Comparative Table of Parliamentary TA Institutions
COUNCIL OF EUROPE - THE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
ORGANISATION AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Assembly is the driving force of the Organisation in extending
European co-operation to all democratic states throughout Europe. It
has been behind many of the Organisation´s major initiatives such as
the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and the Convention on
Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo Convention, 1997). It is consulted
about the international treaties drawn up at the Council of Europe.
The Assembly speaks for 800 million Europeans citizens, acting as the democratic conscience of Greater Europe:
- it promotes the development and implementation of the highest
standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, for the
benefit of the peoples of Europe;
- it is a laboratory of ideas and a forum for debates on emerging and
topical European issues, and it seeks to identify trends, provide
policy guidance, set benchmarks and standards and disseminate best
practices;
- it exercises political oversight over the action of parliaments and
governments in implementing Council of Europe standards, monitors the
situation in Member States and endeavours to help them to honour their
statutory obligations.
External relations of the Assembly cover not only national parliaments
of member and non-member states, but also international parliamentary
assemblies and international intergovernmental organisations. The
Assembly has developed its contacts with the European Parliament, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE, the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Benelux, the Nordic Council, PABSEC, CIS and others.
For many years the Assembly has also acted as a parliamentary forum
for a certain number of intergovernmental organisations, in particular
the OECD, and has developed close relations with specific organisations
such as the EBRD and many of the specialised agencies of the United
Nations.
Chapter Organisation - all countries
Country Report Council of Europe
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