Often, there is confusion amongst the public and indeed sometimes the media over the relationship between the European Convention on Human Rights, the ECHR, and the EU, the European Union. The simple matter is that they're separate bodies with differing memberships remit and enforcement. I often think it helps to think of them as the two Europes. The Council of Europe was established in 1949 and was initially a group of 10 European states seeking to collaborate to protect human rights. It now has 47 signatories or High Contracting Parties, which include the 27 EU member states. Although it can not be emphasized enough, these are separate bodies with separate institutions and functions. Where the European Union had a predominantly economic focus at least in the early years, the Council of Europe and European Convention on Human Rights were all about ensuring the protection of human rights in the aftermath of the Second World War. They were designed to ensure such atrocities would never occur again within the continent of Europe. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as it is more commonly referred to, the European Convention on Human Rights, the ECHR, was drafted and came into force on the third of September 1953. The Council of Europe operates through traditional instruments of international law, and ECHR constitutes an international human rights regime. The European Court of Human Rights, which applies and protects the rights and guarantees set out in the Convention, is located in Strasbourg in France. Therefore, you will often hear reference made to the Strasbourg Court. Applications to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg can be made by an individual against the state under Article 34, where the applicant is a victim of a violation by one of the state parties to the European Convention. The so-called right of individual petition was granted by the UK in 1966. Much more unusually, applications can also be brought by one state against another in a so-called interstate application under Article 33. After decision is made on admissibility, the Strasbourg Courts will investigate the application with a view to ideally reaching a friendly settlement of the dispute. If this proves impossible to achieve, a judgment will be given by the court. Such judgment, if it finds that a state's laws breach the convention rights, will impose an obligation on the state to remedy the law. The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers comprise of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of member states, oversees the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights judgments. However, ensuring compliance in the international order is not always simple, and the external pressure on a state to comply is important, supported by the ultimate sanction of expulsion from the Council of Europe.