The Council of Europe, of which all European States are members, plays a pivotal role in the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe. Bringing together specialist scholars and practitioners, The Council of Europe: Its Laws and Policies offers profound insights into the functioning of the organization. The organization's primary and secondary law, its institutional structure, and its far-reaching fields of activitiesare comprehensively and systematically analysed. This volume investigates the impact of the Council's activities within the national legal systems of the Member States and the dense web of relationships between the Council of Europe and other international organisations. An important reference work on one ofthe most influential organizations in Europe, the book concludes that the Council of Europe has played a considerable role in the constitutionalization process of regional public international law.

Part I: General Aspects; 1 Norman Weiss: Origin and Further Development; 2 Christian Walter: Interpretation and Amendments of the Founding Treaty; 3 Eckart Klein: Membership and Observer Status; 4 Eckart Klein: Seat and Symbols of the Council of Europe; 5 Andreas Haratsch: Budget and Finance; Part II: Institutions; Part II-1: State Based Organs; 6 Simon Palmer: Committee of Ministers; 7 Philip Leach: Parliamentary Assembly; 8 Matthias Ruffert: Secretariat; Part II-2: Further Institutions of the Council of Europe as a Whole; 9 Elisabeth Lambert-Abdelgawad: European Court of Human Rights; 10 Bert Schaffarzik: Congress of Local and Regional Authorities; 11 Oliver Dorr: Commissioner for Human Rights; 12 Heike Krieger: Conference of International Non-governmental Organisations; 13 Dorothee von Arnim: Administrative Tribunal; Part II-3: Institutions Based on Partial Agreements; 14 Rainer Steckhan: Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB); 15 Robert Uerpmann-Wittzack: European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM); 16 Tarlach McGonagle: Eurimages Fund; 17 Werner Sipp: Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group); 18 Markus Kaltenborn: European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity (North-South Centre); 19 Tarlach McGonagle: European Audiovisual Observatory; 20 Tarlach McGonagle: European Centre for Modern Languages; 21 Wolfgang Rau: Group of States against Corruption (GRECO); Part III: Tasks and Objectives; 22 Oliver Dorr, Andreas Haratsch, Stefan Oeter, Robert Uerpmann-Wittzack, Thomas Giegerich & Sara Jotten: Protection of Human Rights at Regional Level; 23 Katharina Pabel: Securing Democratic Principles and the Rule of Law; 24 Kerstin Odendahl, Matthias Niedobitek & Norman Weiss: Enhancing Economic, Social and Cultural Cohesion; 25 Christian Walter: Combating Terrorism and Organised Crime; 26 Ursula Kilkelly: Protecting Children and Juveniles; 27 Robert Uerpmann-Wittzack: Good Governance in the Information Technology; 28 Christos Giakoumopoulos: Conceptual Approach of Monitoring Mechanisms; 29 Christoph Grabenwarter: Constitutional Standard-Setting and Strengthening of New Democracies; Part IV: Impact and Outreach; 30 Marten Breuer: Impact of the Council of Europe on National Legal Systems; 31 Stefanie Schmahl: The Council of Europe within the System of International; 32 Stefanie Schmahl/Marten Breuer: The Council of Europe's Contribution to the Constitutionalisation of (Regional) Public International Law