| Albania
(13.07.1995) |
Liechtenstein
(23.11.1978) |
| Andorra
(10.10.1994) |
Lithuania
(14.5.1993) |
| Armenia
(25.01.2001) |
Luxembourg
(5.5.1949) |
| Austria
(16.04.1956) |
Malta
(29.4.1965) |
| Azerbaijan(25.01.2001) |
Moldova
(13.7.1995) |
| Belgium
(5.5.1949) |
Monaco
(05.10.2004) |
| Bosnia
and Herzegovina (24.04.2002) |
Netherlands
(5.5.1949) |
| Bulgaria
(7.5.1992) |
Norway
(5.5.1949) |
| Croatia
(6.11.1996) |
Poland
(29.11.1991) |
| Cyprus
(24.5.1961) |
Portugal
(22.9.1976) |
| Czech
Republic (30.6.1993) |
Romania
(7.10.1993) |
| Denmark
(5.5.1949) |
Russian
Federation (28.2.1996) |
| Estonia
(14.5.1993) |
San
Marino (16.11.1988) |
| Finland
(5.5.1989) |
Serbia
and Montenegro (03.04.2003) |
| France
(5.5.1949) |
Slovak
Republic (30.6.1993) |
| Georgia
(27.4.1999) |
Slovenia
(14.5.1993) |
| Germany
(13.7.1950) |
Spain
(24.11.1977) |
| Greece
(9.8.1949) |
Sweden
(5.5.1949) |
| Hungary
(6.11.1990) |
Switzerland
(6.5.1963) |
| Iceland
(9.3.1950) |
The
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (9.11.1995) |
| Ireland
(5.5.1949) |
Turkey
(13.4.1950) |
| Italy
(5.5.1949) |
Ukraine
(9.11.1995) |
| Latvia
(10.2.1995) |
United
Kingdom (5.5.1949) |
Council
of Europe - Map
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The
European Convention and the Court of Human Rights
One
of the most important and well known achievements of the Council of
Europe is to have passed a convention called The European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (shortened
to the European Convention on Human Rights or ECHR). This Convention
sets forth a number of widely accepted fundamental rights and freedoms.
Member States sign and ratify the Convention which then binds them
to respect the rights and obligations of the Convention. They are
often referred to as the contracting states. All
the Member States in the Council of Europe have signed the European
Convention on Human Rights. The Convention is first signed by the
Foreign Minister/Secretary of each Member State. Following the signing,
the Foreign Minister/Secretary seeks approval of the signing from
her or his national parliament. This approval is called ratification,
and is very important. Once a Member State has ratified the Convention
they have bound themselves by law to respect the rights in the Convention.
A Member State can do this in two ways:
- By transformation
The Member State reviews its national laws and makes changes where needed, so that the content of the national law provides the same rights and obligations as the Convention.
- By incorporation
The Member State creates a new law which says that the Member State is legally bound to respect the rights and obligations given in the Convention. This effectively means that the Convention is incorporated as national law.
What
sets this Convention apart from other Human Rights' Conventions
and Declarations is that it sets up a mechanism for the enforcement
of the obligations taken on by those who have signed the Convention.
The European Court of Human Rights was set up to carry out this
task. This Court has its seat in Strasbourg. It is composed of a
number of judges equal to the number of states that have signed
up to the Convention, currently 46. Although all the judges in the
Court are nationals of a Contracting State, once they are elected
to be judges, they work in their individual capacity.
Under
the Convention a national of a Member State has the right to bring
the state before the national courts if he or she believes that
the state is not respecting the Convention. If the person cannot
find legal remedy after exhausting its national courts, he or she
may file a case against the state before the European Court of Human
Rights.
The
fact that the Convention, not only provides the individual with
legal rights, but also has a Court to uphold them, is unique to
the Council of Europe.
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How
does the Council of Europe tie in with other European and international
institutions?
As its
name indicates, the Council of Europe covers the geographical area
of Europe, although not all European countries are members. It is
completely independent of other European and international organisations,
such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union.
Although these organisations operate in different fields, there are
some areas in which they overlap and where each of them overlaps with
the Council of Europe. Most
significantly, the EU has slowly been expanding its area of jurisdiction
and influence. Originating as an economic union, it now concerns
itself with a number of areas, including human rights. Both the
EU and the Council of Europe recognise each other as important actors.
Although all the Member States of the EU are members of the Council
of Europe, not all the members of the Council of Europe are members
of the EU. The EU was formed with the overall view of creating a
market place with a free flow of goods, services, capital and people.
Its Member States have set up common institutions to which they
delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific
matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European
level.
Although
the EU and the Council of Europe operate mostly on different levels
and in different political areas, the EU, like the Council of Europe,
names human rights, democracy and the rule of law among its core
values. On the subject of human rights, the EU makes clear reference
to and acknowledges the Council of Europe's Convention on Human
Rights. The Constitutional Treaty for the EU which has been agreed
by the Member States and which is to be ratified over the period
2005/6 expressly commits the EU to acceding to the European Convention
of Human Rights in its own right and in addition to the accession
of its Member States to it.
Other
global and regional organisations, such as the United Nations, or
the Organisation of American States have developed their own human
rights instruments and legislation. The Council of Europe is not
formally in a position to influence these organisations, but its
work in the area of human rights is highly valued all over the world
and is looked to for guidance.
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Other Papers in this Series
(2)
Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion and Conscientious Objection
in the Council of Europe HTML
PDF (256kb) (3)
The Logic of Extending the Right to Conscientious Objection to Taxation
HTML PDF
(254kb)
(4)
The Peace Tax – Frequently Asked Questions HTML
PDF (260kb)
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on downloading PDFs:
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Acrobat Reader.
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download the PDFs right click the link select "Save
Target As" and save it on your computer.
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note that these are large files and depending on your connection
speed may take some time to download
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