamentary Assembly for a five-year renewable term, it is the administrative arm of the Council of Europe and head of the budget of the Council of Europe (which in 2004 amounted to 180 million euros and 2007 to just over 197 million ), whose funding comes from the government of the Member States.

Commissioner for Human Rights

Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, its mission is to promote awareness and respect for human rights in the 47 states of the Council of Europe.

He is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly for a term of six years non-renewable term, and is responsible for promoting education, awareness and respect for human rights. It may make recommendations to Member States and reports to the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly.

In 1999, the Committee of Ministers adopted a resolution that establishes the office of Commissioner and sets out the mandate of the Commissioner. The first Commissioner, Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, has held this position from October 15, 1999 to March 31, 2006, while the present Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, took up his duties on 1 April 2006.

Emblems

The official emblems of the Council of Europe are :

• The European flag , the banner of blue with a crown of twelve golden stars; adopted on 13 December 1955 by the Parliamentary Assembly, it can be used officially by the Council of Europe itself or each of its member countries, but it must symbolize the whole of Europe and enable all European peoples to identify with, not just their country or their government (whether or not members of the Council of Europe). (This flag was subsequently adopted as an emblem separately by the European Communities in 1983 and used since 1986 , and adopted by the European Union at the single act of merging the communities , in both cases with the agreement of the Council of Europe.) Contrary to popular belief, the number of stars on the flag has always been 12, a symbol of perfection or fullness, but not the number of countries (in 1955 , when the adoption of the European flag, the Council of Europe had 14 member countries).
• The European anthem, adopted in 1971 by the Committee of Ministers and presented at the Europe Day in 1972, is the prelude to the Ode to Joy orchestrated in the Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven , and this Prelude is played without words when it symbolizes a European institution. (This song was later also adopted by the European Community in 1986 , then by the European Union).
• The logo of the Council of Europe, is formed from the European flag on which a sign falls reminiscent of the golden letters C and E and can not be used by the Council of Europe as a distinctive in its official communications. Adopted in 1999 to mark the ^50th anniversary of the Council of Europe, endorsed in 2000 by the Committee of Ministers, it is protected by copyright and may not be used without permission.

Conventions

Contrary to official emblems and institutions of the Council of Europe conventions adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe are not binding for all member countries. Thus, the following conventions were adopted in the Council, have not been ratified by all member countries and are subject to voluntary ratification of members:

• European Charter of Local Self
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
• European Urban Charter
• European Landscape Convention
• Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life
• Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level
• European Convention on Human Rights
• European Social Charter (adopted in 1961)
• European Cultural Convention (1954)
• European Convention on Extradition (1957)
• Strasbourg Convention of 6 May 1963 concerning dual citizenship and military service (agreement signed interpretation by some Contracting States in 2007)
• European Convention for the Suppression of Terrorism (1977)
• European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987)
• Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (1981)
• Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005)
• Convention for the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (2007)
• Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (1997)
• Convention against doping (1989)
• Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (1999) (ETS No. 173) and Additional Protocol to the Convention (CETS No. 191)
• Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 174)
• Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime (ETS No. 141)
• Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185) and Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime, concerning the criminalization of acts of racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems (CETS No. 189)
• Convention on the Prevention of cases of statelessness in relation to the succession of States (in force since ¹ May 2009 )

Beyond the single Council of Europe, the European Union and the European Free Trade required the ratification of some of these agreements as a precondition for accession, but did not require their members current.

In addition, agreements on free trade and / or freedom of movement or parallel charters exist between these three institutions and other institutions of regional cooperation and European non-European, that extend the competence of certain institutions of Council of Europe beyond its own members.

Among the acts of ratification of treaties of accession to the Council of Europe member countries are not necessarily engaged on their autonomous territories in Europe or elsewhere if their constitution grants them the right to decide the areas concerned with the status and implementation of international treaties to the territories which they represent. Unless otherwise determined by autonomous territories (and the autonomous territories have the right to withdraw from these treaties and conventions as they are not recognized as independent and fully self-governance, under the right to self-determination recognized by the Council Europe and the treaties of the United Nations , within the limits of the Constitutions of each signatory country).

Member States

For a State to join the Council of Europe, its institutions must be democratic and must respect human rights.

Thus for several years, states anchored in Europe have been a member. This was the case of Portugal under the regime established by Antnio de Oliveira Salazar and the Spain under Francisco Franco. The Greece also had to withdraw in 1969 , the risk of being expelled from the organization because of the establishment of the dictatorship of the colonels after the coup of 1967. Greece has returned to the Council of Europe in 1974 with the restoration of democratic rule. From 16 September 1992 to 13 January 1997 the Belarus was the special guest status, but was suspended by the Bureau of the Assembly because of its non-observance of human rights and democratic principles .

Founding Members (5 May 1949)

Belgium Denmark France Ireland Italy

img alt = "Flag: Luxembourg" src = "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg/20px-Flag_of_Luxembourg.svg.png" width = "20" height = "12" class = "thumbborder" /> Luxembourg Norway Netherlands United Kingdom Sweden