Human Rights Law Resources

Kate Jackson, Michaelmas term 2014

What are we going to cover?

• Getting Started– General Sources– Journal indexes– Others (theses, dissertations, research papers)

• Primary sources– United Nations– Law reports

• Searching by region• Keeping up to date BUT …..

We can skip/add things

General Sources of help

• Research guides• Libguide on Human right law• Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Law• Oxford Reports on International Law

Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Law

Journal indexes

• Social Science Citation Index (via Oxlip+)• Westlaw International (via Westlaw UK)• Google Scholar @ http://scholar.google.com

Social Science Citation Index on Web of Science

Westlaw International – World Journals

Google Scholar

Other sources

• ProQuest Theses and Dissertations for Social Sciences and Humanities (via Oxlip+)

• SSRN – Social Science Research Network (via Oxlip+)

Primary SourcesUnless you know a good database/source that is

easy to search then always start off with the institution that created it…….

Image by Eugene Regis

United Nations• Huge organisation• Lots of different bodies– Treaty based bodies– Charter based bodies

• Good starting point for thematic research

• Good research guides

Finding UN Materials

• Official Document System• UNBISnet• UNI-QUE• HeinOnline• Research Guides– UN Documentation guide– Oxford Libguide on UN materials

Finding Law Reports

• Website of relevant court BUT….• There are general collections– Oxford Reports on International Law– Westlaw– Worldlii– Interights

Finding materials by region or country

• UN list by country • Universal Human Rights Index Database

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/UniversalHumanRightsIndexDatabase.aspx

• Human Rights Watch• Amnesty International• Red Cross

Europe

• Treaties and Basic Documents:– Council of Europe website– European Court of Human Rights main page

• Case Law– ECHR – case law database – HUDOC– Databases such as Westlaw (for the EHRR reports),

Justis and Oxford Reports of International Law– Free resources - Worldlii

Inter-American

• Treaties and Basic Documents– Organisation of American States– The Inter-American Court - main website

• Case Law– The Inter-American Court – under jurisprudence

Africa

• Basic Documents and Treaties– The African Commission of Human and Peoples'

Rights– African Court of Human Rights

• Case Law– African Court of Human Rights - case law section– Human Rights Case Analyser

Keeping up to date

• RSS feeds• Table of Content Services• Alerts (legal databases)

Any Questions?