Human rights: protection, promotion and prevention

The protection of human rights is one of the Council of Europe's basic goals, to be achieved in four main areas:
- effective supervision and protection of fundamental rights and freedoms;
- identifying new threats to human rights and human dignity;
- developing public awareness of the importance of human rights;
- promoting human rights education and professional training.
Among the most significant treaties in this area are the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

The European Convention on Human Rights
The Council's most significant achievement is the European Convention on Human Rights, which was adopted in 1950 and came into force in 1953. It sets out a list of rights and freedoms which states are under an obligation to guarantee to everyone within their jurisdiction (among other things, the right to life, to protection against torture and inhuman treatment, to freedom and safety, to a fair trial, to respect for one's private and family life and correspondence, to freedom of expression (including freedom of the press), thought, conscience and religion). Protocols have added other rights to those set out in the Convention, such as the abolition of the death penalty (Protocol No. 6).

The European Court on Human Rights
The Convention establishes an international enforcement machinery, the European Court on Human Rights, whereby states and individuals, regardless of their nationality, may refer alleged violations by contracting states of the rights guaranteed in the Convention to the judicial institutions in Strasbourg established by the Convention. Its jurisdiction is compulsory for all contracting parties. It sits on a permanent basis and deals with all the preliminary stages of a case, as well as giving judgment on the merits. The Court consists of a number of judges equal to the number of contracting states to the Convention. Although candidates are initially put forward by each government, judges enjoy complete independence in the performance of their duties and do not represent the states which proposed them. The current President of the Court is Luzius Wildhaber (Switzerland). Monitoring the Court's judgments in which a violation is found is the task of the Committee of Ministers.

The European Social Charter
The European Social Charter sets out rights and freedoms and establishes a supervisory procedure guaranteeing their respect by the States Parties. All Europeans share these rights under the Charter and they affect every aspect of daily life, including housing, health, education, employment, legal and social protection, movement of persons and non-discrimination .

European Committee of Social Rights
The European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) checks whether member states have honoured their undertakings under the Charter. The States Parties report every year on their implementation of the Charter in law and in practice. The ECSR examines the reports, decides whether these procedures comply with the Charter and publishes its conclusions annually. If a state takes no action on a ECSR decision the Committee of Ministers addresses a recommendation to the state to change its laws or practices.

A collective complaints procedure
Complaints of violations of the Charter may be lodged by trade unions and employers' organisations and certain NGOs with the ECSR under a protocol which came into force in 1998. The ECSR examines the complaint and declares it admissible if it meets the formal requirements. It then decides the case on its merits and reports its findings to the parties concerned and to the Committee of Ministers.

The Convention for the Prevention of Torture
The European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment came into force in 1989. The Convention supplements the protection available under the European Convention on Human Rights by establishing a European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). The Committee for the prevention of torture visits places of detention to see how persons deprived of their liberty are treated . The aim of the committee's work is to strengthen the protection of detainees against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment rather than to condemn states for abuses. After each visit, the CPT draws up a report setting out its findings and the recommendations which is sent to the State concerned.

The protection of national minorities
The Council of Europe adopted the Framework Convention in 1994. Contracting parties undertake to pursue the Convention's objectives through national legislation and policies. These include ensuring equality before the law, preserving and developing cultures, safeguarding identities, religions, minority languages and traditions. Since 1992 European states have been able to confirm their commitment to protection of Regional or Minority Languages by signing the European Charter on this matter.

Combating racism and intolerance
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) was established in 1993. ECRI is an independent monitoring mechanism, whose task is to combat racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and intolerance in all Council of Europe member States from the perspective of the protection of human rights. Its action covers all necessary measures to combat violence, discrimination and prejudice faced by persons or groups of persons, on grounds of race, colour, language, religion, nationality and national or ethnic origin.

A Commissioner for human rights
The post of Commissioner for Human Rights was created in 1999. The Commissioner is responsible for promoting education, awareness and respect for human rights in member states and ensuring full and effective compliance with Council of Europe texts. The Commissioner plays a supporting and essentially preventive role, without. legal powers. The first holder of the post was Alvaro Gil-Robles (Spain) who was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly in September 1999. Thomas Hammarberg (Sweden) was elected to the post on 5 October 2005 and took up office in April 2006.

Mai 2007