Research Guide - International Human Rights Research

This guide provides an overview of international human rights research tools at the Hastings Law Library and on the Internet. It includes information about indexes, books, periodicals, and websites with useful human rights information. The resources listed should give you a good start on your research and lead you to more specific documents and materials with in-depth subject-specific human rights information.

This guide includes:

• Where to Start: Research Guides, Encyclopedias, and Bibliographies
• Collections of Human Rights Documents
• Compilations of Human Rights Resources (and Documents) Organized by Subject
• United Nations Human Rights Resources and Documents
• United States Government Documents on Human Rights
• Locating Other Important Human Rights Books
• Locating Periodical Articles on Various Human Rights Issues

Where to Start: Research Guides, Encyclopedias, & Bibliographies

PRINT RESOURCES:

Encyclopedia of Human Rights, 2nd edition
JC571 E67 1996

Encyclopedia of Human Rights Issues Since 1945 (1999)
JC571 L26 1999

Encyclopedia of Public International Law (1992)
KZ1160 E53 1992
[Volume 2 includes a good discussion of various human rights issues.]

Germain's Transnational Law Research: A Guide For Attorneys
The discussion of human rights research begins at Chapter IV, page 153.
K85 G47

Guide to Human Rights Research
K3236 T63 1994

Human Rights: A Bibliography
JC571 H7644 2000

Human Rights: A Reference Handbook, 2nd edition
K3240 .R42 1998

INTERNET RESOURCES:

ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: Human Rights

Bibliographies on issues in human rights prepared by the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley

Bibliography for Research on International Human Rights Law, by David Weissbrodt and Marci Hoffman

Bibliography - Publications on Health and Human Rights Themes: 1985-2005, published by Amnesty International

GlobaLex - The NYU School of Law International Human Rights Research Guide prepared by Grace Mills, the Director of the Law Library at Florida A&M University.

The University of Minnesota Human Rights Internet Library includes a collection of Human Rights Bibliographies and Guides.

Researching Indigenous Peoples Rights Under International Law - A research guide prepared by Steven C. Perkins.

Researching International Human Rights Law - A library research guide prepared by the Georgetown University Law Library.

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Collections of Human Rights Documents

PRINT RESOURCES:

Basic Documents on Human Rights
K3238 A1 B76 2002

Blackstone's International Human Rights Documents, 3rd edition
K3238 B59 2002

Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments
K3238 A1 H85 2002

INTERNET RESOURCES:

Human rights links compiled by Georgetown's law librarians

Human rights treaties and other instruments from the University of Minnesota

The Multilaterals Project features human rights conventions collected at the Tufts University website.

Project Diana's links to human rights cases, reports, and documents

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Compilations of Human Rights Resources (& Documents) Organized By Subject

PRINT RESOURCES:

Asia-Pacific Human Rights Documents and Resources (2 vols.)
KM572 A35 A84 1998

Collection of International Instruments and Other Legal Texts Concerning Refugees and Displaced Persons (2 vols.)
K3230.R45 A265 1995

Compendium of International Conventions Concerning the Status of Women
K3243 A35 U55 1988

European Convention on Human Rights, Texts and Documents (2 vols.)
KJC5132 A35 E952 1982

International Labour Conventions and Recommendations (3 vols., 1919-1995)
K1703 I57 1996

The International Law of Human Rights in Africa: Basic Documents and Annotated Bibliography
KQC578 I57

A Thematic Guide to Documents on the Human Rights of Women
K644 A35 T44 1995

INTERNET RESOURCES:

Amnesty International Online

Human Rights Resources and Information prepared by the Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley

The Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law publishes the Inter-American Human Rights Database.

The Council of Europe's website includes links to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the European conventions, agreements, and treaties, the European Court of Human Rights, and the European Union Annual Report on Human Rights.

Fourth World Documentation Project: Indigenous Peoples' Information for the Online Community

Guide to Country Research for Refugee Status Determination
and the companion list of links, Annex: Human Rights, Country and Legal Information Resources on the Internet

Human Rights Watch

International Labour Organization

Project Diana: Online Human Rights Archive

Washburn University School of Law's collection of human rights links

Yahoo's Human Rights Index

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United Nations Human Rights Resources & Documents

PRINT, CD-ROM, & MICROFICHE RESOURCES:

Annual Review of United Nations Affairs
JZ4945 A66

United Nations Reference Guide in the Field of Human Rights
JC571 U58 1993

United Nations Yearbook
JZ4947 U5

United Nations Documents and Publications
JZ5010 .U57 (Micrographics)
An online U.N. index is also available on campus for the years 1966 to current.

Sample Documents:

E/1994/24
Commission on Human Rights. Report on the Fiftieth Session (31 January - 11 March 1994) Economic and Social Council. Official Records, 1994. Supplement No. 4
READEX YEAR 1994

E/CN.4/1995/54
Situation of Human Rights in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia. Special Report on the Media. Report of the Special Rapporteur Submitted Pursuant to Commission Resolution 1994/72
READEX YEAR 1994

INTERNET RESOURCES:

Access U.N. - An index to the UN READEX documents in the Hastings microfiche collection since 1966.
(Available to Hastings students, faculty, and staff.)

Human Rights: A Basic Handbook for UN Staff (2001), .pdf

United Nations Human Rights Homepage

United Nations Documentation: Research Guide - Human Rights

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR)

UNHCHR's links to UN Human Rights Documents

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) research webpage with Country of Origin and Legal Information databases

United Nation's Commission on Human Rights

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United States Government Documents on Human Rights

HEARINGS:

Hearings from the 41st Congress (1869) to current are available in microfiche. (This collection also includes a few hearings prior to 1869.)

Lexis and Westlaw include statements of witnesses at hearings before Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and Joint Committees from 1993 to date.

To locate hearings available in the microfiche collection, use LexisNexis Congressional (available to Hastings students, faculty, and staff).To view the full-text document on microfiche, please go to microfiche cabinets 2-7.

The Monthly Catalog is another index which can be used to locate hearings. It is available on Westlaw (GPO-CTLG).

Sample hearings:
China, Human Rights and MFN
103rd Congress; House; Committee on Foreign Affairs

Human rights documents: compilation of documents pertaining to human rights: U.S. laws on human rights; Basic U.N. human rights instruments; U.N. instruments in selected human rights areas; Regional human rights instruments; War crimes and international humanitarian laws (laws of armed conflict); Human rights bodies established by U.S. laws or multilateral instruments.
98th Congress; House; Committee on Foreign Affairs

Rwanda: Genocide and the Continuing Cycle of Violence
105th Congress; House; Committee on International Relations

CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS & DOCUMENTS:

Westlaw (LH) - For the years 1948-1989, this database contains only selected reports; from 1990 to date, it includes all congressional committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law.

Lexis (LEGIS;CMTRPT) - This file contains the full text of House and Senate Committee Reports from 1990 to present.

LexisNexis Congressional (available to Hastings students, faculty, and staff) - This database provides the full text of committee reports from 1989 to present.

CIS microfiche set (1789 to current)
Location: Micrographics cabinets #1-5

For recent reports available on the Internet:
THOMAS: 104th Congress (1995) to present.
GPO ACCESS: 104th Congress (1995) to present.

CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE REPORTS:

These reports can be very useful, but may be difficult to locate. The best source is the microfiche set, Major Studies & Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service
JK1108 M255 (Micrographics)

CRS Reports provide valuable insight into how Congress makes decisions and are excellent sources for determining historical and current legal frameworks on domestic and international issues.

Sample reports:
Kurds in Iraq: Status, Protection, and Prospects
94-423-F

U.S. Immigration Policy on Haitian Migrants
RS21349

OTHER SELECTED US PUBLICATIONS:

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
JC571 U48
1993-1999:

1999-current:
[Note - These reports are published annually.]

Digest of United States Practice in International Law
KZ21 D48
Note - This publication ceased in 1980 and was continued by
Cumulative Digest of United States Practice in International Law
KZ21 D481
which ceased in 1988. The Digest of United States Practice in International Law KZ21 .D482 then continued it in 2000.

Dispatch
KZ231 U832 (This publication ceased in 1999.) The Department of State's Dispatch was the weekly record of the U.S. Department of State from 1990 through 1999. It provided a diverse compilation of major speeches, congressional testimony, policy statements, global issue fact sheets, country profiles, treaty actions, ambassadorial appointments, and other foreign policy information from the State Department. It is available on Westlaw (USDPTSTDIS), Lexis (Department of State Dispatch) or on the Internet as Dispatch Magazine.

Locating Other Important Human Rights Books

Hastings has a very good collection of recent human rights publications. To find books on your subject of interest, search the library's catalog. You might try a "keyword" search to locate a few useful titles, and then you can select "s" to find similar titles cataloged by subject.

Note: If you simply want to browse the library's collection of human rights titles, the following call numbers might be helpful:
HQ503-1742 (family, gender, and women)
JC571-599 (topics relating to human rights issues by region or country)
K3230-3240 (international law, asylum, and refugees)
K3242-3585 (includes minority rights, indigenous peoples, and environmental justice)
KDZ (Inter-American and Latin American human rights issues)
KJC5130-5170 (human rights issues in Europe)

To locate books available in other libraries, search MELVYL® (the combined University of California library catalog), WorldCat on FirstSearch, or other online library catalogs.

Locating Periodical Articles on Various Human Rights Issues

There are several indexes you can use to search for human rights articles in legal periodicals. The primary indexes are Current Law Index, Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, and Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals. All three of these indexes can be searched in print or online. For more details about these and other indexes (including Lexis, Westlaw, and Internet links), consult the Journal Preemption Check Guide at the library homepage or ask a Reference Librarian for assistance.

It might also be useful to search Lexis full-text law reviews AND Westlaw full-text law reviews. Although there is a lot of overlap, you may want to search both Lexis and Westlaw since their databases include many different articles. [Note: A full-text law review search will only cover law review articles written since the mid-1990s, and it will not include as many journals as a search using one of the indexes mentioned above.]

SELECTED PERIODICALS FOCUSING ON HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES IN THE HASTINGS LIBRARY:
(Note: For additional periodicals in the Hastings collection, search the Library Catalog using the subjects "Human Rights - Periodicals" or "Civil Rights - Periodicals".)

Amnesty International Report
HV6254 A45

Australian Journal of Human Rights
K1 U7745

B'Tselem Human Rights Report
JC599 I75 B43
[Note: published by B'Tselem, the Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.]

Critique: Review of the US State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
JC571 C75

Human Rights Quarterly
JC571 U64
WESTLAW (HUMRIGHTSQ) [1987-current; abstracts only]

Human Rights Watch World Report
JC571 H785

Inter-American Yearbook of Human Rights
KDZ574.A85 I68

International Journal of Refugee Law
K9 N8438

International Legal Materials
KZ64 I58
Available on Lexis since 1962 (INTLAW;ILM)
Available on Westlaw since 1980 (ILM)

Israel Yearbook on Human Rights
JC575 I8

Journal of Palestine Studies
DS119.7 J63

South African Human Rights Yearbook
KTL2460 S68
View volume 1-7 online via HeinOnline.

United Nations Chronicle
JZ4945 U631

SELECTED LAW REVIEW ARTICLES/BIBLIOGRAPHIES:

Weissbrodt, David and Hoffman, Marci. "Bibliography for Research on International Human Rights Law"
6 Minn. J. Global Trade 200 (Winter 1997)

Cook, Rebecca J. and Valerie L. Oosterveld. "A Select Bibliography of Women's Human Rights"
44 Am. U. L. Rev. 1429 (1995)

Perkins, Steven C. "Guide to Researching International Human Rights Law"
24 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 379 (1992)

Louis-Jacques, Lyonette and Weissbrodt, David. "Bibliography for Research on International Human Rights Law"
13 Hamline L. Rev. 673 (1990)

Vincent-Daviss, "Human Rights Law: A Research Guide to the Literature, Part I: International Law and the United Nations"
14 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 209 (Fall 1981)

Vincent-Daviss, Human Rights Law: A Research Guide to the Literature - Part II: International Protection of Refugees and Humanitarian Law"
15 N.Y.U. J. Int'l L. & Pol. 211 (Winter 1982)

Last updated April 30, 2007 by Library Assistant III
Prepared by FCIL Librarian and Associate FCIL Librarian