Council of Europe conventions/treaties are also open for signature to non-member states, thus facilitating equal co-operation with countries outside Europe. The Council of Europe's most famous achievement is the European Convention on Human Rights, which was adopted in 1950 following a report by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, and followed on from the United Nations 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' (UDHR). The Convention created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Court supervises compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and thus functions as the highest European court. It is to this court that Europeans can bring cases if
Council of Europe–European Union relations new proposal, based on a partial merger of the two courts. The two institutions are often confused, which has led the Council of Europe to try to distinguish itself from the EU. Thus, the Council of Europe website includes a section entitled "Do not get confused" which summarises the various institutional points that need to be distinguished. This confusion is mainly caused by the closeness of the names of their bodies and institutions. Council of Europe–European Union relations The Council of Europe and the European Union have shared relations since . Almost 180 programmes have been implemented between the two