On 5 September 2024 the Council of Europe opened for signature its Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law (treaty number CETS 225). The Council of Europe describes it as “the first-ever international legally binding treaty” in the field of artificial intelligence. The convention was adopted by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on 17 May 2024 and opened for signature at a conference of justice ministers in Vilnius, Lithuania.
What makes the treaty significant is that it is binding international law rather than a declaration or a code of conduct. The Council of Europe is a 46-member human-rights body separate from the European Union, and the convention sets out a legal framework covering the entire lifecycle of AI systems, with the aim of ensuring that AI activities are “fully consistent with human rights, democracy and the rule of law” while remaining conducive to innovation. It addresses obligations such as transparency, oversight, accountability, non-discrimination, and respect for privacy, and gives those affected by AI systems remedies and procedural safeguards.
The negotiation was unusually broad for a Council of Europe instrument. Alongside the 46 member states and the European Union, eleven non-member states took part, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the United States, and others. The first signatories on the opening day included Andorra, Georgia, Iceland, Norway, Moldova, San Marino, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United States, and the European Union, signaling reach well beyond Europe.
Two limitations should be kept in mind. First, signing a treaty is not the same as being bound by it: the convention enters into force only after five signatories (including at least three Council of Europe member states) ratify it, and ratification turns a signature into domestic legal obligation. Second, the framework is deliberately principle-based and leaves much of the detailed implementation to each party’s own laws, which is why it complements, rather than duplicates, the more prescriptive EU AI Act. Its importance lies in establishing, for the first time, a binding international legal baseline tying AI to human rights and the rule of law.