ABSTRACT
On the threshold of the new millennium, the average European is conversant with the concept of human rights and, more often than not, able to specify the most basic of these. This has been due largely to mass media coverage of human rights issues as well as the groundbreaking efforts of individuals, nongovernmental organisations, States and international organisations working in this sphere during the past 50 years. At an international level, the most prominent intergovernmental institution responsible for safeguarding human rights across Europe is the Council of Europe.1 Through the promulgation of various Conventions protective of human rights, it has proven itself to be in the global vanguard in this area.
