The Council of Europe The Council of Europe is the oldest, still functioning organization on the European continent. The idea of such organization can be found as far as in the 17th century diaries of the Prince of Sully, Maximillien de Bethune, who forged a plan of establishing a council of fifteen European Christian states. 150 years later similar thoughts were written down by the Immanuel Kant. During the next two centuries the same topic was broached by people like Claude Henri Saint Simon, Victor Hugo or Giuseppe Garibaldi. In the period between the two World Wars existed strong pan European movement and in 1930 the Prime Minister of France, Aristide Briand gave the idea of organizing the European Confrontation, which aim was to establish the European Union – the federation of the independent countries, which was supposed to cooperate closely in the economical matters. The real beginning of the Council and inspirations for such organization can be found in the postwar period. The reasons of the integration were numerous: firstly – the prevention of the next war, secondly - the restoration of the national economies, thirdly – the threat of communism. It is important to notice the actions of eminent British politician, Winston Churchill. In his speech at university in Zurich in 1946 he talked about the necessity to create the United States of Europe and bring back the happiness and welfare in Europe. Two years later, the Congress of Europe held by the European Movement at The Hague, led directly to setting up of the Council. The delegates from nineteen countries prepared a final document, in which they announced the creation of the catalogue of human rights (the Charter of Human Rights), the European Assembly and the court, which would guards the rights guaranteed by the Charter. The Statute of the Council is a compromise between two very different approaches. While France, Italy and the Benelux countries wanted to give the new institution super powers and create a supra-national decision-making body, the UK and Scandinavian countries were unwilling to go beyond the intergovernmental cooperation. Finally, on 5 May 1949 the Treaty of London was signed by ten countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom). It entered into force on 3 August 1949. One of the first actions taken by the Council was construction of the European Convention on Human Rights. This treaty was signed on 1950 November 1950 in Rome by twelve member-states of the Council of Europe. It entered into force on 3 September 1953. The Convention is a catalogue of basic human rights. This act has a great importance; it was a milestone in the history of creating law regulation in human right area. Although by the time of its creation the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had already existed, it was not a 1 binding international agreement. Furthermore, establishing regulations in the organization as big as the UN is always uneasy. This task was easier to accomplish in the regional international organization, which member states shared the same values, such as the Council of Europe. Due to the Council was a result of compromise soon the troubles begun. Simply, the Council could not fulfill the expectances of the federalists, who strived for full integration of Europe: both political and economical. Therefore there was a strong need to create separate institutions, which would help to solve numerous and urgent economic, social and political problems. Thus appeared the new idea of the European integration, brought to life by the Schuman Declaration in 1950 and by the latter Treaty of Paris (1951), which was the founding act of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Seven years later it was followed by the Treaty of Rome and creation of the European Economic Community and the e European Atomic Energy Community. As it is widely known, these three Communities merged in 1992 into the European Union. But even in the 1950s they possessed wider competences and better prepared organs, than the Council of Europe. Hence the Council concentrated its activities on the social and cultural aspects and human rights and became rather a place of discussions and preparation of the international agreements than a decisionmaking body. Until the middle of 1980s the Council of Europe consisted only of the Western European countries, but the situations started to change after 1985, when the Central-Eastern Europe entered the phase of political and social transformation. The Council supports the changes and later acquires new members (the first post communist country admitted to the CoE was Hungary, 6 November 1990). In 1993 the Council held the First Council of Europe summit of heads of state and government in Vienna. The Summit adopted Vienna Declaration, which assigned new political priorities for the organization (protecting national minorities and combating all forms of racism, xenophobia and intolerance). On the Second summit (Strasbourg, 1997) the Council embraced Action Plan which based on the fourth main themes: democracy and human rights, social cohesion, citizens’ security and education for democracy and cultural diversity. These rules had a critical influence on the actions taken up by the Council and its priorities. The Third Summit took place in Warsaw in 2005 and its aim was to define the objectives of the Council in response to the challenges it faces in the 21st century. Nowadays the Council of Europe comprise of 47 member states. There is one applicant country, Belarus (since 1993), but its special guest status has been suspended due to its lack of 2 respect for human rights and democratic principles. Moreover there are five countries with observer status: the Holy See, the United States, Canada, Japan and Mexico. Table no. 1: List of the member states (in brackets the date of accession) Albany Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France FYR Macedonia (13.07.1995) (10.11.1994) (25.01.2001) (16.04.1956) (25.01.2001) (05.05.1949) (24.04.2002) (07.05.1992) (06.11.1996) (24.05.1961) (30.06.1993) (05.05.1949) (14.05.1993) (05.05.1989) (05.05.1949) (09.11.1995) Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Lichtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Norway (27.04.1999)18 (13.07.1950) (09.08.1949) (06.11.1990) (07.03.1950) (05.05.1949) (05.05.1949) (10.02.1995) (23.11.1978) (14.05.1993) (05.05.1949) (29.04.1965) (13.07.1995) (05.10.2004) (11.05.2007) (05.05.1949) Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom (05.05.1949) (26.11.1991) (22.09.1976) (07.10.1993) (28.02.1996) (16.11.1988) (03.04.2003) (30.06.1993) (14.05.1993) (24.11.1977) (06.05.1963) (09.08.1949) (09.08.1949) (09.11.1995) (05.05.1949) Source: page of the Information Office of the Council of Europe in Warsaw http://www.coe.org.pl/ (data from 6 April 2008) The seat of all institutions of the Council is Strasbourg (France). There are two official languages: English and French, but German, Italian and Russian are also working languages. The official symbols of the Council – namely its flag (circle of twelve gold stars against the blue background) and the anthem (“Ode to Joy” from Beethoven's 9th Symphony) are shared with the European Union. The Council is an international, regional organization. It cannot make any binding decisions (the country is bound by the treaties after their ratification), but has a consultative and coordinative character. It means that the Council can only forms opinions and recommendations. The priorities of the Council of Europe are:  protection of human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law;  to promote awareness & encourage the development of Europe's cultural identity and diversity; 3  finding common solutions to the challenges facing European society, such as: discrimination against minorities, xenophobia, intolerance, bioethics and cloning, terrorism, trafficking in human beings, organized crime and corruption, bribery, drug and human trafficking, cyber crime, violence against children;  consolidation of democratic stability in Europe by backing political, legislative and constitutional reform;  campaign against tortures and humiliating treatment;  promotion of the equality;  building more efficient relations with the European Union, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and other regional and nongovernmental organizations. It is easy to notice that the Council is undertaking every possible action – both direct and indirect – to improve the standard of living in Europe. The Council is active in areas such as:  human rights;  mass media;  judical cooperation;  local democracy;  social cohesion;  health protection;  education, culture and national heritage;  environment protection;  sport and youths. Institutions The most important institution of the Council of Europe, the decision-making body is the Committee of Ministers (CM). Each member state has one representative in the Committee, namely the minister of the foreign affairs. Thus the Committee has 47 members, each having one vote. Minister can be represented by other members of the government (if necessary) or the professional diplomat. Since 1952 the Committee also holds meetings on the Deputies level, who have the same decision-making powers as the Ministers. Usually the Deputies are at the same time the Permanent Representative of the member State. The chair of the Committee alternates every six months (in May and November) changing accordingly to the English alphabetical order of member States. To assure the continuity in 1975 the Bureau was set up. Since 2001 it consists of six members: the Chairman, the two 4 previous chairmen and the three future chairmen. The Bureau meets three times a month and prepares the meeting of Deputies. The Committee meets two times a year, but the Deputies gather once a week in the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg. The CM has following competences:  adopt the recommendations to member states;  prepare the international treaties, declarations and resolutions;  invite candidate states to access to the CoE (but has to ask the Parliamentary Assembly for its opinion);  adopt the budget;  monitor respect of commitments by member states;  implement cooperation and assistance programmes;  supervise the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is an advisory body. Until 1974 it was called “the Consultative Assembly”, which name perfectly represents its role. The Assembly is a place for discussions and an initiative taking organ: it organizes conferences, symposium and public parliamentary debates on the current affairs, for example intolerance, drugs and environment. The PACE consists of 318 members of national parliaments’ and the same number of their representatives, what makes in total 636 people from 47 countries. The number of representatives to which each country is entitled differs from two to eighteen and depends on its population. The Assembly has the following powers:  award the status of the observer to the non-member state;  elect the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and his deputies;  elect judges of the European Court of Human Rights;  elect the Commissar of Human Rights;  pass recommendations, guidelines and resolutions for the Committee of Ministers;  deliver the opinions about the candidate states, projects of treaties, protocols, budget and implementation of the European Social Charter. 5 Table no. 2: Number of representatives of member states in the Parliamentary Assembly Albany Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France FYR Macedonia 4 2 4 6 6 7 5 6 5 3 7 5 3 5 18 3 Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Lichtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Norway 5 18 7 7 3 4 18 3 2 4 3 3 5 2 3 5 Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom 7 12 7 10 18 2 7 5 3 12 6 6 12 12 18 Source: page of the Information Office of the Council of Europe in Warsaw http://www.coe.org.pl/ (data from 6 April 2008) The Assembly chairman is chosen for three terms, each one a year long. Currently the President of the PACE is Lluis Maria De Puig from Spain. The President preside of the Bureau of the Assembly, which also comprises twenty Vice-Presidents, the Chairpersons of the political groups or their representatives as well as the Chairpersons of the general PACE Committees or their substitutes. The big countries have a permanent seat in the Bureau, while the smaller ones have to take turns. The Bureau prepares the Assembly's agenda, arrange the day-to-day business and deal with other international bodies. The PACE meets for a week long sessions four times a years. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) evaluated in 1994 from the Conference of Local Authorities of Europe, which was created in 1957 and from 1962 became permanent organ of the Council of Europe. This body represents local and regional authorities, but similarly to the Parliamentary Assembly it has only an advisory function. Countries are represented in the CLRAE by the same number of representatives as in the Assembly, with the difference that the delegates are members of local or regional governments. The general number of seats is 636 (318 representatives and equal number of their substitutes). The aim of the Congress is to guarantee that local and regional authorities 6 will have a real part in the process of European integration and in the works of the Council of Europe. The CLRAE promotes local demarcation, strengthening of interregional and transnational cooperation. One of the Congress’s duties is to prepare rapports on the regional policy in the member and candidate states, advise the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly. It is also obliged to supervise the implementation and adherence to such documents as the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The Congress consists of two chambers: the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions. Each chamber chose its own President and Bureau (seven members) every two years. The Bureaus of both chambers brought together make the Bureau of the Congress. The Bureau of the Congress prepares the plenary sessions of CLRAE, coordinates actions of Chambers and committees and adopts the budget. Also every two years the President of CLRAE is chosen. Current chairpersons of the Congress:  the President of the Chamber of Local Authorities – Ian Micallef (Malta);  the President of the Chamber of Regions – Yavuz Mildon (Turkey);  the President of the Congress – Halvdan Skard (Norway). The Congress meets for a plenary session once a year and it is followed or preceded by the Chambers’ meetings. Regulations regarding the Congress are gathered into the Committee’s resolution from 16 March 2000. In May 2005 the Congress began the cooperation with one of the European Union’s institution, the Committee of Regions, as aims of both bodies are convergent. The European Court of Human Rights is a mechanism for the enforcement of the obligations included into the European Convention on Human Rights. Regulations regarding the Court are specified into the second chapter of the Convention, Protocol no. 11 (1994) and Protocol no. 14 (2004; which has not entered into force yet). The Court has its seat in Strasbourg. The Court was set up in 1959 by the European Convention on Human Rights. Until the reform introduced in 1998, accordingly to the Protocol no. 11 (opened for signatures since May 1994, entered into force on 1 November 1998) there were three organs supervising the enforcement of the obligations:  the European Commission of Human Rights (established in1954);  the European Court of Human Rights (from 1959); 7  the Committee of Ministers. The complaints were firstly examined by the European Commission of Human Rights, which determined their admissibility. While an application was declared admissible, the Commission placed itself at the parties' disposal with a view to brokering a friendly settlement. If no settlement was forthcoming, the Commission issued a report establishing the facts and expressing an opinion on the merits of the case. The report was transmitted to the Committee of Ministers. In the following three months the Committee of Ministers or a member state could bring the case before the Court. From 1 September 1994 this also could be done by the complainant if the country against which they complained had ratified Protocol no. 10. If the case was not brought before the Court then the Committee of Ministers decided weather there had been a violation of the Convention. At that time the Court consisted of number of judges equal to the number of the Council of Europe member states. The judges were chosen for six years term (with the right to be reelected) by the Parliamentary Assembly. The Court was working in sessions and the cases were examined by the Chambers (ten members) or in case of problems with interpretation of the Convention – by the Great Chamber. The Court after the reform in 1998 The number of cases has been growing steadily from the 1980s and the problem became really serious after the enlargement in 1990s. The number of registered complaints brought before the Committee grown from 404 in 1981 to 4,750 in 1997 and before the Court from 7 to 1191. The reform was unavoidable and in 1994 the Protocol no. 11 was signed. The reform was aimed to simplify the structure, shorten the length of proceedings, strengthen the judicial character of the system by making it fully compulsory and abolishing the Committee of Ministers’ adjudicative role. The number of judges in the Court is equal to the number of the High Contracting Parties. The judges are chosen by the Parliamentary Assembly in the secret ballot, for each country separately, from the list of three candidates recommended by the government. According to the article no. 21 of the Convention “the judges shall be of high moral character and must either possess the qualifications required for appointment to high judicial office or be jurisconsults of recognized competence.” The term in office lasts six years and the judges can be re-elected. At the beginning of each term the Secretary General randomly chooses half of the number of judges, whose term will expire after three years. The mandate of the judge expires after they turn 70. 1 Data from the webpage of the Council of Europe (www.coe.int) 8 The judges sit on the Court in their individual capacity – they do not represent the country on which behalf were chosen. From 1998 Poland was represented by Jerzy Makarczyk, who resigned into 2002. The post was filled by the Lech Garlicki, who in October 2004 was chosen for a full term. Table no. 3 Representatives of member states in the European Court of Human Rights Albany Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France FYR Macedonia Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Ledi Bianku Josep Casadevall Alvina Gyulumyan Elisabeth Steiner Khanlar Hajiyev Françoise Tulkens Ljiljana Mijović Snejana Botoucharova Nina Vajić George Nicolaou Karel Jungwiert Peer Lorenzen Rait Maruste Päivi Hirvelä Jean-Paul Costa Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska Nona Tsotsoria Renate Jaeger Lichtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Norway Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Mark Villiger Danutė Jočienė Dean Spielmann Giovanni Bonello Stanislav Pavlovschi Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre Vacant Sverre Erik Jebens Egbert Myjer Lech Garlicki Ireneu Cabral Barreto Corneliu Bîrsan Anatoly Kovler Antonella Mularoni Dragoljub Popović Ján Šikuta Boštjan Zupančič Luis López Guerra Elisabet Fura-Sandström Giorgio Malinverni Rıza Türmen Volodymyr Butkevych Nicolas Bratza Christos L. Rozakis András Sajó Davíd Thór Björgvinsson Ann Power Vladimiro Zagrebelsky Danutė Jočienė Source: page of the Council of Europe in http://www.coe.int/ (data from 6 April 2008) The structure The Court is chaired by the President and two Vice-Presidents (who are at the same time the Sections’ Presidents), appointed for the period of three years by the Plenary Court. The Presidents of Sections are chosen for the same period of time. The President of the Court coordinates its actions, represents it in relations with other institutions and presides over the meetings of the Plenary Court. Currently this post is filled by Jean-Paul Cost (elected on the behalf of France), while his Vices are Christos L. Rozakis (Greece) and Nicolas Bratza (the United Kingdom). Three remaining Sections are chaired by Josep Casadevall (Andorra), Peer 9 Lorenzen (Denmark) and Françoise Tulkens (Belgium) 2. The President of the Court together with the Vice-Presidents and the Sections Presidents make the Bureau of the Court, which goal is to support the President. The Court has its own Registry, which consists of the Registrar (elected by the Plenary Court for five years) and one or more Deputy Registrars (elected likewise elected). At the moment the Registrar is Erik Fribergh (Sweden) and his Deputy is Michael O’Boyle (Ireland). The Court comprises of at least four Sections (five at present) chosen for three years, which are divided into:   the Committees of three judges, which are set up for twelve-month periods. Their role is to dispose the applications that are clearly inadmissible; the Chambers (seven members) which are set up to investigate particular cases. Chambers can also decided about the admissibility of the complaint with is brought by one of the Contracting States against the other;  the Grand Chamber is composed of seventeen judges, who include, as ex officio members, the President, Vice-Presidents and Section Presidents. The Grand Chamber deals with cases that raise a serious question of interpretation or application of the Convention of Human Rights, or a serious issue of general importance. The complaint – written in the one of the official languages of the Council of Europe member states – has to be send to the Registry of the Court and later it is passed to one of the Sections. The committee can unanimously decide that the complaint is inadmissible and such decision is final. If the case will be decided admissible, then it is transferred to the one of the Chambers, which examines it with the assistance of complainant and accused. In situation when the case requires the interpretation of the Convention or its Protocols or the judgment can be contradictory to the previous one, the case can be brought before the Grand Chamber (if both parties consent). The Court passes a judgment in which it states if the Convention was violated and if so, how had it happened. The Court can also oblige the country to pay a gratification to the victim of violation of human rights. The Court of Human Rights can suggest the means which should be undertaken by the country. The execution of the sentence is overseen by the Committee of Ministers. 2 Data from the webpage of the Council of Europe (http://www.coe.int) 10 If the judgment is given by the Grand Chamber, it is final. The judgment by the Chamber becomes final if both parties agree that they will not request the process to be brought before the Grand Chamber. Where such a request is granted, the whole case is reheard. Complaints The complaints can be brought by the Contracting States or by the individual applicants (individuals, groups of individuals or non-governmental organizations). The majority of cases are the complaints brought by the individuals. So far there had been just thirteen complaints brought by the Contracting States, while the number of individual complaints in 2007 exceeded 40,000. Half of them (55%) were against four countries: Russia (26%), Turkey (12%), Romania (10%) and Ukraine (7%). Chart no. 1: The number of the complaints brought by the individual applicants in 1997-2007 50000 40000 30000 41700 39400 35400 20000 4700 6000 32500 28200 27200 10000 0 13800 10500 Source: “Annual Report 2007 of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe” In 2007 the Court passed 1,503 judgments. Almost half of them (49%) concerned the following countries:  Turkey - 331;  Russia - 192;  Poland – 111;  Ukraine – 109. 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 8400 11 Chart no. 2: The number of judgments in years 1997 -2007 1600 1400 1200 1000 1560 1503 800 1105 600 400 200 0 106 105 177 695 Source: “Annual Report 2007 of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe” The complaint has to fulfill the following requirements to be decided admissible and later examined by the Court:  the applicant has to use all the remedies in the State concerned that might have been able to redress the situation they are complaining about;  the complaint has to be lodged no later that during six months from the date of the final decision at domestic level. After that period the application cannot be accepted by the Court.  the complaint cannot be anonymous;  the complaint cannot regard the case which was earlier examined by the European Court of Human Rights and present the same charges unless there are new information available, which can have a serious influence on the judgment;  the complaint cannot be identical with the complaint already examined by the different institution guaranteeing the enforcement of human rights;  the application must relate to one of the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights;  the complaint cannot regard the situation which had happened before the Convention entered into force (lex retro non agit). Protocol no. 14 and its amendments in the structure and works of the Court 12 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05 20 06 20 07 886 844 718 703 Beside the reform introduced in 1998 in the next three years the number of registered cases grew more than three times (from 5,979 in 1998 to 13,585 in 2001). The next reform became an issue of the debate in 2000. Finally the Protocol no. 14 was opened for signatures on 13 May 2004 in Strasbourg. So far it had been signed by all member states, although only the Russian Federation has not ratified it yet. The Protocol no. 14 enforces the following changes:  the judges term in the office was prolonged to nine years, but the possibility of reelection was abolished;  introduce the possibility that to examine the admissibility of the case by a single judge;  at the request of the Plenary Court, the Committee of Ministers may (by a unanimous decision and for a fixed period of time) reduce the number of judges of the Chambers to five;  allows a Chamber to unanimously decide on the admissibility and merits of individual application;  added more criteria of inadmissibility: when the case is manifestly ill-founded, or an abuse of the right of individual application or the applicant has not suffered a significant disadvantage;  allows the Commissioner of Human Rights to submit written comments and take part in hearings before a Chamber or the Grand Chamber;  strengthens the rights of the Committee of Ministers to execute the sentence by member states. The decision to establish the post such as the Commissioner for Human Rights was taken on the anniversary meeting of the Committee of Ministers in the Budapest on 7 May 1999. The Commissioner is a non-judicial institution, which task is to support the promotion of human rights in education, assists the ombudsmen in the member states, provide the information concerning human rights. The Commissioner cooperates with national and international organizations and institutions monitoring the respect towards human rights. His main partners are the United Nations and its specialized agendas, the European Union and the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Commissioner can form recommendations and opinions, send rapports to the Committee of Minister or the Parliamentary Assembly. These documents are based on the 13 information received form the member states, ombudsmen, non-governmental organizations and the data gathered during the visits. According to the article no. 13 of the Protocol No. 14 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, amending the control system of the Convention, the Commissioner will be entitled to submit written comments and take part in hearings in all cases before a Chamber or the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. The Commissioner is elected for a non-renewable six years term by the Parliamentary Assembly. The choice is made from the list of three candidates suggested by the Committee of Ministers. The candidates – nationals of the Council of Europe member states – are recommended by the countries. The criteria they must fulfill are as following: “the candidates shall be eminent personalities of a high moral character having recognized expertise in the field of human rights, a public record of attachment to the values of the Council of Europe and the personal authority necessary to discharge the mission of the Commissioner effectively. 3” Nowadays this post is held by Mr. Thomas Hammarberg from Sweden. The Secretary General is an administrative function and the main role of Secretary is to manage the Council of Europe’s work programme and budget and oversees the day-to-day running of the Organization and Secretariat. The Secretariat has its seat in Strasbourg and consists of:  the Secretary General;  the Deputy Secretary General, nominated by the Parliamentary Assembly on the request of the Committee of Ministers. Chosen for the five years term and can be reelected;  the personnel, which members are nominated by the Secretary. The Secretary General is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the request of the Committee of Ministers. The candidates are proposed by the political groups, although officially they are recommended by the governments. Its term in office lasts five years and can be reelected. Currently this post if filled by Terry Davis (the United Kingdom). 3 Article no. 10 of the Resolution (99) 50 on the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. 14 In the Status of the Council of Europe the Secretary was set as a pure administrative function, although with time the importance of this post has grown and nowadays the Secretary plays an important role in the Council. The Secretary is:  entitled to participate in the meetings of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly in an advisory capacity;  responsible to the Committee for the performance of the Secretariat;  coordinating the actions of the Council;  preparing the budget of the CoE;  depositary of treaties and international agreements;  responsible fir preparing rapports from the actions taken by the Committee;  drafting and conducting of the international Action Plan. 15