II. An Introduction to U.S. Practice in International Law
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Transcript II. An Introduction to U.S. Practice in International Law
International
Human Rights Research
Margaret Clark, Reference Librarian
Law Research Center
February, 2009
What we’ll cover…
United Nations
Treaties
Judicial decisions
Country reports
Non-governmental organizations
Search engines
Research guides
First place to begin research
http://www.un.org/rights/
CHARTER DOCUMENTS DATABASE
Searching by
committee
Searching by
country
Searching by
country and subject
TREATY BODY DATABASE
When researching the U.N.:
Documents may be more political than legal
Speeches
Statements
Letters by gov’t representatives
Most important for legal research
Studies and reports
Treaties, resolutions, judgments
U.N. Research Strategies
Get overview of U.N.’s involvement with your
topic during the last few years.
What bodies are involved?
What documents produced?
What are the document symbols?
Become familiar with bodies dealing with your
topic.
Find and study any resolutions
1st pars. cite to earlier resolutions
Final pars. announce a plan
Are there any studies or reports cited?
Treaties
United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (UNHCHR)
U.N. Treaty Collection
U.N. Treaty Series
Texts of Recently Deposited Multilateral Treaties
Status of Multilateral Treaties
Univ of Minn. Human Rights Library
EISIL
Good bookmarks for Human Rights treaty research!
For recent treaty sources:
International Legal Materials
Lexis ILMTY
Westlaw ILM
HeinOnline
Judicial Decisions
International bodies
UN bodies (ICJ, Treaty bodies)
Tribunals and international courts
Regional bodies (ECHR, IACHR, ACHPR)
National courts
Tools for locating judicial decisions
Secondary sources
“Defining civil and political rights : the
jurisprudence of the United Nations Human
Rights Committee”
Judicial Process and Human Rights: Texts
and summaries of international case-law
Selected Decisions of the Human Rights
Committee
Tools for locating judicial decisions
Internet sites - Individual tribunals and courts
Case reporters - Print
International Human Rights Reporter
Human Rights Law Journal
International Legal Materials
Case reporters – Online
International Legal Materials
Human Rights Cases (Lexis)
Tools for locating judicial decisions
Digests
Oxford Reports on International Law
HUDOC
International Law Reports
World Court Digests
Tools for locating judicial decisions
International Law Reports (ILR)
In print only !!
Good source for full text opinions in English
Best source for finding recent decisions
ICJ
International courts and tribunals
Administrative Tribunal ILO
National Courts
Best source for older decisions (1919 to present)
KZ 199.I58 (1st floor of Library)
Tools for locating judicial decisions
ILR– Index Volumes
Treaty Index (treaties referred to in decisions
reported in ILR)
By date
By subject
By title
Case Index (includes decisions of national court
decisions and international tribunals)
Alphabetically
Jurisdiction
International Law Reports
Treaty Index
Case Digests
World Court Digest (for ICJ cases)
Tools for locating judicial decisions
UN treaty body tools
Treaty Body Database
Bayefsky.com
U. Minnesota’s Human Rights Library
Judicial Decisions – Treaty body database
Judicial Decisions – Bayefsky.com
Judicial decisions – Treaty bodies
Jurisprudence of the treaty bodies :
“Views” (admissibility and on merits)
“Decisions” (determinations of inadmissibility)
“Opinions” (on the merits)
Annual compilation of all decisions in:
Annual report “Report of the Committee…
Country Reports
Independent Experts
Country Reports by NGOs, Govts
Treaty-based Bodies
State Reports
Concluding Observations / Comments
Charter-based Bodies
Special Procedures – 8 Country Mandates
Universal Periodic Reviews
Country Reports
by Independent Experts
Specific Web sites
NGO’s -- HRW; AI
Government – US State Dept; UK Home Ofc
Collection of Country Reports Online
REFWORLD – Country Information
ASIL Guide – Country Reports
U. Minn Human Rights Library
Country Reports
by Treaty Based Bodies
State Reports
Concluding Observations / Comments
Treaty Body web site
U.N. Treaty Body Database
Bayefsky.com
Universal Human Rights Index
Country Reports– Bayefsky.com
Country Reports
by Charter Based Bodies
Special Procedures
OHCHR web site
Country mandates
Thematic mandates
Charter-based Bodies Database
Universal Human Rights Index
Country Reports
by Charter Based Bodies
Special Procedures
OHCHR web site (Countries), recent
Charter-based Bodies Database
Universal Human Rights Index
Universal Periodic Reviews
UNHCHR web site
UPR.org web site
Universal Periodic Review
UPR-Info.org
Nongovernmental Organizations
A good place to start research (directories)
U of Minnesota’s list
Bayefsky’s list
“Human Rights Documents”
Hurisearch
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/HumanRights/index.html
Search Engine HURISEARCH
Only search engine for human rights
Searches 3000 web sites
Can search by language, organization,
country
Use this search engine to:
investigate human rights situation in
countries
search information on an issue
search content of a human rights web
site
Search Engine
International Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law Search Engine
Research Guides
Research Guides
Databases
OHCHR Library
UN BISnet
UN Official Document System (ODS)
Subject Listings
OHCHR List of Issues
Issues on UN Agenda