• facilitate the activities of national ombudsperson institutions and other human rights structures; and • provide advice and information regarding the protection of human rights across the region.111 The Commissioner’s work thus focuses on encouraging reform measures to achieve tangible improvement in the area of human rights promotion and protection. Being a non-judicial institution, the Commissioner’s Office cannot take up individual complaints, but the Commissioner can draw conclusions and take wider initiatives on the basis of reliable information regarding human rights violations suffered by individuals. The Commissioner conducts country visits and publishes country and thematic reports. The Commissioner co-operates with a broad range of international and national institutions, as well as human rights monitoring mechanisms. The Office’s most important inter-governmental partners include the United Nations and its specialized offices, the European Union, and the OSCE. European Union All European Union member states are also participating States in the OSCE and are signatories to the ECHR. Almost half (27) of OSCE participating States are also members of the European Union. The European Union has its own human rights framework. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EU Charter) contains the basic civil and political rights found in the ECHR and the ICCPR but builds on these, for example, incorporating an explicit right to diplomatic and consular protection (Art. 46) and the right to protection of personal data (Art. 8), which may be of relevance in the context of counter-terrorism, particularly on an international level.112 The Charter is not legally binding but it is taken into consideration by the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) and the Court of First Instance (CFI). In 2002, the European Union established a Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights (CFR-CDF)113 to report on the application of provisions in the Charter across the EU. That network reports annually on the situation in EU member states regarding the protection of fundamental rights and produces thematic comments. Of particular relevance to human rights and counter-terrorism, these have included, in 2002, a report on “The balance between freedom and security in the response by the European Union and its Member States to terrorist threats”, and in 2003, a report on “Fundamental rights in the external activities of the European Union in the fields of justice and asylum and immigration”. The Network 111 See Resolution (99) 50 on the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights, adopted by the CoE Committee of Ministers on 7 May 1999. 112 Op. cit., note 39. The Charter was solemnly proclaimed and signed in Nice on 7 December 2000 by the Presidents of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, while the new Treaty known as the “Treaty of Nice” was being adopted. Further details at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/libe/elsj/charter/default_en.htm. 113 The network of fundamental rights experts was created by the European Commission in response to a recommendation in the European Parliament’s report of 2000 on the state of fundamental rights in the EU. Further details (including reports) are available at http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/cfr_cdf/index_en.htm. 54 Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights