HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH

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HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH

• Presented by
• Margaret Clark, Reference Librarian
• FSU College of Law Library
• August 23, 2005

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INTRODUCTION

• What to expect when you begin researching?
• The literature is vast and varied.
• Human rights is an interdisciplinary field.
• Locating materials can be challenging not always
  easy.

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WHERE TO START?

• Begin legal research with
• secondary sources.
• Provides you with overview of your research topic
• Offers a context for the legal issues involved
• Leads you to significant primary sources

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Get an overview!

• Go to UNHCHR web site
• Consult research guides
• FSU Human Rights Pathfinder
• Columbia Law Schools Researching Public
  International Law
• ASILs Guide to Electronic Sources for
  International Law Human Rights
• EISIL Electronic Information System for
  International Law
• Harvard Universitys International Law Resources

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WHAT SECONDARY SOURCES SHOULD I CONSULT?

• Books treatises and textbooks
• Law review articles, journal articles, news
  articles
• Gray literature -- The types of information
  include
• Conference papers
• Annual reports
• Country reports
• Internet sites of prominent human rights NGOs

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• What tools do I use to locate books and
  treatises?
• Aleph Librarys online catalog
• WorldCat Online catalog of thousands of
  world libraries
• IndexMaster Electronic collection of
  indexes and tables of contents of law
  books
•   

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• What tools do I use to locate articles and law
  reviews?
• Westlaw and Lexis
• Many non-law databases listed in Research Guide
  handout
• Good multidisciplinary database is PAIS

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• What tools do I use to locate gray literature?
• CIAO -- Columbia International Affairs Online
• Human Rights Documents -- Microfiche collection
  of documents produced by over 350 NGOs from all
  continents.
• NGO websites
• Human Rights Watch
• Amnesty International
• International Committee of the Red Cross

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• How do I locate country reports?
• List of good sites on Human Rights Pathfinder web
  site.
• Another directory can be found at the ASIL Guide
  to Electronic Sources in International Law
  (select Country Reports).

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PRIMARY SOURCES

• Article 38(1) of the ICJ Statute is considered to
  be the authority for listing the hierarchy of
  primary sources of law. According to the Statute
• The Court, whose function is to decide in
  accordance with international law such disputes
  as are submitted to it, shall apply
•  
• 1.   international conventions
• 2.   international custom, as evidence of a
  general practice accepted as law
• 3.   general principals of law
• 4. judicial decisions and the teachings of the
  most highly qualified publicistsas subsidiary
  means for the determination of rules of law

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• From this then, we can identify the five main
  categories of sources
•  
• 1.      Treaties and conventions
• 2.      Customary international law
• 3.      General principals of law
• 4.      Judicial decisions
• 5. Writings of legal scholars

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1 Treaties

• create legally binding obligations for the
  states that are party to them.
• UN Charter
• Other UN-sponsored agreements
• Regional conventions

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Locating treaties online

• Human Rights Pathfinder (general treaties)
• EISIL Electronic Information System for
  International Law (with citations)
• U Minn Human Rights Library (with citations)
  when US is not a party.
• Hein-on-Line when US is a party
• United Nations Documentation Treaties Research
  Guide

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•  
• Locating treaties in print
• If you have a citation, process is similar to
  finding cases or articles
• If you dont have a citation, check the online
  catalog for subject-oriented publication
•  

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• 2 - Customary international law
•  Definitions
• Under ICJ Statute Article 38(1)(b), customary
  international law is defined as a general
  practice accepted as law
• Restatement of the Law, Foreign Relations Law of
  the United States sec. 102(2) reads Customary
  international law results from a general and
  consistent practice of states followed by them
  from a sense of legal obligation.
• The IBA says International customary legal
  obligation binding upon states are thus created
  when there is evidence of both settled practice
  and a belief that this practice is rendered
  obligatory
•  

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• Customary international law
• To establish existence of a custom
• demonstrate repeated state practice (objective),
  and
• find evidence that states have a sense of legal
  obligation (subjective)
• For a good explanation of customary law, visit
  the ICRCs web site.

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Finding documentary evidence

• 1. Countrys foreign relations and diplomatic
  practices
• 2. Countrys international obligations
  (national legislation)
• 3. Resolutions, declarations, and legislative
  acts of the UN or other intergovernmental
  organization.

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Finding documentary evidence
1.
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• Strategies for locating foreign relations and
  diplomatic practices for U.S.
• Example American Foreign Policy Basic Documents
• Digest of United States Practice in
  International Law
• Search online catalog -- in a subject search
• (su) foreign relations United States
  sources
• (su) international relations United States
  sources
• Search the Internet at Diplomacy Monitor Database

1.
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Finding documentary evidence
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Finding documentary evidence
1.
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• Strategies for locating foreign relations and
  diplomatic practices
• Example British and Foreign State Papers
• British Digest of International Law
• Search online catalog --
• (su) foreign relations country sources
• (su)international relations country
  sources
• (ti)digest (su)country
• (su) international law country
• Search the Internet at Diplomacy Monitor Database

1.
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Finding documentary evidence
2.
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Strategies for locating yearbooks
2.
Yearbooks contain summaries of current state
practice. Examples Australian Yearbook of
International Law African Yearbook of
International Law Search online catalog or
WorldCat (ti) (yearbook or year book)
country (su) international law yearbooks
country Search IndexMaster In kw search
country name
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Finding documentary evidence
3.
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Declarations and resolutions
3.

• Adopted by UN and other international
  organizations.
• Not legally binding but establish broadly
  recognized standards.
• EXAMPLES
• 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (GA
  declaration)
• 1981 GA Declaration on Religious Intolerance

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Strategies for locating resolutions, declarations
3a.

• Both GA and SC Resolutions
• Official Document System of the United Nations
• UNBISNET
• Access UN
• GA Resolutions NOT legally binding
• General Assembly Resolutions
• U.N. Documentation GA Research Guide
• SC Resolutions Binding on members
• Security Council Resolutions

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Strategies for locating resolutions, declarations
3b.

• State reports submitted to regional human rights
  commissions
• Search the University of Minnesotas Human Rights
  Library
• EISILs Electronic Information System for
  International Law.

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Finding documentary evidence
4.
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Strategies for locating national legislation
4a.

• Search Westlaw or LexisNexis
• Search the Internet for countrys legislation.
• Foreign Law Guide
• Aleph online
• Aleph print -- K38 .R49 1989
• Government Gazettes Online
• Global Legal Information Network
• continued

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Strategies for locating national legislation
4b.

• Search the Aleph or WorldCat for statutory
  compilations of individual countries
• In (SU) search session laws AND country
• OR
• In (SU) search gazettes AND country

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• For a good explanation of customary law, visit
  the ICRCs web site.

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• 3 - General principles of law
• When treaties or customary law do not provide
  sufficient basis for a decision, Courts will look
  to other sources.  
• IBA defines a general principle of law as a
  legal proposition so fundamental that it can be
  found in all major legal systems throughout the
  world.
• No authoritative collection of general principles

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Information on major legal systems

• Legal systems in general
• University of Ottawa World Legal Systems
• Law Library Exchange (LLRX) Comparative and
  Foregin Law Guides
• Foreign Law handout
• Legal Systems of the World K48.L44 2002
• For specific countries
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
• Hein Online
• Online Catalog
• Foreign Law handout

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• 4 - Judicial decisions from international
  courts
• For decisions of international human rights
  tribunals,
• 1. Check out the Pathfinder page
• 2. Also look at World Court Digest (in print
  and online)

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• 4 - Judicial decisions from international
  courts
• For decisions of individual countries on human
  rights
• International Law Reports KZ 199.I58
• Online catalog for collection of court reports
• Electronic resources
• Westlaw or Lexis
• Supreme Court Decisions around the World
• Commonwealth And International Human Rights Case
  Law Databases

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• 5 - Writings of legal scholars
• Look in secondary sources for the writings of
  legal scholars.

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Sources Consulted

• Guide to International Legal Research (2004) K85
  G84 2004
• Kent McKeever. Researching Public International
  Law. Last updated June 2003.