International Human Rights Advocacy Research: Thormodsgard Law Library

United Nations: http://www.un.org/en/index.html 

• United Nations Human Rights Treaty Collection: https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=4&subid=A&lang=en

United Nations Human Rights Council: http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/hrc/pages/hrcindex.aspx

Universal Periodic Review (UPR): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRMain.asp

Universal Periodic Review Documentation: 

Documentation by country: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/Documentation.aspx

• National Report
• Compilation of UN Information
• Summary of stakeholders' information
• Questions submitted in advance
• Addendums
• Outcome of the review

UPR Midterm Reports: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRImplementation.aspx

• The Midterm Reports are optional reports submitted by member states. Approximately 60 states have submitted them on a voluntary basis. The Midterm Reports might indicate whether or not a state has made progress on issues your NGO is concerned with.

Finding Documents

• A Brief Guide to Finding Human Rights Documents: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Library/Pages/FindingUNHumanRights.aspx
• Universal Human Rights Index of United Nations Documents: http://uhri.ohchr.org/
• Human Rights Charter-based Bodies Database: http://ap.ohchr.org/Documents/gmainec.aspx
• Human Rights Treaty-based Bodies Database: http://ap.ohchr.org/Documents/gmainec.aspx

Universal Periodic Review Background Information

Basic Facts About the UPR

• Creation of the UPR along with the Human Rights Council: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/502/66/PDF/N0550266.pdf?OpenElement 
• Institution-building of the UN Human Rights Council: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/HRC/resolutions/A_HRC_RES_5_1.doc 
• Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (for NGOs): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx
• Technical Guidelines for the Submission of Stakeholders: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/TechnicalGuideEN.pdf  

Universal Periodic Review Background Documents: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/BackgroundDocuments.aspx

NGOs and NHRIs

• On-line UPR Submissions Registration System: https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/Account/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f
• Guidelines for the Use of the On-Line UPR Submission Registration: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/UPR/How-to-GuideUPR_Online_Registration_System.doc
• Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (for NGOs): http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/Welcomepage.aspx 
• Technical Guidelines for the Submission of Stakeholders: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/TechnicalGuideEN.pdf
• Sample UPR Submission from NGO Article 19: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nimmbbygwegniog/ARTICLE-19-Submission-to-UPR-of-Tanzania.pdf?dl=0

Research Guides are a collection of useful resources put together by librarians or other knowledgeable parties. The research guides below might be of particular use if you are doing International Human Rights research or are looking for information about the legal frameworks of specific countries and how to find the law of those countries.

Human Rights Research Guides

• International Human Rights – Electronic Information for International Law by The American Society of International Law (ASIL): http://www.eisil.org/index.php?sid=710589089&t=sub_pages&cat=185 
• UN Documentation: Human Rights: http://research.un.org/en/docs/humanrights
• Human Rights Law Research Guide: http://guides.ll.georgetown.edu/humanrightslaw
• International Human Rights: http://libguides.law.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=326748&p=2192986 
• Peace Palace Library Research Guides: Human Rights: http://www.peacepalacelibrary.nl/research-guides/individuals-and-groups/human-rights/
• GlobaLex: http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Human_Rights1.html  

Specific Countries Research Guides

• Law Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations.php
• World Legal Information Institute (WLII): http://www.worldlii.org/
• GlobaLex (click on Foreign Law Research): http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/

Treaty Documents and Treaty Ratification and Reservations

Treaties By Country

• Universal Human Rights Index Database: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/Pages/UniversalHumanRightsIndexDatabase.aspx 
• Status of Treaty Ratification Interactive Dashboard (visual): http://indicators.ohchr.org/ 
• Human Rights by Country: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx

General Collections of Treaties 

• Core International Human Rights Instruments: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CoreInstruments.aspx 
• UN Treaty Collection (UN Website): https://treaties.un.org/Pages/Treaties.aspx?id=4&subid=A&lang=en 

Country Guides

• Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations.php 
• World Legal Information Institute: http://www.worldlii.org/  
• GlobaLex (click on Foreign Law Research): http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/

• Look at prior Universal Periodical Review (UPR) Documents
• Consultive Status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC): http://csonet.org/ 
• World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations: http://www.wango.org/ [see directory on left side]
• Idealist.org: http://www.idealist.org/search/v2/advanced 
• NGO Guide (Duke): http://library.duke.edu/research/subject/guides/ngo_guide/ngo_database 
• UN NGO Documents: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/sdpage_e.aspx?b=10&se=168&t=7
  • Citation: 
  • A/HRC/[insert session]/NGO/[insert number]
  • Example: A/HRC/30/NGO/14

• Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/lists.html
• Google News: https://news.google.com/news/advanced_news_search?as_drrb=a 
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_newspapers 
• Online Newspapers: http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/ 
• Newspaper Index: http://www.newspaperindex.com/ 
• Crowdsourcing/Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

Here are the main library catalogs. If you have a very narrow issue or topic and your state is not very big you may want to start by looking for books in Worldcat.

• Worldcat: http://www.worldcat.org/ 
• Chester Fritz Library: https://library.und.edu/ 
• Thormodsgard Law Library: https://law.und.edu/library/ 

HeinOnline: Law Journal Library
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/
Index to Foreign Legal Periodical on HeinOnline

Interdisciplinary Databases

• EBSCO Research Databases
• Ethnic NewsWatch
• ​Expanded Academic ASAP
• JSTOR
• ​Project MUSE