Council of Europe is a regional international organisation founded on May 5, 1949, after the Second World War, for the purpose of achieving a greater unity between its Member States in safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage, as well as in facilitating their economic and social progress, with emphasis on the protection of human rights. The following main bodies operate within the Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly (plenary body), Committee of Ministers (executive body) and Secretariat (administrative-technical body). This paper will focus on the presentation of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms within the framework of the Council of Europe, and on the analysis of the most important document in the field of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, which was adopted within the framework of the Council of Europe in 1950, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In this context, the work of the European Court of Human Rights as the principal judicial body responsible for the proper application of the Convention by States Parties will be analyzed. Namely, the Court plays a major role in the improvement and promotion of the protection of human rights, particularly through the evolutionary interpretation of the Convention as a living document, thus adapting it to continuous changes in society. In the paper, we will also present and analyze other principles used by the Court in the interpretation of the Convention, such as: the principle of autonomous interpretation of the Convention, the principle of effectiveness and the principle of free assessment of States (margin of appreciation). Furthermore, the paper will deal specifically with the issue of positive obligations of the States Parties to the Conventions and it will present the execution procedure of the Court's judgments. The paper is concluded with a brief case analysis in order to present issues analyzed in the paper in a concise manner.