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Topic Research Guides: Human Rights - International

Research Resources and Guides For Law Topics

Books

General International human rights texts are shelved at 341.48.

Search the library catalogue for international human rights.

Texts concerning international human rights organisations are shelved at 341.2

Search the library catalogue for international human rights organisations.

Subject terms to search in the catalogue include international human rights law, human rights, human rights law, human rights UN and human rights treaties.

For research resources and guides relating specifically to human rights in Australia, refer to the Human Rights - Australia subject guide.

Key titles include:

Commentary

CCH Commentary – Practice Area: Discrimination law (CCH iKnowConnect)

European Human Rights System - GlobaLex

Halsbury’s Laws of Australia – Title 80 – Civil and Political Rights (Lexis Advance)

The Laws of Australia – Title 21 – Human Rights (Westlaw Australia)

Lawyers Practice Manual WA : Part 10- Human rights and anti-discrimination Legislation (Westlaw Australia)

Universal Periodic Review (UN Human Rights Council)

Journals

Key journals:

Full text Journals:

Key articles:

  • Hafner-Burton, E. M., Tsutsui, K., & Meyer, J. W. (2008). International human rights law and the politics of legitimation: Repressive states and human rights treaties. International Sociology, 23(1), 115-141. https://doi.org/10.1177/0268580907084388
  • Buergenthal, T. (2006). The evolving international human rights system. The American Journal of International Law, 100(4), 783-807. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0002930000031894
  • Meron, T. (1986). On a hierarchy of international human rights. The American Journal of International Law, 80(1), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.2307/2202481
  • Baek, B. (2018). Partially right, partially wrong: Rethinking the implementation of international human rights law in countries with gross human rights violations: International human rights law. Pacific Focus, 33(2), 352-375. https://doi.org/10.1111/pafo.12122
  • Lorca, A. B. (2017). Human rights in international law? The forgotten origins of human rights in Latin America. The University of Toronto Law Journal, 67(4), 465-495. https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj.67.8
  • Hearty, K. (2018). 'Victims of' human rights abuses in transitional justice: Hierarchies, perpetrators and the struggle for peace. The International Journal of Human Rights, 22(7), 888-909. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2018.1485656

Databases & Websites

AustLII

Human Rights Law Library 

BaiLII

European Court of Human Rights

Bayefsky.com

HeinOnline

Civil Rights and Social Justice Database

Foreign & International Law Resources Database (Part VII: International Human Rights Law Institute)

Category: International Treaties and Agreements 

Lexis Advance

Legal topic: Human Rights & Civil Liberties

Westlaw Australia

Practice area: Human Rights

WorldLII

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Legislation

Legislation that applies to international human rights include:

There is also legislation specific to each state party in place that aim to put the obligations of these treaties into effect domestically:

Australian Treaties Library / AustLII

Search for Commonwealth legislation at Federal Register of Legislation
Search for Western Australian legislation at Western Australian Legislation
 

Use Legify to find authoritative versions of legislation.

LawNow Legislation from Lexis Advance – drill down to a section and click the “>>” to find related commentary or cases.
Parliament of Australia Bills Digest – bills, links to EM (explanatory memoranda) and Hansard (second reading speeches).
Parliament of Western Australia Hansard – links to EM (explanatory memoranda) and Hansard (second reading speeches).

International human rights law exists in the form of treaties.
Key treaties that apply to international human rights are:

A full list of the United Nations Treaties can be found on the United Nations Treaty Collection.

Case Law

International Criminal Court (ICC) cases

International Court of Justice (ICJ) cases

Human Rights Case Law / WorldLII

Instructions for How to Source a Case

Australian Case Law:

  • CaseBase from Lexis Advance - a citation and abstract service to Australian case law, links to some full text. Includes Australian Defamation Law and Practice.
  • Westlaw Australia: Content Type: Cases- a subject index and citator for Australian case law, links to some full text.
  • CCH iKnowConnect - provides access to full-text of the CCH services subscribed to by Murdoch University Library.
  • AustLII - free full text access to Australian medium neutral citation versions and unreported judgments.
  • LawCite - a free, automatically generated Australian and international legal case and journal article citator.
  • Jade - free database and current awareness service of Australian case law.