Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights: A Practitioner’s Handbook additional Protocols. Another important function of the Parliamentary Assembly is to examine whether a candidate State has fulfilled the criteria for accession to the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe is headed by a Secretary General who is appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly on the recommendation of the Committee of Ministers, for a period of five years. The Secretary General has the overall responsibility for the strategic management of the Council of Europe’s work programme and budget and oversees the day-to-day running of the organisation and Secretariat. The Secretary General also has the power, under Article 52 of the Convention, to request that a Contracting Party furnish explanations relating to the manner in which its internal law ensures the effective implementation of the Convention.2 The office of the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights was established on 7 May 1999 by a resolution of the Committee of Ministers. That Resolution requires the Commissioner to: – promote education in, and awareness of, human rights in the member States; – identify possible shortcomings in the law and practice of member States with regard to compliance with human rights; and – help promote the effective observance and full enjoyment of human rights, as embodied in the various Council of Europe instruments. The Office of the Commissioner is a non-judicial institution that does not take up individual complaints. The Commissioner cannot, therefore, accept any requests to present individual complaints before national or international courts, nor before national administrations of member States of the Council of Europe. Nevertheless, he or she can draw conclusions and take initiatives of a general nature that are based on individual complaints.3 During discussions on the drafting of Protocol No. 14, it was agreed that the Commissioner should play a more active role in assisting the European Court of Human Rights on certain questions, particularly in cases that highlight structural or systematic weaknesses in the Contracting Parties’ institutions and which lead 2 3 20 For example, the Secretary General exercised his powers under this Article in his request of 25 November 2005 to the Contracting Parties for information concerning allegations of CIA abductions of terror suspects involving the use of ‘Council of Europe’ airspace or airports. Specifically, the Secretary General asked the Contracting Parties to provide information on whether “any public official or other person acting in an official capacity has been involved in any manner – whether by action or omission – in the unacknowledged deprivation of liberty of any individual, or transport of any individual while so deprived of their liberty, including where such deprivation of liberty may have occurred by or at the instigation of any foreign agency”. For further information see http://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/home (last visited 23 July 2014).