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International Human Rights Research Strategies
- 1. International Human Rights Research Margaret Clark Reference Librarian FSU College of Law Research Center February, 2010
- 2. What we’ll cover… United Nations Treaties Judicial decisions Country reports Other research tools
- 7. CHARTER DOCUMENT SEARCH Searching by committee
- 9. Searching by country and subject
- 11. 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
- 12. United NationsResearch 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?
- 13. United Nations Databases OHCHR Library UN BISnet UN Official Document System (ODS)
- 15. TREATIES
- 19. Tools for locating judicial decisions Secondary Sources
- 21. Tools for locating judicial decisions Secondary Sources
- 24. Search Browse
- 28. Tools for locating judicial decisions International Law Reports (ILR) In print only !! full text opinions in English Best source for finding recent decisions Best source for older decisions (1919 to present) KZ 199.I58 (1st floor of Library)
- 29. 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
- 30. International Law Reports Treaty Index
- 32. Tools for locating judicial decisions UN Treaty Body Tools Treaty Body Document Search (UN) Bayefsky.com U. Minnesota’s Human Rights Library
- 33. Judicial Decisions – Treaty body database
- 36. 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…
- 39. Country Reports
- 41. Amnesty InternationalSpecific Web sites Non-governmental organizations Government – US State Dept; UK Home Office Collection of Country Reports Online
- 46. Charter-based Bodies Document Search (UN)
- 59. Other research tools Human Rights Documents (FSU materials) Hurisearch (Search engine) Human Rights LibGuide (Research guide)
- 61. 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
- 64. Research Guides
- 65. Research Guides
- 66. Questions?
Notes de l'éditeur
- From ASIL Guide:III. Methodology of Human Rights Research When first starting out, researching international human rights law can be a confusing mess of treaties and documents. The materials (for the most part) are not set out in a coherent, well-organized fashion. The sources of information range from recognized treaty law to more ephemeral materials from non-governmental organizations. There are a few things to keep in mind when doing human rights research: the interdisciplinary nature of the topic; the complexity of the topic and the materials; and the challenge of locating and accessing materials issued by a variety of organizations. The researcher needs to be resourceful, creative, and never become daunted by the task. Just when you are ready to give up is when you might find the needed material.
- Provides support to two main monitoring mechanisms: Charter-based bodiesTreaty-based bodiesThese bodies are separate from the UNHCHR.When doing research on human rights issues, important to note the distinction between the two types of mechanisms:
- Find an example and show which databases might work?
- OHCHR LibrarySpecializes in materials dealing with human rights issues either in hard copy or electronic formatUN and non-UN published documents on human rightsreferences are to books, reports, journals and documents available in the OHCHR LibraryODSFull text, official documents from the UNStarting from 1993.
- For a complete list of Libraries within the UN System, you can go to this web site. You may want to hit the broad term of “human rights” but you may also want a more narrow term. These will be good when you are searching for secondary source material.
- Judicial decisions on human rights are issued from four main types of bodies. Can’t search them all in one placeHandout is a good source to have…
- IHHR – publishes selected cases re; international and regional tribunals adjudicating human rights issuesHRLJ - publishes selected texts of the decisions of various international and regional human rights
- Oxford Reports on International Law contains many of the ECHR cases from 2000 onward.Relatively new database; it acts very much like an electronic digest in that it allows you to focus in on a jurisdiction and on particular legal issues. Oxford Reports makes available 5 modules. We subscribe to only 4 of them. One of the modules is Intl HR Law and that is where you can search for ECHR cases. The database allows you to browse all 203 cases or to search.
- HUDOC
- “Country reports” is a term of art in HR research.Broad term which refers to reports produced by IGO, nongovt’l organizations, and governmental organizations that document the human rights conditions in various countries or regions. Country reports by NGO’s, govt’s, In addition to the government report, the treaty bodies may receive information on a country’s human rights situation from other sources, including ngo’s (AI, HRW), UN agencies, other intergovernmental organizations, academic institutions and the press. State ReportsAs a consequence of ratifying a treaty, a State party is obligated to submit reports describing how the State party is implementing and complying with the treaty provisions.State reports contain information on both the law and practice in their respective countries.They contain lists of legal instruments and how those instruments reflect the social and political conditions in the country. Because the reference other reports and legal sources, they are great sources for the documentation of a State’s official view. List of IssuesGiven to the state party to answer either before or during the public consideration of that state party's report. Lists of issues provide an opportunity for States parties to supplement the information contained in their report and also provides a guide to States parties on the line of questioning they are likely to face when their report is formallyconsidered.Concluding ObservationsThe monitoring Committee then examines all the available information gathered in States report and Country Reports. Dialogue with the State party begins and then a public hearing is held. The Committee then publishes its concerns and recommendations with regard to compliance with the treaty, referred to as “concluding observations”.CommentsState party’s response to the concluding observations. Special Procedures Reports- Country MandatesGeneral name given to the mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. 30 thematic and 8 country mandates. Special procedures are either individual (called "Special Rapporteur", or "Independent Expert") or a working group Either Spec Rap or working group receive information on specific allegations of human rights violations and they conduct country visits to investigate the situation of human rights. After their visits, special procedures' mandate-holders issue a mission report to the Human Rights Council including their findings and recommendations.All report to the Human Rights Council on their findings and recommendations. They are sometimes the only mechanism that will alert the international community on certain human rights issues.Universal Periodic ReviewHuman Rights Council undertakes a universal periodic review of each state's fulfillment of its human rights obligations and commitments. The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a new and unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council (HRC) which started in April 2008. It consists of the review of every State in the world (192) by other States once every four years. This means that 48 States are reviewed per year, divided into three sessions of two weeks. The subject of the review is the States’ human rights practices and the respect for their human rights obligations.After the end of the UPR process, during the plenary session of the HRC, a final document containing the Report of the Working Group is adopted.The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years. The UPR is a significant innovation of the Human Rights Council which is based on equal treatment for all countries. It provides an opportunity for all States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. The UPR also includes a sharing of best human rights practices around the globe. Currently, no other mechanism of this kind exists. The reviews are conducted by the UPR Working Group
- Country Reports that are written for and by treaty bodies can be found in several places. Most obvious is the UN’s web site for the Treaty Body website…they contain a list of the most recent. For a more complete list, you can use the databases at the UN Treaty Body Databasse or Bayefsky’s.
- State Reports are a provide valuable information. great source for the documentation of a state’s official view of its own human rights performanceIt cites examples of cases, recent legislation
- Special Procedures General name given to the mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. 30 thematic and 8 country mandates. Special procedures are either individual (called "Special Rapporteur", or "Independent Expert") or a working group Either Spec Rap or working group receive information on specific allegations of human rights violations and they conduct country visits to investigate the situation of human rights. After their visits, special procedures' mandate-holders issue a mission report to the Human Rights Council including their findings and recommendations.All report to the Human Rights Council on their findings and recommendations. They are sometimes the only mechanism that will alert the international community on certain human rights issues.
- Special Procedures General name given to the mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. 30 thematic and 8 country mandates. Special procedures are either individual (called "Special Rapporteur", or "Independent Expert") or a working group Either Spec Rap or working group receive information on specific allegations of human rights violations and they conduct country visits to investigate the situation of human rights. After their visits, special procedures' mandate-holders issue a mission report to the Human Rights Council including their findings and recommendations.All report to the Human Rights Council on their findings and recommendations. They are sometimes the only mechanism that will alert the international community on certain human rights issues.
- Universal Periodic ReviewThe Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 192 UN Member States once every four years, started in 2008. The UPR will assess the extent to which States respect their human rights obligations set out in: the UN Charter; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; human rights instruments to which the State is party (human rights treaties ratified by the State concerned); voluntary pledges and commitments made by the State (e.g. national human rights policies and/or programmes implemented); and, applicable international humanitarian law.The reviews are conducted by the UPR Working Group which consists of the 47 members of the CouncilThe documents on which the reviews are based are: information provided by the State under review, which can take the form of a “national report”; information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; information from other stakeholders including non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions. How are the reviews conducted?
- This ngo compiles the information in a similar fashion but provides a lot more information on the UPR process and adds summaries that help distill the information.
- unique collection of documents produced by over 355 non-governmental human rights organizations (NGO's) throughout the world,coverage starting in 1980Reproduced in microfiche format