What is Council of Europe?
[[Image:Flag of Europe.svg|300px|thumb|right|The European Flag: first used by the Council of Europe and then adopted by the [[European Union]]]] The '''Council of Europe''' ({{lang-fr|Conseil de l'Europe}}, {{lang-de|Europarat}}) is an [[international organization]] of 47 member states in the [[Europe]]an region. One of its first successes was the [[European Convention on Human Rights]] in 1950, which serves as the basis for the [[European Court of Human Rights]]. The seat of the Council of Europe is in [[Strasbourg]] on the [[France|Franco]]-[[Germany|German]] border. The original meeting place was in the city's [[Strasbourg University|University]] Palace. The [[Palais de l'Europe]], about two kilometres from city centre, has taken its place. Membership is open to all European [[democracy|democracies]] which accept the principle of the [[rule of law]] and guarantee fundamental [[human rights]], [[civil rights]] and [[Freedom (political)|freedoms]] to their citizens and respect of rights of [[minority group]]s. The Council of Europe is not to be confused with the [[Council of the European Union]] or the [[European Council]], as it is a separate organisation and not part of the [[European Union]]. But all member states of European Union are also the member states of Council of Europe. On 15 March 2022, [[Russia]] is excluded from Council of Europe because of [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>[https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/the-russian-federation-is-excluded-from-the-council-of-europe The Russian Federation is excluded from the Council of Europe]</ref> ==Note== <references/> ==Related pages== *[[European Union]] *[[European Convention on Human Rights]] *[[European Court of Human Rights]] *[[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] *[[European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages]] *[[Istanbul Convention]] == Other websites == {{wikisource|Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities}} *[http://www.coe.int/ Council of Europe] - Official site {{International