The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg (FR), was founded on 5 May 1949 by 10 countries. Today, it has 47 member states with about 800 million citizens. Its main mission is to promote common and democratic principles based on the European Convention on Human Rights and other reference texts on the protection of individuals.
The Council of Europe should not be confused with:
- the Council of the European Union, one of the two legislative chambers of the European Union (EU);
- the European Council, the regular meeting of EU heads of state or government.