The Council of Europe (
www.coe.int) is an international organisation aiming to develop values as human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. It was founded in 1949, currently has 47 member states and has its headquarters in Strasbourg, France. The member states have signed up the European Convention on Human Rights, a treaty designed to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The European Court of Human Rights is the permanent judicial body and oversees the implementation of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council of Europe also comprises the Secretary General (leads and represents the organisation, being responsible for its strategic planning); the Committee of Ministers (decision-making body- foreign ministers of each member state), the Parliamentary Assembly (forum debate); the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (responsible for strengthening local and regional democracy within member states); the Human Rights Commissioner (independently addresses and brings attention to human rights violations and the promotion and awareness of human rights); the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGO - brings the voice of civil society to the Council) (
http://www.coe.int/en/web/about-us/structure).
The Council of Europe, being responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights and a “guardian of democracy and the rule of law”, has developed a diversity of important resources, through particular legislation (e.g. the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education - Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)7) and specific activities, programmes, publications, adopted texts, videos and podcasts in order to support and oversee Education for Democratic Citizenship/Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) in Europe, including educational materials regarding interculturality, non-discrimination and inclusiveness. To the Council of Europe, education plays an essential role in the promotion of its core values and is “increasingly seen as a defence against the rise of violence, racism, extremism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance”, thus develops and makes available to the school community several resources relevant to the promotion of human rights and interculturality.