Council of Europe of the national parliaments of each member state. The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the member states. The Secretary General heads the secretariat of the organisation. Other major CoE bodies include the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and the European Audiovisual Observatory. The headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg, France. English and French are its two official languages. The Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress also use German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish for
Council of Europe interpreted liberally from the beginning, when Turkey was admitted, to include transcontinental states (such as Georgia and Azerbaijan) and states that are geographically Asian but socio-politically European (such as Armenia and Cyprus). Nearly all European states have acceded to the Council of Europe, with the exceptions of Belarus (human rights concerns), Kazakhstan (human rights concerns), and the Vatican City (a theocracy), as well as some of the territories with limited recognition. Besides the status as a full member, the Council of Europe has established other instruments for cooperation and participation of non-member states: observer, applicant, special guest, and partner for