human rights

Researching the Right to Housing

Online guide to resources on housing rights written by S M Atia Naznin who is a lecturer at the School of Law, BRAC University, in Bangladesh. The guide was published in 2018 (and updated in 2024) on the Globalex website and made freely available by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law. The author provides an introduction and links to relevant sections of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights along with other related international and regional  instruments.

International Humanitarian Law

Online guide to international humanitarian legal resources written by Thamil Venthan Ananthavimayagan who is a lecturer in international law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law at Griffith College, Dublin. The guide was published in 2018 (and updated in 2025) on the Globalex website and made freely available by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law.

Arab Center for the Rule of Law and Integrity (ACRLI)

ACRLI is a non-governmental organization that was set up by a group of professional lawyers, judges and academics from Arab countries. It seeks to promote good governance and the rule of law in the Arab world. The Center holds events, carries out projects and publishes studies and reports. The ACRLI website provides a subscription-based database of legislation from 18 Arab jurisdictions, together with selected court decisions and references to books, journal articles and websites.

ELSA Law Review

The ELSA Law Review is a peer-reviewed journal edited by law students and published by the European Law Students’ Association (ELSA). First established in 1989, the journal ran till 1996 and was revived in 2015. It is available online free of charge, or in printed format by subscription. The main focus of the journal is on human rights law in an international context, but it also covers other legal topics.

Ask Dag

Ask DAG provides answers to hundreds of frequently-asked questions about the United Nations. The answers are compiled by the staff of the UN’s Dag Hammarskjőld Library. Ask DAG groups questions and answers into these categories: UN Facts, General Assembly, Security Council, Human Rights, Library. It is searchable, or it can be browsed by subject and/or language (English, French and Spanish). There is also a live chat facility.

United Nations Population Fund

The United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, is the UN agency responsible for advancing sexual and reproductive health. It also focuses on issues such as child marriage, female genital mutilation and gender-based violence. The Fund’s website describes its work and makes available reports, briefings, guidance, statistical data, news and other material. The site is provided in English, Spanish or French.

Te Tai Haruru: Journal of Māori Legal Writing

Online version of the Journal of Māori Legal Writing (Te Tai Haruru), which is written by staff at the Te Tai Haruru research group at the University of Auckland. The research group focuses on research and teaching relating to Māori legal issues. Articles published in the journal have covered topics such as indigenous peoples’ rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, cultural and  intellectual property rights and comparative indigenous issues. 

Researching the Human Right to Water with an Annotated Bibliography

Online research guide focusing on the right to water written by Jootaek Lee who is assistant professor and librarian at Rutgers Law School (Newark). The guide was published in 2019 (and updated in 2023) on the Globalex Website and made freely available by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law. The author gives an introduction to the right to water and to the human rights principles and standards that this right originates from.

The World’s Abortion Laws

Continually-updated interactive map of global abortion laws, produced by the Center for Reproductive Rights, a non-profit legal advocacy organisation based in the United States. The map is colour-coded to show how restrictive or liberal each jurisdiction’s abortion regime is, and further details are available when users click on a country. The ‘In Focus’ feature provides the text of abortion provisions for 56 key jurisdictions. The map is downloadabe in pdf format. The interactive version has a search facility and a country comparison tool.

UN Women's Family Law Database

This database maps laws from around the world relating to women’s status in the family and society. Launched in July 2018, it is under development by the Global Women's Leadership Project (GWLP) at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, in association with UN Women. In its first phase the database covers the laws of African, European and Latin American jurisdictions as well as Israel, India and Pakistan; work is continuing on Middle Eastern jurisdictions.

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