The Committee is a monitoring body established  under Art. 26 of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. It consists of 18 independent experts with recognised expertise in the field of national minority protection, who sit on the Committee in their individual capacities for a period of four years.

The function of the Advisory Committee is to assist the CM in evaluating the implementation of the Framework Convention by States that have ratified it, through the analysis of periodic reports submitted by States. This evaluation is expressed in a detailed opinion that serves as the basis for the preparation of the final resolution of the Committee of Ministers on the country concerned. Follow-up meetings are generally organised by the Advisory Committee in order to bring together all actors - governmental and non-governmental - interested in the implementation of the Convention and in putting the results of the monitoring procedure into practice. The CM closes each monitoring cycle of the Framework Convention by adopting a resolution.