To find additional sources through the ASU Library catalog, try using a subject heading such as: International Law and Human Rights.
Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights (Binder et al. eds., 2022)
This encyclopedia contains over 340 entries on topics including substantive human rights, relevant legal institutions, and procedural issues of international law.
International Human Rights Law and Practice (Ilias Bantekas and Lutz Oette, 2020)
This print treatise introduces the frameworks of establishing human rights through the United Nations and regional systems, and it details the obligations of non-state actors such as multinational corporations. It discusses the enforcement, development, and challenges of civil rights, cultural rights, self determination of minorities and indigenous peoples, women’s rights, sustainable development, armed conflicts, and international criminal justice.
The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (access restricted to Law affiliates)
The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law is an Oxford Public International Law publication. It has detailed descriptions of hundreds of public international law topics.
Introduction to Human Rights Research - CALI lesson
This CALI lesson provides an introductory lesson for international human rights law and research.
United Nations Guide to Human Rights Research
This United Nations webpage provides an overview of human rights bodies and resources within the United Nations and links to a variety of useful research tools.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights was established in 1993. The website of the High Commissioner links to news, press releases, and other sources for current information on activities related to human rights within the United Nations.
Human Rights Council
The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. The Council conducts universal periodic reviews of all U.N. member states and has human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights issues from a thematic or country-specific perspective.
Human Rights Treaty Bodies
Human rights treaty bodies are committees of experts charged with monitoring the implementation of the United Nations human rights treaties, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each committee has its own website. [Delete the bulleted list that is currently under Human Rights Treaty Bodies.
Human Rights Treaty Bodies Jurisprudence
This is a database of jurisprudence from United Nations Treaty Bodies stemming from complaints from individuals.
United Nations Universal Human Rights Index
The Universal Human Rights Index facilitates access to human rights recommendations issued by United Nations Treaty Bodies, the Special Procedures, and the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council. The Index enables users to produce overviews of recommendations by country, by Sustainable Development Goals, or by Human Rights Voluntary Goals, as well as to perform both basic and advanced searches.
United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library
The Dag Hammarskjöld Library provides research and informational support to the Member States at the United Nations. The Library’s digital collection includes UN documents, key UN publications series, and landmark collections, such as the Index to Proceedings (ITPs), and Oral History interviews.
United Nations Treaty Body Database
For the human rights treaties monitored by a treaty body, the database contains the text of the treaty, ratification and reservation tables, and all documents relating to the implementation of the treaty.
African Human Rights System
This research guide gathers information, decisions, and reports from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Court on Human Peoples’ Rights, and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Gathers reports and information concerning a body that promotes human rights and interprets the African charter.
African Human Rights Case Law Analyser
Highlights the interrelationships between various African human rights legal instruments and case decisions.
Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
This resource offers news, publications, and academic programs to advance human rights.
The European Human Rights System
This GlobaLex research guide covers the Council of Europe’s regulation of human rights.
European Court of Human Rights
The Court’s website has judgment and decisions of the Court, searchable by many different criteria, including keyword.
European Court of Human Rights Decisions
Part of the World Legal Information Institute, decisions may be searched or browsed by date or case name.
Lexis: European Court of Human Rights Cases (Lexis password required)
Lexis provides cases dating to 1960.
European Court of Human Rights Country Profiles
The Court provides profiles each member country that describes that country’s noteworthy cases.
European Court of Human Rights Fact Sheets
The Court has compiled fact sheets on various topics discussing noteworthy cases.
HeinOnline: European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) (available on campus or remotely with ASURITE)
The ECMI conducts practice-oriented research, provides information and documentation, and offers advisory services concerning minority-majority relations in Europe. This library contains several publications of the ECMI, including ECMI Reports and Working Papers.
The Inter-American System of Human Rights: A Research Guide
This GobaLex research guide details the historical development of human rights provisions and their modern applications.
Inter-American Commission of Human Rights Web Site
The Commission hears petitions alleging human rights violations by OAS member states.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights Web Site
The Court’s decisions can be accessed on this web site.
Inter-American Court of Human Rights Project at Loyola Law School
Publishes summaries of cases decided by the Inter-American Court.
Westlaw: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decisions (Westlaw password required)
Gathers recent reports by the commission organized by subject and region.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international organization that works toward the advancement of human rights globally, lobbying governments and other powerful groups to ensure they keep promises and abide by international law. The group's website provides information on its activities, including investigations, campaigns, and communications.
Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research
This service from Columbia University gathers secondary sources and archives websites concerning international human rights.
Child Rights International Network
Gathers statistics, research reports, case studies, and commentary to promote children's rights.
Death Penalty Worldwide
Gathers data and commentary on countries still imposing capital punishment on criminals.
Freedom House
Monitors personal liberties around the globe and advocates for particular measures to promote freedom internationally.
GlobaLex Research Guides
GlobaLex is a resource from the NYU School of Law that is dedicated to international and foreign law research. Multiple GlobaLex research guides offer information on international human rights topics:
Human Rights U.S. State Department
This federal agency promotes American national security while promoting individual liberties similar to those guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an advocacy organization that seeks to track human rights abuse worldwide and bring perpetrators to justice.
University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
This online library has a large collection of treaties, decisions, and other human rights documents.
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online)
CIAO is a searchable database of working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals, and policy briefs. Coverage is from 1991-present.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar allows searching of multidisciplinary scholarly literature including articles, papers, theses, books, abstracts, and reports from a wide variety of resources such as journals, preprint repositories, and the web.
HeinOnline - International & Non-U.S. Law Journals (available on campus or remotely with
This HeinOnline database contains approximately 200 law journals published outside of the United States. The articles are full-text searchable.
HeinOnline: International Commission of Jurists Library (ICJ)
The International Commission of Jurists promotes and protects human rights through the rule of law. Created in 1952, the ICJ aims to ensure the progressive development and effective implementation of international human rights and international humanitarian law. It also works to secure the realization of civil, cultural, economic, political, and social rights, as well as strives to safeguard the separation of powers and guarantee the independence of the judiciary and legal profession.
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (available on campus or remotely with ASUIRTE)
The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals indexes legal journals published worldwide, with a focus on international, comparative, and foreign law journals. Coverage is from 1985 to the present. This is not a full-text database. Articles are searchable by subject heading and words in the title. To obtain an article not available in this database, contact the law library.
PAIS Index
PAIS is an index to articles, government and nongovernmental reports, and other resources dealing with international relations, law, government, and related social science disciplines. Coverage is from 1972-present.
Westlaw (Westlaw password required) and Lexis (Lexis password required)
These resources include many law journals published in the United States. When researching an international law topic, however, you may also be interested in journals published in other countries. The databases below have articles published elsewhere.