Research Guides: International Human Rights Advocacy Research: Thormodsgard Law Library

United Nations Universal Periodic Review

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

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/

Treaties

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

Legal Framework Resources

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/

NGOs

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

Newspapers/Media

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.)

Books

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.