Duncan Alford
Last updated November 19, 2003

While many of these resources are free, others are fee-based. Some are available from the Princeton University Library’s Articles and Databases page page.  Some of these databases will be available to you off-campus, while others are limited to IP addresses at Princeton.  To access the databases off-campus, you should set up a proxy server.  More instructions are available at: http://libweb.princeton.edu/services/computing.php  Also, there are paper alternatives to many of these resources. 

This session covers only a selective list of available resources. For more information, see the reference librarians at Stokes Library or the Social Science Reference Center in Firestone Library. 

MAIN CATALOG

I. COUNTRY INFORMATION

1. Europa World Yearbook
Call number: JN1 .E85 Current vol. in General and Humanities Reference (DR) 
Electronic version (current version only) -- available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page  http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp

2. EIU Country Profiles and Reports - available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page  http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp
Select a region from the left hand side and then a country from the alphabetical list.

3. Reynolds and Flores, Foreign Law Guide  - available online from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page  http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp
This research guide leads to the basic primary sources of law for many nations of the world.  For each nation the authors include a brief  introductory essay describing the legal history and legal system of the particular nation.  

4. Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org/).

5. Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/).

6. U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/).

7. Freedom in the World (2003) 
Call number: JC571 .xG3 Social Science Reference Center Ready Reference. 
Web version at http://www.freedomhouse.org/research/freeworld/2003/countries.htm
Published annually since 1978 by Freedom House, Freedom in the World is an annual comparative assessment of the state of political rights and civil liberties in 182 countries and 18 related and disputed territories.

8. For the Record: The UN Human Rights System (http://www.hri.ca/fortherecord2001/ftrchoice.html).

9. Human and Constitutional Rights Web Site at the Columbia Law School (http://www.hrcr.org/).

10. Harvard Law School Library’s Foreign and International Law Resources: An Annotated Guide to Web Sites around the World (http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/ref/ils_ref/annotated/index.htm).

11. CIA World Factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html)

12. Newspaper databases such as LexisNexis Academic, Factiva and Newsbank Full-text Newspapers – all available from the Articles and Databases page page. 
 

II. UNITED NATIONS DOCUMENTS

1. United Nations Collection at Princeton University Library
http://www.princeton.edu/~sbwhite/un/generalun.html
A brief guide to the UN materials own by the Princeton University Library.  Princeton  is a UN depository library.

2. UNBISNET (http://unbisnet.un.org/), catalog of the Dag Hammarskjold Library, and the UN Document Index: UNIQUE (http://lib-unique.un.org/lib/unique.nsf) 

3. Access UN – available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp
Commercial index to UN documents since 1945.

4. UN Documents Fulltext - ODS – Optical Document Storage System (full-text UN documents since 1991)  -- available at the Article Indexes and Research Databases page http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp.

5. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.unhchr.ch).

6. United Nations Home Page (www.un.org).

7. Yearbook of the United Nations 
Call no. JX1977.A37 Y4 Stokes (last five years) General and Humanities Ready Reference DR (current year); UN collection (1946-47 through 2001).
A key reference work on the activities of the United Nations.

8. United Nations Human Rights Organizational Structure (http://www.unhchr.ch/hrostr.htm)

9. UN Documentation Research Guide (http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/) and Special Topic: Human Rights (http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/spechr.htm).

10. The United Nations: Research Guide (via the Columbia University Law Library’s International Law Page at http://library.law.columbia.edu/intlaw.html or http://library.law.columbia.edu/un/).
 

III. TREATIES

1. University of Minnesota Human Rights Library (http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/treaties.htm).

2. US Treaties in Force (Social Science Center Ready Reference, JX236 .1929c or at http://www.state.gov/s/l/24224.htm .
A listing of treaties ratified by the U.S. and currently in force.

3. Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General (UN Collection, Firestone Call number V)  or online via the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp  (under UN Treaty Database).

4. Princeton University Treaty Research Guide http://www.princeton.edu/~law/treatyguide.html

5. Council of Europe - intergovernmental organization of 45 European nations based in Strasbourg, France

• European Court of Human Rights  http://www.echr.coe.int/ 
• Council of Europe Treaties (European Treaty Series)  http://conventions.coe.int/Default.asp 
• Venice Commission  http://www.venice.coe.int/site/interface/english.htm

IV. ARTICLES DEALING WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

1. Legaltrac -- available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp.
Citations and some full-text of articles from law reviews and legal newspapers; includes UK, Canadian and Australian journals; electronic version covers articles from 1980 forward.

2. Index to Legal Periodicals -- available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp.
Citations to articles from U.S. law reviews; electronic version covers articles since mid 1970’s; print version since circa 1900 available in SSRC.

3. Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals -- available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp.
Citations to articles from U.S. law reviews focusing on international law and selected foreign law journals since 1985.  The print version began in 1960.

See this chart comparing the above three indexes of  law journal articles:
http://www.princeton.edu/~law/lawindex.htm

4. Hein Online (historical law reviews) via the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp
Selected U.S. law reviews focusing on historical coverage from the first volume.  PDF versions.

5. Public Affairs Information Services (PAIS) – available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp.
This database based on the social science holdings of the New York Public Library provides citations to articles, books, reports, and selected government documents on public and foreign policy issues from 1972 forward.  A comprehensive index to policy literature. The print version of PAIS goes back to 1915, and is located in the Social Science Reference Center, Index Shelves under call number 0487.739.

6. Historical Abstracts and the companion database America: History and Life available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp
Index of journal articles on world history, excluding the U.S. and Canada, from 1450 to the present.  Covers more than 2100 journals in 40 languages from 1954 forward. 

7. Philosopher’s Index -- available from the Article Indexes and Research Databases page at http://libweb5.princeton.edu/databases/browse_zdb.asp
Index of articles from philosophy journals since 1940.

8. Full-text research using Westlaw Campus (Journals and Law Reviews database) and LexisNexis Academic (Legal Research / Law Reviews database).
 

V. LEGAL DATABASES  (full-text)
Available from the Articles Indexes and Research Databases page

1. Westlaw Campus
This database is the academic version of the legal database used by attorneys in law practice.  The academic version has little international law content.  Useful databases:

• Journals and Law Reviews   (full text since early 1990's generally but varies by journal)
• American Jurisprudence 2d (legal encyclopedia)

• Legal News   (full text)
• Law Reviews (full text since early 1990's generally but varies by journal)
• EU Law (CELEX) – European Union laws, treaties and cases
• Commonwealth and Foreign Nations – case law from selected foreign nations and International Legal Materials, a compilation of international cases, foreign statutes and treaties.

VI. HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DEALING WITH PARTICULAR SUBJECTS OR COUNTRIES

1. Official Web Site Locator for the UN (http://www.unsystem.org/).

2. International Organizations Directory via Northwestern University Library (http://www.library.nwu.edu/govpub/resource/internat/igo.html).

3. Human Rights Internet (http://www.hri.ca).  Documentation and Education pages include full-text of reports.

4. Internet search engines: Google (http://www.google.com), Hotbot (http://hotbot.lycos.com), and Altavista (http://www.altavista.com).
 

VII. OTHER RESEARCH GUIDES

American Society of International Law
Electronic Information System for International Law (EISIL)
http://www.eisil.org/
Includes a section on International Human Rights

Georgetown University Law Library, Human Rights Research Guide
http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/intl/guides/humanrights/index.html

Princeton University, Legal Research Guide
http://www.princeton.edu/~law/lawguide.html

VIII. STYLE MANUALS / CITATION GUIDES

Uniform System of Legal Citation, 17th Edition (the BlueBook)
Firestone Library, SSRC, Ready Reference  K50 .xU64
Stokes Library, Reference K50 .xU64

Basic Legal Citation, Cornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/

Style Manuals
http://www.princeton.edu/~pressman/genref.htm#style
(Courtesy of Nancy Pressman Levy, General and Humanities Reference Librarian)

Last updated November 19, 2003