Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH)
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Background |
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The Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH)
is composed of representatives of the forty-seven member states of the
Council of Europe. It defines policy and co-operation with regard to
human rights and fundamental freedoms. The CDDH assumes in particular
tasks which aim to develop and promote human rights, as well as to
improve procedures for their protection at both national and European
levels, constantly bearing in mind the evolution of the case-law of the
European Court of Human Rights. The CDDH holds plenary meetings as well as meetings in the framework of more specialised and smaller sub-committees, which it supervises and whose work it directs. These sub-committees can be committees of experts or ad hoc working groups. Their terms of reference are elaborated by the Steering Committee, with those of the committees of experts then being adopted by the Committee of Ministers. Sub-committees are of a non-permanent nature and are dissolved once they have completed their specific function, linked to a particular issue of the Steering Committee’s work. The Steering Committee for Human Rights is assisted by a Bureau (CDDH-BU) and by a Secretariat. |