Other conventions and partial agreements of the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe's conventions are multilateral agreements between its member states. They form the basis for legislative amendments and harmonisation in the member states.

To date, Switzerland has ratified more than half of the Council of Europe's 200 conventions. 

The Council of Europe's partial agreements are not based on an international treaty, but are a special form of cooperation between some of the Council of Europe's member states, where the signatories commit themselves to participate in a specific joint project. In most cases, they are also open to accession by third countries.

Switzerland is party to the following partial agreements of the Council of Europe:

Council of Europe Developement Bank (CEB)

Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS)

European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venedigkommission)

EURIMAGES - European Cinema Support Fund

European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM)

European Centre for Modern Languages (Graz)

Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group)

Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes

Group of States against corruption (GRECO)

Partial Agreement on Youth Mobility through the Youth Card

The Council of Europe's committees and commissions act as independent monitoring bodies in a variety of thematic areas to examine its member states' implementation of the provisions set out in its conventions. For example, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) visits detention facilities in Switzerland and draws up and publishes a report on its findings. Other Council of Europe committees and commissions also produce reports on member states, for example on the protection of minorities, the fight against corruption, the fight against racism and the fight against trafficking in human beings.

Following the visits, the committees and commissions make recommendations to the member states. The implementation of the recommendations is reviewed during the next monitoring round.