The Human Rights Directorate works to promote, protect and develop human rights and rule of law and to ensure the compliance of the Council of Europe's member states. For this, the directorate puts into practice the Council of Europe's unique strategic triangle of standard setting, monitoring and co-operation, which establishes mutual links between developing legally binding standards which are monitored by independent mechanisms and supplemented by co-operation and support activities.
We promote, protect and develop human rights and justice through standard setting, monitoring and co-operation
Human Rights Trust Fund (HRTF)
The Fund finances activities that support member states' efforts in implementing the European Convention on Human Rights ("the Convention") and other Council of Europe human rights instruments and contributes to strengthening the sustainability of the European Court of Human Rights.
The "Crystal Scales of Justice" Prize
Since 2005, the Council of Europe and the European Commission are organising together a competition to discover and highlight innovative and efficient practices used in European courts for court organisation or for the conduct of judicial proceedings.