60th Anniversary of the Council of Europe

Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

When you are young, birthdays are about growing up and looking forward. When you have got a few years behind you, they are an opportunity to look back and assess what you have done over the years. The 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of London which set up the Council of Europe in 1949 is an opportunity to do both.

Sixty years ago the statesmen who established the Council of Europe knew exactly what they were doing. That is why our Statute is so short, so clear and so simple. The Council of Europe exists to achieve “a greater unity between its Members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress”. It does this by discussing “questions of common concern and by agreements and common action in economic, social, cultural, scientific, legal and administrative matters and in the maintenance and further realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

These ten countries stressed that spiritual and moral values are the true source of individual freedom, and they argued that closer unity between all like-minded European countries was necessary to maintain and realise these ideals. That is still the case as we seek to build common ground between the 800 million Europeans represented in the 47 states who are now members of our organisation.

When the Heads of Government reviewed the priorities of the Council of Europe at their meeting in Warsaw in 2005, they laid down guidelines for the future work of the Council of Europe, stressing the core activities of defending human rights, strengthening democracy and ensuring the rule of law.

But in practice, there is back-sliding as well as progress. The price of freedom, as we all know, is eternal vigilance. A dark cloud still hangs over Europe as a result of allegations about the complicity of some European governments in CIA rendition flights, and the issue is still unresolved as far as the Council of Europe is concerned. The weight of current problems is heavy, but it should not detract from the achievements of six decades which we are right to celebrate on this anniversary.

And more recently we have had the armed conflict between two member states, Georgia and Russia, in spite of their commitments to use peaceful means to settle disputes.

More than 200 Conventions agreed between the member states stand as a monument to the search for common standards across a vast range of issues in the economic, social, cultural, scientific, legal and administrative field. They range from the equivalence of school-leaving diplomas to medical assistance, from social rights to the fight against terrorism, cybercrime and trafficking in human beings.  Together they attest to the continuing efforts of all European states to draw closer together by offering their citizens the benefit of comparable standards wherever they may reside.

In addition the Council of Europe has established thirteen specialist agencies, often at the initiative of just a few member states, but always open to others to join. They deal with such issues as standardising the basic scientific definitions of medicines, designing anti-corruption measures, improving language education and combating drug abuse and illegal trafficking. Often unknown outside their field of specialisation, they make a major contribution to drawing together standards across the continent, often with an influence in the wider world which far surpasses anything imagined by the people who created the Council of Europe.

And the Council of Europe remains the leading organisation which monitors respect for human rights within our continent. With the investigative activity of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the Commissioner for Human Rights, the authorities in our member states – courts, police, prisons – are subject to close scrutiny and, when necessary, are named and shamed. No one enjoys condemnation before a court of peers, and our member states go out of their way to avoid censure by meeting the standards of the Council of Europe.  Monitoring missions visit states in need of assistance, and their published reports reinforce the pressure of public opinion for high standards of human rights protection throughout the continent.

Above all, the work of the European Court of Human Rights stands at the centre of the achievements of the Council of Europe over this period of sixty years.  The number of applications to the Court – 62 000 in 2008 alone – is testimony to its importance.

As for the future, the Council of Europe has four key tasks:

1. Strengthening the European legal space. We need to review and revise many of the existing Conventions. Some need to be brought up to date, and new areas of work need to be organised within the framework of new Conventions.

2. Enforcing more strongly the monitoring system for human rights. Naming and shaming is a useful mechanism, but the Council of Europe needs more sticks and carrots to ensure that member states do not opt for back-sliding instead of progress. There should be no impunity for those in authority in a member state where power has been abused at the expense of an individual.

3. Building on our assistance programmes for member states who want to do better. All member states subscribe to the high standards of the Council of Europe and are keen to live up to them, but some of them need more help than others.

4. Communicating  better about what we do and what we have done.  Higher visibility for the work of the Council of Europe will help to anchor our achievements in the minds of Governments and ensure their continuing support for a sometimes uncomfortable friend.

By tackling these four issues we can create a positive spiral for change, where a reinvigorated Council of Europe can make the wider Europe morally as well as materially a better place. The Council of Europe is, as it has always been, a vital element in the continuing struggle for positive expression for the better part of human nature in the government of all our states.