1. Treaties and other
instruments
Two of the largest paper collections of human rights documents in the Library
are:
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute Compilation of Human Rights
Instruments (Göran Melander & Gudmundur Alfredsson eds., 1997).
Human Rights K 3238 .R36 1997
International Human Rights Instruments: A Compilation of Treaties,
Agreements, and Declarations of Especial Interest to the United
States. (Richard B. Lillich ed., 1983- ) K 3238 .A1 I57
1983.
Many useful sources for documents are on the internet:
The EISIL Project of the American Society
of International Law has identified key sources in international human rights
law (http://www.eisil.org).
Human Rights Library (U of M), (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts) This is a
major collection of international human rights documents, organized in
several ways. Many documents include citations.
Tufts University, Fletcher Multilaterals
Project, (http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html)
UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home)
(Under Research/Evaluation, contains useful documents on countries'
treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and policy documents relating to
refugee and asylum issues).
UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights (http://www.ohchr.org/english/)
(excellent starting point for many topics)
Netherlands
Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Human Rights Treaties (http://www.law.uu.nl/english/sim/instr)
2. Country reports
Country reports are documents issued by intergovernmental or non-governmental
organizations, or by governments, that assess a country's human rights
performance. Major series of country reports include those issued by Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org), Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org), and the United States Department of
State (country reports at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/c1470.htm).
All three of these organizations publish their reports on their websites. These
reports are on Reserve in the Law Library. The Department of State Reports
are at Reserve Y4.F76/ 1-15:. The Amnesty International reports are
at Reserve K3239.4 .A46x, and the Human Rights Watch reports are at
Reserve JC 571 .H784.
3. Cases
Finding human rights cases can be difficult; some cases are not reported, and
case reporters are often published irregularly. Here are some paper
sources for human rights cases:
European Court of Human Rights: Publications de la Cour
européenne des droits de l'homme. Série A, Arrêts et décisions
=Publications of the European Court of Human Rights. Human Rights
Library KJC5132.A52 E88
Leading Cases of the European Court of Human Rights (R.A. Lawson
& H.G. Schermers eds., 1997). Law Library KJC5138.A6 1997x.
International Human Rights Reports (University of Nottingham,
1994- ) (contains cases from the UN, Council of Europe, and the Inter-American
Court). Human Rights Library K9 .N7344x
Butterworths Human Rights Cases (1997- ) (contains cases from around
the world). Law Library K3240.3 .B88x.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Serie C--Resoluciones y
sentencias (1987, 1989, 1990). Human Rights Library
KDZ574.A52 I535x
Decisions and Reports (Council of Europe and European Commission for
Human Rights, 1960-1974). Human Rights Library KJC5135.A5 C65x (no.1
(1960)-no.46 (1974).
Decisions and Reports (European Commission of Human Rights,
1975-1999). Ceased with 94-B, published in 1999. Human Rights Library
KJC5135.A5 D435x .
Selected Decisions under the Optional Protocol (United Nations,
Human Rights Committee, 1985-1990). Law Library United Nations Documents
UN-DOCSCCPR/C/OP/1-2.
You can often find cases on the
internet. Here are some useful sites:
Interights International Human
Rights Law (http://www.interights.org) (The
International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights)
Human Rights Library (U of M),(http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts).
Inter-American
Court of Human Rights (http://www.corteidh.or.cr/index.cfm?&CFID=2020&CFTOKEN=49355178)
HUDOC,
European Union human rights cases, (http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/Header/Case-Law/HUDOC/HUDOC+database/
)
Canadian Human Rights
Tribunal decisions (http://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/index_e.asp)
United Nations charter-based and treaty-based organizations make their recent
decisions available when these decisions are not confidential. Search at
UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights http://www.ohchr.org/english/
Cases from eight national courts involving the definition of a refugee, from
the University of Michigan's Refugee
Caselaw Site(http://www.refugeecaselaw.org/)
Law School:
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