Council of Europe is an international all-European organization that secures cooperation of member states in particular in the area of endorsement of democracy and protection of social and human rights and freedoms. Council of Europe was established in 1949 and has its seat in Strasbourg. The Czech Republic has been a member as an independent state since 1993.
The main bodies of the Council of Europe are: Committee of Ministers (composed of Ministers of Foreign Affairs or ambassadors of COE member states), Parliamentary Assembly (composed of delegates of national Parliaments of Member States) and Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (COE advisory body composed of representatives of local and regional authorities of member states); Commissioner for Human Rights (has a preventive role in this area). Activities of the COE are supported by the Secretariat chaired by the Secretary General, who also represents COE on the outside.
European Court of Human Rights is attached to COE and oversees compliance with human rights contained in the European Convention on Human rights and its Additional Protocols.
Representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office in their competence of members of the delegation of the Czech Republic or representatives of the Czech Republic in an international forum actively participate in several committees of COE, namely the Committee of Experts on Mediation in Criminal Matters, Committee of Experts on the role of Public Prosecution, Committee of Experts on Crime Problems and Committee of Experts on Anti-Money Laundering Measures.
In July 2005 the Committee of Ministers established an Advisory Committee of European Public Prosecutors. By doing so the previously held conferences of European General Public Prosecutors were institutionalized. The committee’s job is above all to elaborate opinions for the Committee of Experts on Crime Problems related to difficulties encountered in the course of implementation of the Recommendation Rec(2000)19 on the role of public prosecution in the criminal justice system. It also continues to organize the mentioned conferences. The first meeting took place on July 5 – 6, 2006 in Moscow. Despite the fact the recommendations are not binding for member states (they are not international treaties) a vast majority of recommendations is strictly respected in COE member states. Until 1977 the Committee of Ministers used to issue resolutions, thereafter it started to issue recommendations. These included e.g. Recommendation no. R (80) 11 on custody in pre-trial proceedings, Recommendation no. R (81) 12 on economic crime, Recommendation no. R (85) 10 on interception of telecommunications, Recommendation no. R (85) 11 on the position of the victim in criminal proceedings, Recommendation no R (87) 18 concerning the simplification of criminal justice, Recommendation no. R (92) 16 on European rules of community sanctions and measures, Recommendation no. R (94) 12 on the independence, efficiency and role of judges, Recommendation no. R (95) 12 on the management of criminal justice, Recommendation no. R (2000) 19 on the Role of Public Prosecution in the Criminal Justice System, Recommendation no. R (2005) 9 on the Protection of Witnesses and Collaborators of Justice, Recommendation R (2006) 8 on Assistance to Crime Victims, Recommendation CM/Rec (2018) 8 Concerning Restorative Justice in Criminal Matters.