Transcript Slide 1
Outline
Research Guides
Treaties
UN Materials and OHCHR
International courts and tribunals
Regional materials
Europe
The Americas
Africa
Other useful resources
URLs for collections of
Country Reports
Subject materials
Research Guides
ASIL
http://www.asil.org/resource/humrts1.htm
United Nations Documentation: Research
Guide on Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/spechr.htm
The George Washington Law School
http://www.law.gwu.edu/NR/rdonlyres/D07D9
3EB-A26A-4B40-A2E19DDEE95728AE/0/HumRights07.pdf
United Nations: Useful URLs
UN web site @ http://www.un.org/
Official Web Locator @ Index to web sites of UN
organisations - http://www.unsystem.org/
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights @
http://www.ohchr.org/
ASIL guide to UN research@
http://www.asil.org/resource/un1.htm
UN Documentation: Research Guide @
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/
UN Research Guide for Human Rightshttp://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/spechr.ht
m
Finding UN Documents
UN ODS - http://documents.un.org/
UNBisnet - http://unbisnet.un.org/
Treaty Bodies Database -
http://tb.ohchr.org/default.aspx
UN Human Rights Bodies
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights @
http://www.ohchr.org/english/
Charter Based bodies
Established by the UN charter
Address broad human rights issues
Unlimited audience
Majority voting
Treaty Based bodies
Established by a treaty
Address issues covered by the treaty
Audience is signatories of the treaty only
Decisions based on consensus
Documents available on UN ODS, UnBisnet
Documents produced by the Treaty Based bodies
are also available on the Treaty Bodies Database
UN Human Rights Bodies: Charter Based Bodies
Human Rights Council
Special procedures (discuss and report on human rights
situations relating to particular countries or themes)
Commission on Human Rights
No longer exists – predecessor of the Human Rights
Council
Sub commission on the Promotion and Protection
of Human Rights
Carries out studies on human rights issues and make
recommendations
Treaty Based Bodies
Committee against Torture (CAT)
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (CESCR)
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW)
Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD)
Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW)
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Human Rights Committee (CCPR)
Documents produced by the Treaty Based Bodies
are available on the Treaty Bodies Database as
well as UN ODS, Unbisnet
A-Z of issues with links to
relevant bodies / rapporteurs
Country information for each member
including treaty
ratification/reservation information,
rapporteurships and special
procedures relating to the country,
news, events, links
“Ratifications and reservations” –
treaties with signatories, reservations
etc
Country mandates – countries
subject to HRC special procedures
Publications including fact sheets/special
issues on various topics
Links to the charter and treaty based
organisations (introductory general
information, publications, rules and
procedures, events, relevant
rapporteurships, relevant treaties and
ratification information, links) plus
links to Treaty bodies database
International Courts and Tribunals
Guides
Pict – Project on International Courts and
Tribunals
http://www.pict-pcti.org/
Explanation of the origins, history, functions
and procedures of the international and
regional courts
UN Research Guide @
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/sp
ecil.htm
International Courts and Tribunals online
Where to find…
Basic Court documents
Court’s website
Westlaw (for some courts)
Annual reports etc – Court’s Website
Judgments, Decisions, Indictments, related docs
Court’s own web site
Westlaw / Lexis
Worldlii (usually judgment only)
ICJ: Research Guides and Reference Works
UN research guide includes a section on
the ICJ @
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/sp
ecil.htm#icj
International Court of Justice Yearbook
Internat 725 c 858 j-k
Summaries of Judgments, Advisory
Opinions and Orders of the International
Court of Justice Internat 121a
Bibliography of the International Court of
Justice Internat 400 c858
ICJ: Judgments in print
(Reports of) Judgments, Advisory Opinions and
Orders – Internat 121
French and English
Annual index
Pleadings, Oral Arguments, Documents – Internat
122
Documentation relating to each case (e.g.
application, written and oral proceedings,
documents submitted to the court, selected
correspondence etc)
Published after the end of the case in the
original language
OSCOLA - cite the print series in preference
to other series and online versions. If print is
not available cite online version from the ICJ web
site.
ICJ online : The ICJ web site
@ http://www.icj-cij.org
Basic Documents
Cases
Full text of judgments (contentious cases)
/advisory opinions (advisory proceedings)
Related documents (e.g. application,
preliminary objections, provisional measures,
merits oral and written proceedings, orders,
summaries, press releases)
No search facility
Background information – history, how
the court works, judges etc
Text of judgments and advisory
opinions and related documents
Statute of the Court, rules of
procedure etc
Information about the courts
jurisdiction
ICJ Online: Westlaw and Worldlii
Westlaw
International (Directory)| All Westlaw Database |
International/Worldwide | Multinational | Court and
Tribunal Cases
Full text judgments and orders but NOT all related
documents
Search engine allows subject searching
How up to date?
Worldlii – http://www.worldlii.org
“International Decisions” > 26 international courts
including ICJ
Full text judgments (from ICJ website) and some related
documents
Search engine allows subject searching
For materials from
beyond the UK/EU
choose Westlaw
International
Full list of results
Commentary relating to result 1
Result 1
ICJ and other
international courts
and tribunals on
Worldlii
International
Courts and
Tribunals
Worldlii “International Decisions” database includes 27
international courts including:
•ICJ
•European Court of Human Rights
•Inter-American Court of Human Rights Decisions 1981- (Selected)
•Interights Commonwealth Human Rights Law 1992-2002
•Interights International Human Rights Law 1981-2001
•International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Decisions 2004•International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia Decisions
1996•United Nations Committee against Torture Decisions 1993•United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination Decisions 1988•United Nations Human Rights Committee Decisions 1977(WorldLII)
Combine terms using:
AND, OR, NOT
NEAR – within 50 words
w/n –term 1 within n terms of term 2
Pre/n –term 1 must precede term 2
by n terms
*truncation symbol
Search across groups of courts. “All
Human Rights Courts & Tribunals” is
useful
To find out when judgments were
added to Worldlii for each court
To browse a court click on the link,
to search a court tick the check
box
Results options – relevance, date,
title
International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia
UN research guide @
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/specil.htm#ity
Basic documents, annual reports @http://www.un.org/icty/
Judgments in print (indictments, decisions, judgments)
The Judicial Reports/ Recueils judiciaires Internat 580 I63c
Judgments online (indictments, decisions, judgments)
ITY web site @ http://www.un.org/icty/
Westlaw
Worldlii (judgment only – not entirely up to date)
Oscola citation
Case name (Decision type) ICTY-year#-case# (date).
Alternatively cite International Legal Materials or
International Human Rights Reports.
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
UN Research Guide @
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/sp
ecil.htm#itr
ICTR website
Basic documents
Indictments, decisions, judgments
Status of pending cases
Annual reports etc
Westlaw (indictments, decisions,
judgments)
Worldlii
Oscola citation – same as ICTY
Other international courts…
International Criminal Court
UN research guides @
http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/specil.h
tm#icc
http://www.icc-cpi.int/
Special Court for Sierra Leone @
http://www.sc-sl.org/
Commission for Reception, Truth and
Reconciliation in East Timor @
http://www.cavr-timorleste.org/
Cases before UN Treaty Committees
Worldlii
Cases before Human Rights Committee,
Committee against Torture, Committee on
Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
Netherlands Institute of Human Rights
(http://www.law.uu.nl/english/sim/)
Databases > Case Law
Cases before Human Rights Committee,
Committee against Torture, Committees
on…Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
…Discrimination against women.
Indexed by convention, subject, keyword,
state, name etc
Cases before UN
committees
Cases before ECHR
Cases before
tribunals for
Yugoslavia /
Rwanda
Comments by
treaty bodies in
response to
country reports
Browse by treaty article,
subject, keyword, country etc
Regional: Europe
Council of Europe - http://www.coe.int
Council of Europe Treaties
http://conventions.coe.int
Directorate General of Human Rights @
http://www.coe.int/T/E/Human_rights/
documents and news organised by subject
Commissioner for Human Rights @
http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/
European Court of Human Rights http://www.echr.coe.int/echr
Judgments and decisions on Westlaw, Justis, HUDOC,
Worldlii
Legal affairs includes link to the Treaties Office – COE treaties, ratification
information, subject index etc
Directorate General of Human rights – information for
different themes/conventions (e.g. torture, women's rights,
national minorities etc) including introductory information,
publications/documents, country reports, news, events etc
Text of the convention, signatories, ratifications, reservations etc
Reports and other documents from the Office of the
Commissioner for Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights:
Judgments
Official Reports
Before 1 Nov 1998 known as Series A and numbered
consecutively
e.g. Plattform ‘Ärtze für das Leben’ v Austria (App no
10126/82) (1988) Series A no 139
After 1 Nov 1998 - Renamed Reports of Judgments and
Decisions (cited ECHR)
e.g. Osman v UK (App no 23452/94)
ECHR 1998-VIII 3124
Available in print at Internat 121 and online on Justis
European Human Rights Reports (EHRR)
e.g. Young, James and Webster v UK (App no 7601/76)
(1982) 4 EHRR 38
Available in print at Internat 150 E60 on Westlaw
OSCOLA – Cite Official Reports or EHRR
ECHR: Transcripts
Court Transcripts
Court web site – HUDOC http://www.echr.coe.int/echr
Worldlii
Netherlands Institute
•Full text searching use
the following connectors:
AND
•OR
•NOT
•WITHIN N OF
*TRUNCATION
•? SINGLE CHARACTER
Reports of Judgments and Decisions (ECHR) on Justis
Official reports – old style series A
Transcript
Official reports – new style
EHRR on Westlaw
UK section of Westlaw includes ECHR
judgments
European Court of Human Rights Reports
(includes all court judgments and selected
commission decisions)
Choose “Advanced Search” for
more options
Searches full text of all judgments
Searches party names
Searches for cases by legislation
considered.
Searches for cases which have
considered an earlier case
Related information including:
•List of reports of the case
•Summary of the issues
•Legislation considered in the
judgment
•Earlier cases considered in the
judgment
•Later cases which have considered
this judgment
•Commentary on the judgment
Full text of the case
ECHR web site
http://www.echr.coe.int/
Basic Documents and texts of the court
Database of transcripts of judgments and
commission decisions
To go direct to the transcripts database
http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/
History, organization, composition,
procedures etc
European Convention on H
Rights and additional prot
Transcripts database
To search decisions of the European Commission (ceased 1999) o
up decisions box. Note not all commission decisions are available.
Some judgments are only available
on one language
Use … to browse a
thesaurus of terms
HUDOC - Transcripts
Make sure the “from” field is not filled
in when you open up the database
Keywords in context – finds
your keywords and displays
sorrounding text
Full text
Analytical information
including dates, party
names, who the case
was referred by,
Strasbourg case law
cited, keywords,
durable URL
Links to related
information
Inter American Human Rights system:
Key web sites & documents
OAS - http://www.oas.org/
Charter of the OAS @
http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/charter.html
Treaties @ http://www.oas.org/DIL/treaties.htm
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of
Man@
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/oasinstr/zoas2d
ec.htm
American Convention on Human Rights @
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/oasinstr/zoas3c
on.htm
Inter American Human Rights system:
The Commission
Inter American Commission on Human Rights @
http://www.cidh.org/DefaultE.htm
Reports adopted by the Commission @
http://www.wcl.american.edu/pub/humright/di
gest/
index.html
Finding cases before the Commission
Cases section of the Commission web site
University of Minnesota index to Commission
cases @
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cases/commi
ssn.htm
Inter American Human Rights system:
The Court
@ http://www.corteidh.or.cr/
University of Minnesota - Basic Documents / jurisprudence
@ http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iachr/iachr.html
Reports
Series A – Judgments and opinions (Advisory cases)
Series B – Pleadings, Oral Arguments and Documents (relating
to series A)
Series C – Decisions and judgments (Contentious cases)
Series D - Pleadings, Oral Arguments and Documents (relating
to series C)
Series E - Provisional measures
Finding Cases online
Court web site (as above) – Spanish versions appear first
University of Minnesota (as above) - Judgments, opinions and
decisions plus related documents
Worldlii (most recent judgment available 2006)
Introductory
information,
publications,
country reports
Background information
including relationship of
Commission and Court
Country reports,
resolutions, special
reports
Treaties,
ratifications,
reservations/d
eclarations
Reports from
special
rapporteurs,
country
reports,
cases, work
with the court
Special /
Country
reports
Cases
Documents re:
•Migrant workers
•Freedom of
expression
•Women
Statute of the court,
rules of procedure,
composition, history
etc
Annual reports – includes
cases
•Browse judgments chronologically or by country
•Decisions and judgments =series c (contentious)
•Advisory = series A
•Text in word / pdf
Search for judgment by keywords or by
country/date range
Africa: some key web sites
African Union
http://www.africa-union.org/
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
http://www.achpr.org/english/_info/charter_en.html
African Commission on Human and Peoples
Rights
http://www.achpr.org/
Africa Human Rights Resource Centre (University
of Minnesota Human Rights Library) – is this still
current? @
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/index.html
Treaties and
ratification details,
speeches etc
Includes link to AU
information on
Darfur/Sudan and
Rights of the Child
Treaties
Most recent country
reports, and
activities reports
•Activity reports including reports
from Special Rapporteurs (note
full reports appended as
annexes)
Special
•list of state reports but no full Subject
text
A-Z of Human
Rights links (NGOs,
governments,
charities etc)
Country reports and
decisions from the UN
Human Rights
Committee. Possibly out
of date?
Report on NGOs in
Africa published 1994.
Treaties,
conventions etc
Constitutive Act of the AU
+ documents /
information re OAU/AU
African summit 2002
Compilations of treaties,
books and articles on
human rights in Africa.
Nothing later than 1994.
Journal article by J.
Oloka-Onyango
(1995)
Other useful web sites
Interights @ http://www.interights.org/
Charity that promotes human rights through
the law
2,000 summaries of significant human rights
decisions from the Commonwealth and beyond
Eisil @ www.eisil.org
Treaties, conventions etc with related web sites and
research guides
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library @
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/
Case law database
Summaries of some HR issues,
bibliographies etc
Country Reports
Collection of links to Country Reports in the ASIL research
guide @ http://www.asil.org/resource/humrts1.htm
Amnesty
http://web.amnesty.org/library/engindex
Reports organised by country, region, theme
Human Rights Watch
http://hrw.org/
Reports organised by country and subject
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
Europe (esp E Europe)
For Reports follow the link to “Documents and
publications”
http://www.ihf-hr.org/welcome.php
US Dept of State Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices
Choose Country Reports from the navigation bar
Annual reports submitted to US congress
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/
Subject Approach
Amnesty
http://web.amnesty.org/library/engindex
Human Rights Watch http://hrw.org/
University of Minnesota Topics Guide
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/topicgu
ides.html
Introduction to main issues
Links to relevant web resources
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/links.htm
Links to document repositories, organisations, country
and subjects
Subject Approach
Derechos http://www.derechos.org/
Particularly good for Latin America
Human Rights Internet http://www.hri.ca/
Hurisearch - http://www.hurisearch.org/
search engine searching multiple human rights
web sites
Worldlii Human Rights Catalog
http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/303.html
Links to document repositories, organisations,
country and subjects
Journals
Use usual journals indexes
Westlaw
Index to Legal Periodicals
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
Social Science Citation Index
Cambridge Scientific Abstracts : Social
Sciences
PAIS – Public Affairs Information Institute
Links to free journals with Human Rights focus
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/links/journals
.html