Council of Europe

Council of Europe (CoE) is an international organisation based in Strasbourg. CoE encompasses 47 European countries and was created in 1949 to promote democracy and protect human rights and the rule of law in Europe.

Originally, CoE’s work mainly focused on human rights, rule of law, governmental accountability and other governance issues. These topics have, gradually, moved in the direction of democratic security governance since they are all, inherently, related to security and accountability. Additionally, changes occurring in the international context of the 1990s have encouraged this thematic shift towards security sector issues.

What does CoE do for Security Sector Reform?

CoE’s work on security governance covers various matters such as capacity-building, investigation and judicial procedures, and advisory and training tasks. Through EU membership preparation programmes the CoE strengthens the capacity of aspiring states in terms of accountability, human rights and the rule of law. CoE carries out investigations of issues such as secret detentions. It also plays a policy advisory role and organises training activities for security sector personnel. An important area of CoE’s work involves setting the standards for the security sector. Additionally, CoE ensures the accountability of its member states in their security sector practices and plays an important judicial role when it comes to human rights abuses.

Key CoE documents on SSR:

Sources:

Council of Europe