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Reinforcing the effectiveness of Council of Europe
treaty law

Resolution 1732 (2010)1

1.       The
Parliamentary Assembly underlines the key role of the Council
of Europe in drawing up human rights standards and its major
contribution to the development of international law through
its treaties. The Assembly is committed to ensuring that these
standards are fully applied.

2.       The
Council of Europe's treaties embody the Organisation's shared
values and constitute a fundamental body of law.

3.       As the
political driving force of the Council of Europe, the Assembly
has initiated many of these conventions and welcomes the
successful development of this European legal acquis.

4.       The
Assembly emphasises that many Council of Europe treaties deal
with pressing issues and include ground-breaking provisions to
supplement existing international law.

5.       The
Assembly welcomes the fact that the Council of Europe has laid
the foundations of an innovative and coherent body of European
law, particularly in its special fields of expertise of human
rights’ protection, democracy and the rule of law. This body
of conventions, covering the entire continent, forms the basis
for a Europe without dividing lines.

6.       One
distinctive feature of Council of Europe treaty law is the
independent machinery established by certain conventions to
monitor their implementation, the most advanced being the
European Court of Human Rights. Thanks in particular to these
monitoring arrangements, the Council of Europe’s treaty law
has proved its added value and shown itself to be
effective.

7.
However, the Assembly regrets that the authority of Council of
Europe treaty law is adversely affected by the excessively low
member state participation in certain conventions. It calls on
all the member states to ratify the Organisation's “core
treaties” as a matter of priority, particularly those provided
with monitoring mechanisms.

8.       It
also notes that certain treaties are outdated or even obsolete
and that a minority of them have never come into force even
more than 20 years after their adoption.

9.       If
Council of Europe treaty law is to retain its relevance and
value, its conventions must reflect the realities of
present-day society.

10.       The
Assembly believes that two steps must be taken to make Council
of Europe treaties more effective and ensure that they are
implemented. Firstly, there must be increased member state
participation in those treaties, in other words a larger
number of ratifications. Secondly, the relevance of Council of
Europe treaties must be ensured by updating them, by
establishing procedures for abrogating those that are clearly
obsolete and withdrawing those that have not come into force
within a certain number of years of their adoption.

11.       The
Assembly calls on member states to:

11.1.
ratify, as a matter of priority, what the Assembly considers
to be the core Council of Europe treaties (see Appendix)
with as few reservations as possible;

11.2.
withdraw their reservations, derogations and restrictive
declarations concerning Council of Europe treaties,
particularly the European Convention on Human
Rights.

12.       The
Assembly invites each national parliament to:

12.1.
require its government to submit during each legislature a
report on its policy on ratifying Council of Europe
conventions, as is already the case in certain member
states;

12.2.
instruct its foreign or European affairs committee and,
where appropriate, those on legal affairs and human rights
to hold debates on Council of Europe activities in the legal
and human rights fields, with particular emphasis on the
application of the corresponding legal instruments;

12.3.
report to it regularly on the progress of national
procedures for ratifying Council of Europe treaties and
explain to it, where necessary and in a spirit of dialogue,
any difficulties encountered.

Appendix to
Resolution 1732 (2010) - Core Council of Europe treaties

Human rights (including minority
rights)

-
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms (ETS No. 5)

-
Protocol No. 1 (ETS No. 9 - protection of property)

-
Protocol No. 4 (ETS No. 46 - freedom of movement, prohibition
of expulsion of nationals and prohibition of collective
expulsion of aliens)

-
Protocol No. 6 (ETS No. 114 - abolition of the death
penalty)

-
Protocol No. 7 (ETS No. 117 - various: immigration
legislation, criminal law and equality)

-
Protocol No. 12 (ETS No. 177 - general prohibition of all
forms of discrimination)

-
Protocol No. 13 (ETS No. 187 - abolition of the death penalty
in all circumstances)

-
Protocol No. 14 (CETS No. 194 - reform of the Court)

-
European Social Charter/European Social Charter (revised) (ETS
No. 35 and ETS No. 163)

-
Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter (ETS No.
128 – additional rights)

-
Protocol amending the European Social Charter (ETS No. 142 –
reform of the supervisory machinery) (not yet in force)

-
Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter (ETS No.
158 – providing for a system of collective complaints)

-
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ETS No. 126) and its
amending protocols

-
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to
Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108)

-
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No.
148)

-
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
(ETS No. 157)

-       Council
of Europe Convention on Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No.
197)

-       Council
of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against
Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201)

Legal co-operation in criminal
matters/Combating terrorism

-
European Convention on Extradition (ETS No. 24)

-
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 86 – prohibition of extradition
for political offences and further reference to the ne bis
in idem principle)

-       Second
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 98 – further provisions)

-
European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
(ETS No. 30)

-
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 99 – redefines the provisions of
the Convention)

-       Second
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 182 - cross-border crime and data
protection)

-
European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (ETS No.
90)

-
Amending Protocol (ETS No. 190 – limiting the exceptions to
the treaty's provisions)

-
Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 173)

-
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 191 – extending its scope to
persons exercising quasi-judicial functions)

-       Civil
Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 174)

-
Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No. 185)

-
Additional Protocol (ETS No. 189 – criminalisation of racist
acts)

-       Council
of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS No.
196)

-       Council
of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and
Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing
of Terrorism (CETS No. 198)

1 Text adopted by the Standing
Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly on 21 May 2010
(see Doc.
12175, report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human
Rights, rapporteur: Mr Prescott).

See also
Recommendation 1920 (2010).

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