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Table of Contents
IntroductionThis guide concentrates on resources covering women's issues. You may also want to use the Researching International Human Rights Law guide. General human rights research tools may also be helpful. The following are excellent starting points for any human rights research:
Essential Web Sites
Finding Background Sources BooksStart with MNCAT http://mncat.lib.umn.edu/ to find out what is available at the University of Minnesota. The following general Library of Congress subject headings may be helpful to get you started: WOMENS RIGHTS; WOMEN INTERNATIONAL LAW; WOMEN LEGAL STATUS LAWS ETC.; SEX DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN. To search for materials on more specific topics, start with key word searches. Once you locate a work that looks helpful, examine the subject headings used for it at the end of the record. Search again by these headings. Here are some of the many books available on women's human rights:
If you do not find what you need, search the same way in one of the other library catalogs available to you: WORLDCAT and RLIN, which are available at http://www.law.umn.edu/library/catalogs.html You can request materials found in these catalogs from interlibrary loan. You might also want to start with a good bibliography or research guide on women's human rights. The following are recommended:
Periodical Articles & IndexesTo find periodical articles, start with an index. Do not just rely on browsing in full text databases (e.g., Westlaw or Lexis) since they are not complete. Some of the electronic indexes below include full texts of selected articles. Other available full text electronic journals can be identified at http://www.lib.umn.edu/articles/ej.phtml. Unfortunately, few human rights journals appear in electronic format. Women's Periodical Indexes
Finding Reports: IGO, NGO & Country ReportsYou will often find citations for documents from IGOs in the background sources you examine. If you are unsure what an abbreviation for an IGO means, try https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-a.html. To find these documents, you can search MNCAT by the document titles, document classification numbers, or the name of the body which issued them. Many IGO materials will be available at the Government Publications Library in Wilson or at the Law Library. Some of these materials may be part of a larger IGO series (e.g. Official Records) or they may be in collections that are on microfiche. When this happens, the individual items then may not appear in MNCAT. Special indexes listing them may need to be consulted. For U.N. documents, search the Index to United Nations Documents and Publications (WILSON Government Publications Reference CD-ROM JX1977 .A2 I53x) or ACCESS UN (http://www.lib.umn.edu/web-bin/aun.cgi ). More recent IGO documents are likely to be found on the Web site for the issuing organization. The research guides listed in the introduction include links to and summaries of what is included on the Web for each of the major IGOs involved with human rights. A good general listing of IGO Web sites is available at http://www.derechos.net/links/int/ These sites often include research guides of their own. The most important IGO involved in the field of human rights is the United Nations, with the following bodies focusing particularly on women: Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Commission on the Status of Women, Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW). For a helpful overview of these bodies and other related U.N. bodies see:
You may also find citations for sources from NGOs in the background sources you have looked at. If you are unsure what an NGO abbreviation means, try https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-a.html. You can search for such publications in MNCAT by the publication titles or the name of the issuing body. A reprint collection of numerous NGO documents 1980-1993 is available on microfiche:
Country Reports National governments, often a ministry involved with foreign affairs (e.g., the U.S. Department of State issues Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [U.S. Docs Y4.F76/ 1-15:])), frequently issue reports related to their own human rights situation that are submitted to one or more IGO. The following guide is very helpful in identifying and finding reports that have been submitted to the United Nations.
Finding Human Rights Instruments (treaties, declarations & resolutions)Use the research guides noted in the introduction to identify finding tools and general sources of treaties, declarations and resolutions. Instruments on Women's Rights
Finding Decisions of International TribunalsThe general bibliographies noted in the introduction provide information on the publications and electronic resources containing cases from these tribunals. Some of the cases are available electronically on LexisNexis and Westlaw. Also, some cases appear in legal periodicals (e.g., International Legal Materials). Presently, there are no major compilations of women's rights cases from the tribunals, but many of the Web sites listed below permit key word searches of recent cases. The following international tribunals hear cases related to women's rights:
Finding Foreign Legal MaterialsNational laws, regulations, and court decisions often mirror international human rights norms. The Law Library houses a major collection of foreign legal materials. To find these, you may need to consult with the reference staff. You may also want to use the Researching Foreign Law guide (http://www.law.umn.edu/library/pathfinders/foreignlaw.html). Recent legal information is partially available on the Web. Good listings of legal Web sites for different countries are found at:
Updated 8/07. Links verified 4/7/2007 |
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