human rights

Index on Censorship

Index on Censorship is a bi-monthly magazine for free speech covering free expression and censorship issues from around the world. The site provides news updates and selected articles from the magazine made freely available online. There are also links to related blogs and a link to the Index on Censorship page on the Taylor and Francis website which provides subscription information.

United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)

The United Nations Office at Geneva is the largest and most active centre for multilateral conference diplomacy in the world. The main areas of its expertise are disarmament, human rights, humanitarian affairs and trade and economic activities. The site contains links to speeches by the Director-General and a searchable list of press releases, which are available in full-text in HTML and PDF formats. There are also links to the UNOG Library. A further feature of the site is an archive of documents which contains the full-text of key documents such as the UN charter.

Den norske Helsingforskomite

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee is a member of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and works to promote democracy and human rights within Europe. Its primary activites include the monitoring of parliamentary elections within the OSCE (Office for Security of Central Europe). The website includes the full-text of the Helsinki Committee's reports on parliamentary elections since 1995. These include reports from Albania, Romania, the former Yugoslavia and nations of the former Soviet Union. The text is available in Norwegian or English.

OutRight Action International

Founded in1990 to fill the gap between the international human rights movement and the gay rights movement, OutRight Action International (previously the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission) aims to advance the fundamental human rights of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people and people with HIV/AIDS. It combines traditional human rights techniques such as monitoring, documenting, advocating and public policy development with grassroots organising and supporting groups in developing countries.

Center For World Indigenous Studies

The Center for World Indigenous Studies (CWIS) is an independent, non-profit research and education organisation dedicated to wider understanding and appreciation of the ideas and knowledge of indigenous peoples and the social, economic and political situation of indigenous nations. The Center is active in areas of international law, health policy and public debate. The website provides information about CWIS activities, which include research, seminars, courses and fellowships.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations which seeks to promote employment rights, human rights and social justice. The website gives details of the ILO's history, structure and work programmes. It provides numerous free databases of labour-related information and documentation, including national labour laws, international labour standards, treaty information, statistics and a bibliography compiled by the ILO Library.

UNHCR: the UN Refugee Agency

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was created by the UN General Assembly in 1951. The site offers background information about the work of the UNHCR which includes advocacy, capacity building, fund raising and global needs assessment. There is a section dealing with the groups of people the UNHCR works with including children, women, elderly, disabled and asylem seekers and information on the areas of the world where the UNHRC operates. There are legal documents, statistics and global reports.

Multilaterals Project

The Multilaterals Project, begun in 1992, is based at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA. It makes available the texts of international multilateral conventions and other instruments. The collection covers agreements in the fields of environmental law, human rights, commerce, war, arms control and other areas. Although the vast majority of texts date from the second half of the twentieth century, the site also provides historical texts, from the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia to the Covenant of the League of Nations.

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