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Subject Guides, Library Training, and Research Aids

Subject Guides

1. Research Guides

There are numerous guides explaining how to research the databases and collections from many organisations with an interest in or devoted to human rights. This is a selection of good comprehensive guides to the key resources, how to make the best use of them.

Guides are produced by librarians and experts in locating authoritative and legitimate sites of key human rights organisations, and can be a useful starting point for research. They provide an organised approach to various aspects of the broad topic of Human Rights, and will then describe useful websites related to the topic, and have links so you can follow a line of research.

            last updated in 2015, it still has some useful links

            a guide UN Documentation

           The list of books is useful bibliography; however most of the journal links are not open access.

            An extensive, well organised guide to the various sources of information relating to the United Nations, extending beyond human rights issues.

           Resources for international and regional human rights bodies, many open access sites.

           Guides for many subjects (e.g. Human Rights, International Law…), major UN organs (e.g. General Assembly, Security council etc), document types etc.

            A number of research guides on related themes such as Freedom of Religion, Racial equality and Justice, and Disability Inclusion.

           Susan M. Boland and James Hart, 2021 A very comprehensive guide to the extensive coverage of the United Nations and other autonomous bodies to Human Rights has been developed in this guide updated in January 2021

2. Case law reports and resolutions – open access

Access to the judgments of various relevant courts can be found through their websites; several also provide research guides to using the sites.

 The jurisprudence database is intended to be a single source of the human rights recommendations and findings issued by all committees in their work on individual cases. It enables the general public to research the vast body of legal interpretation of international human rights law as it has evolved.

The site links to cases , and this is a research guide.

The site provides extensive information about the court and its role as well as access to judgments and orders.

 It is possible to restrict the search to All Human Rights Courts and Tribunals databases.

UN Resolutions, fully searchable, developed by HURIDOCS (Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems)

 A listing of Principal Individual Opinions in Human Rights Committee Cases

Searchable database of positive domestic, regional and international legal decisions from around the world regarding economic, social and cultural rights. (The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States parties.)

The judgments of the court are on the HUDOC website as are the Decisions

Cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union. Searchable database of cases, including analysis and links to relevant legislation.

The site links to the Reporting System of the European Social Charter with links to Country profiles, as well as the collected Travaux préparatoires from 1953.

The cases on this site are presented by topic. A notable number of decisions of the highest courts in Asia-Pacific countries discuss human rights in relation to local situations and are linked here in full text.

Established under a 1998 protocol to the African Charter. The Court, based in Arusha, Tanzania, compliments the work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights by adjudicating applications seeking redress for the violation of rights guaranteed under the Charter and other human rights instruments. It also issues advisory opinions.

The judgments are mainly in Spanish. The advisories are often in English.

 

 

3. Journals related to Human Rights

Selected International Human Rights Journals Selected International Human Rights Journals. Most are OPEN ACCESS, there is a note (PAY to VIEW) next to titles which are not open access

Notes:

  1. You can search for individual ARTICLES by the title of the article or author, using GOOGLE SCHOLAR   
  2. Some of these journals provide a mix of Open Access and Pay to View articles. Articles are often in PDF and need to be downloaded.
  3. The Abstracts are usually Free to read even if you can’t read the article in PAY to VIEW.

 

4. Treaties

International human rights law is treaty based. These treaties are promulgated by international organisations such as the United Nations and its specialised agencies, the Council of Europe, and other organisations. Therefore, locating the necessary instruments is usually the first place to begin research in this area. A good strategy is to begin with the body that promulgated the instrument.

  • The United Nations Human Rights Treaties
    This is a searchable database founded in the late 1990s. It retains the historical record, adds self-help links to the UN website for the purpose of updating information after 2011 - with the exception of Jurisprudence. It focuses on providing the historical context for the human rights treaty system. 

International Human Rights Instruments

There are nine core international human rights instruments, often supplemented by optional protocols dealing with specific concerns. Each of these  instruments has established a committee of experts to monitor implementation of the treaty provisions by its State parties. These instruments and committees are:

European Treaties

  • European Convention on Human Rights 
    This treaty, formally known as the ‘Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’, guarantees core civil and political rights.  All 47 member states of the Council of Europe are state parties to the Convention, but not all state parties have ratified each of its 16 protocols.
     
  • Treaty Information: 
    This gateway page provides links to the official texts of the European Convention in English and French, signature and ratification information, declarations and reservations by state parties, preparatory texts, protocols (amendments), and more.
     
  • EU Treaties in full text on Eur-Lex 
    Links include preparatory documents, international agreements, and EU legislation summaries

The Americas

  • Charter of the Organization of American States (1948)
    Article 5(j) recognizes the "fundamental rights of the individual without distinction as to race, nationality, creed or sex," but it does not define what these fundamental rights are.
  • American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948)
    Although it was not considered legally binding at the time it was adopted, the Declaration has evolved into a normative instrument which identifies the "fundamental rights" guaranteed by Section 5(j) of the Charter.
  • American Convention on Human Rights (1969)
    Chapter II (Articles 3-25) recognizes core civil and political rights.  Chapter I obligates state parties to uphold these rights with respect to all persons, regardless of race, sex or social condition.  Twenty-three of the 35 OAS member states are currently state parties to the Convention.
  • Basic Documents of the Inter-American Human Rights System
    Visit this gateway page to access the full texts of all human rights instruments drafted under the auspices of the OAS, information about the ratification status of each instrument, and related documentation.

Africa

  •  African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights    Also known as the Banjul Charter (for the capital of  Gambia in which it was signed), this treaty was adopted by the OAU, the AU's predecessor, in 1981, and entered into force in 1986. 
     
  • Directory of African Human Rights Instruments   The African Charter and its protocols, other African human rights treaties, and related soft law instruments.  For information about the ratification status of legally binding instruments, click on the name of the instrument.
5. International Human Rights Mechanisms

The numerous human rights conventions under the framework of the United Nations and the regional systems in Africa, the Americas and Europe have led to the creation of a wide range of mechanisms for monitoring compliance with international human rights laws. These links describe and define many mechanisms.

How does law protect in war?  This is a handbook prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross and contains links to cases and articles in the bibliographies, a very useful resource. From the introduction:-      “ How does law protect in war? (the "Online Casebook") is an academic platform adapted from the original reference Casebook authored by Marco Sassòli, Antoine Bouvier and Anne Quintin, and published by the ICRC. It is intended to support teaching of international humanitarian law (IHL) in universities in an interactive way, and based on contemporary practice.”

Library Training

Library provide the trainings which are taken place every second and last Friday of the month.

  • How to use the e-resources, HeinOnline, OUPs & JustisOne”

  • Reference manager tool, Zotero

Request training to
Email:[email protected]

Research aids

Reference Management Tool

 

 

 

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.

It is an open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials. It can be download from Zotero.org

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