Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH)


EU accession to the ECHR
On 15 January 2020, the Ministers' Deputies approved the continuation of the ad hoc terms of reference of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) to finalise as a matter of priority, in co-operation with the representatives of the European Union, in an ad hoc group 47+1 and on the basis of the work already conducted, the legal instruments setting out the modalities of accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), including its participation in the Convention system and, in this context, to examine any related issue.

System of the European Convention on Human Rights
Under the supervision of the CDDH, the Committee of Experts on the system of the European Convention on Human Rights (DH-SYSC) conducts the intergovernmental work intended to enhance the protection of human rights by improving the effectiveness of the control mechanism of the European Convention on Human Rights and the implementation of the latter at national level.


Human Rights protection and development
The Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), set up by the Committee of Ministers end 1976, conducts the intergovernmental work of the Council of Europe in the human rights field in the light, in particular, of the Council of Europe legal standards and the relevant jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. It advices and gives its legal expertise to the Committee of Ministers on all questions within its field of competence.


Chair of the CDDH
Morten RUUD
(Norway)
DGI-CDDH@coe.int
Chair of the DH-SYSC
Hans-Jörg BEHRENS
(Germany)
DGI-CDDH-Reform@coe.int

Useful links:
Secretary General
Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law
Committee of Ministers
Parliamentary Assembly
Department for the execution of the Court's Judgments
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
HELP – European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals