In an opinion on Poland adopted today, the Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy through Law (“Venice Commission”) found that the cumulative effect of proposed reforms to two laws and recently adopted amendments to a third law “puts at serious risk” the independence of “all parts” of the Polish judiciary. More...

The latest case-by-case decisions on the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights have been published by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. More...

On 7 December 2017, the Working Group between the Council of Europe and the Turkish Ministry of Justice met in Strasbourg to discuss issues relating to pretrial detention in the light of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. More...

Recent trends in Europe show that the overall commitment to human rights is not what it once was. European countries have long been the staunchest defenders of human rights but we now see a real risk that we are now going backward. More...

Today we celebrate the International Human Rights Day. Respect for human rights has advanced significantly since the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948. The Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights have been instrumental in protecting the human rights of individuals and ensure that all people can live their lives in dignity. More...

The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing body (MONEYVAL) today published the third progress report of the Holy See/Vatican City State. The report evaluates the Holy See’s compliance with the recommendations made by MONEYVAL in its Mutual Evaluation Report in July 2012 and developments since the last progress report submitted in December 2015. More...

2017 has been a dark year on the anti-corruption front. There have been many allegations of corruption in public and private organisations, which have eroded people’s trust in them. Judges have been dismissed or imprisoned and many prosecutions have been undermined simply because they were doing their independent and impartial job; election campaigns have been polluted by corruption allegations and journalists have been silenced, imprisoned or killed. More...

A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out a visit to the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation from 28 November to 4 December 2017. It was the Committee’s twelfth visit to this Republic. More...

The Committee of Ministers of the 47-nation Council of Europe has launched infringement proceedings against Azerbaijan due to the authorities’ continuing refusal to ensure the unconditional release of opposition politician Ilgar Mammadov following a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in 2014. More...