In 2025 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe invited its Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) to work on the emerging field of artificial intelligence. A drafting Group on Human Rights and Artificial Intelligence (CDDH-IA) that was tasked to prepare the handbook.  In January 2026 the Council of Europe’s Handbook on Human Rights and Artificial Intelligence was finalized and published. It sets out how existing European human rights standards apply to the use of AI systems, particularly in public governance. It is intended as a practical reference tool for policymakers, regulators and public authorities, rather than as a statement of new legal obligations.

The Handbook is grounded in established instruments, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the jurisprudence of the ECtHR, the European Social Charter, and complements the Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. A fundamental principle is the respect for human dignity as provided by the ECHR and the Court which held that “[r]espect for human dignity forms part of the very essence of the Convention”. This precept is reiterated in the ESC system and the Framework Convention. 

A key feature of the Handbook is its focus on the AI system lifecycle. Potential human rights impacts may arise at various stages, including system design, data collection, training, deployment, operation and monitoring. The Handbook identifies a number of recurring, cross‑cutting risks across sectors, including discrimination and inequality arising from biased data or models, lack of transparency, explainability and interpretability, interference with privacy and personal data protection, and practical barriers to accessing effective remedies where decisions are taken by AI systems. Activities within the AI lifecycle must not dehumanize individuals, undermine their autonomy, or reduce them to data points, and AI should not be anthropomorphised in ways that infringe on human dignity.

The Handbook also includes a sector‑specific analysis covering the administration of justice, law enforcement and public security, immigration and border control, democratic processes, healthcare, social services and welfare, education, and labour and employment. For each sector, it outlines common AI use cases, identifies the human rights most likely to be engaged, and points to safeguards and good practices relevant to those contexts.

States have a duty under both the ECHR and the ESC to refrain from unjustified interference with human rights (“negative obligations”) and to ensure their effective realization and

protection (“positive obligations”). Throughout, the Handbook emphasizes that states retain positive obligations under human rights law. These include obligations to regulate and supervise AI use, ensure appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms, and provide accessible and effective remedies, regardless of whether AI systems are developed or operated by public authorities or private providers. Within the context of their positive obligations, it is important to stress out the duty of the states to protect society against human rights abuses by third parties, including business enterprises, and take reasonable and appropriate measures to secure an individual’s human rights.

Source https://www.coe.int/en/web/human-rights-intergovernmental-cooperation/intelligence-artificielle