We co-operate with governmental and non-governmental interlocutors to support reforms that are in line with the letter and the spirit of the Council of Europe norms and values. The overall purpose is to strengthen national capacities to prevent, or put and end to and properly compensate for, human rights violations.
We offer training to professional groups such as judges, prosecutors, court managers, lawyers, law enforcement personnel, prison staff, bailiffs, staff of national human rights institutions (NHRSs, ie ombudsmen and national human rights commissions or institutions, national preventive mechanisms for the prevention of torture (NPMs), etc.), and members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The aim is to enhance awareness of the Council of Europe's standards in the fields of human rights and the rule of law and, thus, to allow national actors to make extensive use of those norms and case-law in their daily work at national and, where appropiate, at international level.
The specific issues we work on are those that have been identified by the Council of Europe's various monitoring bodies (European Court of Human Rights, Commissioner for Human Rights, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, European Committee of Social Rights, European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, etc.) as areas of concern in the country or group of countries at hand.
The countries concerned by our activities are as a rule member states, but candidate countries for accession to the Council of Europe can also be eligible for co-operation programmes.
We implement several hundred activities per year, in particular training sessions, round tables, conferences, legislative expertises and other expert assessments and we issue publications on a wide range of aspects of human rights and rule of law in a large number of languages.
Some of our activities are funded by the Organisation's ordinary budget. However, most projects are funded or co-funded by external sources, primarily the European Union, the Council of Europe Human Rights Trust Fund, and individual member states who make voluntary financial contributions towards specific projects.
Programmes typically last between six months and three to four years. They are managed from the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg and implemented with the assistance of project teams established in the countries concerned. Extensive use is made of the expertise of colleagues from relevant sectors of the Council of Europe both for the design and the implementation of the projects.
The majority of activities include contributions from, and participation by, short-term experts from all over Europe. In addition, eminent specialists are engaged as long-term consultants and spend several weeks every month in-country working on the projects directly with the relevant authorities and other partners.
Co-operation with other intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations is sought whenever synergy can be built.
Our project management is subject to Council of Europe internal, as well as external, evaluation and auditing