International Law - Human Rights
Fall 2003
Prepared by Emily Keeler, Teaching Assistant (Master of International Studies Program)
Updated by Ekaterina Barachkova, Teaching Assistant (Master of International Studies Program)
Human Rights Web Sites
African Human Rights Resource Center
Offers information on International human rights instruments, African related links, origin of African unity, African Commission on Human and People's Rights, human rights committees, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, NGOs in Sub-Saharan Africa, economic, social, and cultural rights, and on the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies.
Amnesty International campaigns to free all prisoners of conscience; ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners; abolish the death penalty, torture and other cruel treatment of prisoners; end political killings and "disappearances"; and oppose human rights abuses by opposition groups. Amnesty International is impartial and independent of any government, political persuasion or religious creed.
The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA)
The HRA was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel.
Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University
Established in 1978, the Center for the Study of Human Rights is one of the oldest University-based human rights institutions. Committed to the education and training of emerging human rights leaders, the Center has pioneered the promotion of human rights research, education, and training at Columbia University and distinguished itself through its interdisciplinary approach to human rights.
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
This site is the primary NGO provider of online information about the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court (ICC) will be a permanent court for trying individuals accused of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Following the Rome Statute of the ICC entry into force on 1 July 2002, the Court is expected to be fully functional by mid-2003.
Derechos was born as an internet-based organization, with the aim of fully utilizing this new communication technology to aid the work of human rights activists, and inform journalists, public and international officials and the general public about human rights all over the world. Derechos works with national and international human rights organizations and activists all over the world, though their current focus is Latin America.
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR)
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights was founded in 1985 as one of the oldest and premier non-governmental organization working for the support and defense of human rights in Egypt. EOHR is guided by the principles established in Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other international human rights instruments.
European Court of Human Rights
This website contains information about historical background of the European Court of Human Rights, its organization and procedure, pending cases and press releases of the Court Registrar.
This organization rates countries on the degree to which they are democratic and observe basic civil and political rights.
Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. Site includes news and information on economic and human rights.
Human Rights and Constitutional Rights (HRCR)
This site offers information on hot topics, country reports, international links, national links, regional links, documents and web resources.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission of Australia
The Commission plays a central role in contributing to the maintenance and improvement of a tolerant, equitable and democratic society, through its public awareness and other educational programs aimed at the community, government and business sectors. These programs provide information and strategies to improve the enjoyment of human rights in Australia, the key message being that the elimination of discrimination and harassment are prerequisites for the enjoyment of human rights by all Australians. In addition, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner has specific functions under the HREOC Act and under the Native Title Act,1993. These functions relate to the monitoring of the enjoyment or otherwise by Indigenous people of their rights under the law.
The Human Rights Brief is a publication of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Washington College of Law. The Human Rights Brief reports about developments in international human rights and humanitarian law, as well as provides concise legal analysis of current human rights issues.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, envisions and works towards an America where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
Human Rights Education Associates (HREA)
Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) is an international non-governmental organisation that supports human rights learning; the training of activists and professionals; the development of educational materials and programming; and community-building through on-line technologies. HREA is dedicated to quality education and training to promote understanding, attitudes and actions to protect human rights, and to foster the development of peaceable, free and just communities.
Since 1978, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights has supported human rights activists, protected refugees from persecution and repression, promoted fair economic practices by creating safeguards for workers' rights, and helped build a strong international system of justice and accountability for the worst human rights crimes.
Human Rights for Workers focuses on how globalization affects working men and women and on how it creates the need to incorporate the human rights of workers into global rules at the national, regional, and international levels through governmental, quasi-governmental, private business, labor union, and other non-governmental channels.
Human Rights Interactive Network
Human Rights Interactive Network is dedicated to insuring respect for human rights worldwide. It produces the Internet Guide to Human Rights, Globalization and Humanitarian Relief. The objective of this website is to provide introductory information about human rights and its related areas, including international development, disaster relief, consumer awareness, socially responsible investing and international law. The site also includes comprehensive links to organizations, government agencies and academic institutions throughout the world.
HRI seeks to empower and educate human rights activists and organizations on HR issues through facilitating the application of new technology, producing and providing access to HR databases and resources, disseminating HR research results, fostering networking and cooperation among NGOs and other civil society organizations, and assisting these organizations through technical assistance, training, and educational programs.
The Human Rights Resource Center is an integral part of the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center and works in partnership with the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library to create and distribute human rights education (HRE) resources via electronic and print media,
train activists, professionals, and students as human rights educators and build advocacy networks to encourage effective practices in human rights education.
An independent, nongovernmental organization which seeks to investigate and expose human rights violations, challenge governments to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law, enlist public support, and stand with victims and activists. Includes links categorized by subject and country.
Web site includes information on the definition of human rights, human rights emergencies, human rights legal and political documents, human rights resources, and how to get involved personally to promote human rights.
Independent Student Coalition for the International Criminal Court
The Independent Student Coalition for the International Criminal Court (ISC-ICC) is the only nationwide student grassroots organization in the United States working solely to promote the International Criminal Court (ICC). They are comprised entirely of undergraduate, graduate, and law students from U.S. colleges and universities. The primary functions of the ISC-ICC are to raise American public awareness of the ICC through academia and scholarship, to dispel myths about the court circulated by its critics, and to ensure eventual U.S. ratification of the Rome Statute of the ICC.
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)
IGLHRC's mission is to protect and advance the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status. IGLHRC is a US based non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), IGLHRC responds to such human rights violations around the world through documentation, advocacy, coalition building, public education, and technical assistance.
International League for Human Rights
The International League for Human Rights has worked to keep human rights at the forefront of international affairs and to give meaning and effect to the human rights values enshrined in international human rights treaties and conventions. The League's special mission for 60 years has been defending individual human rights advocateswho have risked their lives to promote the ideals of a just and civil society in their homelands.
Islamic Human Rights Commission
The Islamic Human Rights Commission was set up in 1997. We are an independent, not-for-profit, campaign, research and advocacy organization based in London, UK. We foster links and work in partnership with different organizations from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, to campaign for justice for all peoples regardless of their racial, confessional or political background.
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
The Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.
Liberty is an independent human rights organisation which works to defend and extend rights and freedoms in England and Wales. Founded in 1934, it is the largest membership organisation of its kind in Europe. We aim to secure equal rights and freedoms for everyone by lobbying government, working with the media to keep human rights issues in the public eye, pursuing human rights test cases through the English courts and the European Court of Human Rights, and challenging human rights violations and secure changes in the law.
The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM)
The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM) was established as a foundation on 29 September 1981. SIM's main objective that was formulated at the time is as follows: 'The Foundation aims to conduct or to commission research projects and studies, gather and distribute information, and generally arouse and stimulate interest, with regard to the promotion and protection of human rights, both at the national and the international level. The emphasis will be on the correlation between human rights issues and development cooperation."
New Zealand Human Rights Commission
In December 2001 The New Zealand Parliament made significant changes to the Human Rights Act. These changes affect both the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Race Relations Conciliator. Website includes information on a summary of human rights legislation in New Zealand, about commissioners, about the Commission's complaints process, how to get training and educational material, print and digital resources: educational and promotional, opinions and decisions on complaints, domestic and international human rights speeches, media releases, reports and submissions and race relations (especially focused on NZ's indigenous population, the Maori).
Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
The Northern Ireland Human Rights commission will work vigorously and independently to ensure that the human rights of everyone in Northern Ireland are fully and firmly protected in law, policy and practice. To that end the Commission will measure law, policy and practice in Northern Ireland against internationally accepted rules and principles for the protection of human rights and will exercise to the full the functions conferred upon it to ensure that those rules and principles are promoted, adopted and applied throughout Northern Ireland.
The People's Decade of Human Rights Education (PDHRE)
Founded in 1988, the People's Decade of Human Rights Education (PDHRE-International) is a non-profit, international service organization that works directly and indirectly with its network of affiliates — primarily women's and social justice organizations — to develop and advance pedagogies for human rights education relevant to people's daily lives in the context of their struggles for social and economic justice and democracy.
Founded in 1986, Physicians for Human Rights investigate and expose violations of human rights worldwide. Their activities include educating health
professionals, improving health and sanitatary conditions in prisons and detention centers and preventing medical complicity in torture and other abuses.
Sierra Club: Human Rights & The Environment
The Sierra Club and Amnesty International USA have formed an alliance to push for stronger US support for environmental advocates abroad. Together, we will highlight attacks on environmental defenders, mobilize pressure on repressive governments, and demand stronger action from the US government. They've also released a joint advertizing campaign and materials highlighting cases around the world in which environmentalists have been persecuted for their efforts to defend the earth.
South African Human Rights Commission
The South African Human Rights Commission is the national institution established to entrench constitutional democracy. It is committed to promote respect for, observance of and protection of human rights for everyone without fear or favour. The objectives are to develop an awareness of human rights among the people of South Africa, make recommendations to organs of state in order to enhance the implementation of human rights, undertake studies and report to Parliament on matters relating to human rights, and investigate complaints of violations of human rights and to seek appropriate redress.
Southern Center for Human Rights
The Center is a non-profit, public interest legal project, founded in 1976, to enforce the constitutional protection against "cruel and unusual punishment" by challenging excessive and degrading forms of punishment and cruel and inhuman conditions of confinement. The Center challenges discrimination against people of color, the poor and the disadvantaged in the criminal justice and corrections systems of the South, raises public awareness of these issues, and works with community groups and individuals to improve the criminal justice and corrections systems and develop constructive, humane, and non-violent solutions to crime.
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD)
TCHRD is the first Tibetan non governmental organization (NGO) to be formed with the goal of protecting and promoting human rights of the Tibetan people. It was founded in January 1996 and was registered as an NGO on 4 May 1996. In addition, a branch office has been operating in Kathmandu, Nepal since February, 1998.Our mission is to highlight the human rights situation in Tibet and to promote principles of democracy in Tibetan community. Our objectives are to protect and promote human rights of Tibetan people and to build Tibetan society based on the principles of human rights and democracy.
UNHCR was established on December 14, 1950 by the U.N. General assembly and began its work on January 1, the following year. The agency helps the world's uprooted peoples by providing them with basic necessities such as shelter, food, water and medicine in emergencies and seeking long term solutions, including voluntary return to their homes or beginning afresh in new countries.
United Nations Human Rights Division
Includes links to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, treaties, the World Conference Against Racism, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, documents, and a research guide.
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
Working with national governments, NGOs (non-governmental organizations), other United Nations agencies and private-sector partners,
UNICEF protects children and their rights by providing services and supplies and by helping shape policy agendas and budgets in the best interests of children.
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Includes sections on current issues, human rights bodies and committees, treaties, children's rights, and human rights education.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The full text appears in this web site. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."
U.S. Department of State Human Rights Division
The protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. Since then, a central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been the promotion of respect for human rights, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The United States understands that the existence of human rights helps secure the peace, deter aggression, promote the rule of law, combat crime and corruption, strengthen democracies, and prevent humanitarian crises. The U.S. government tries to accomplish this through its Offices of Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy, Multilateral Affairs, and Country Reports and Asylum Affairs, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL).
Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan (WAPHA)
WAPHA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit and independent organization founded by Zieba Shorish-Shamley, Ph. D. Their mission is to achieve the following goals among others: Full restoration of Afghan women and girls’ human rights, Afghan women’s full participation in the peace processes and future government of Afghanistan, Afghan women’s full participation in every aspect of Afghan socio-cultural system that includes educational, political, economical and medical systems and Afghan Women’s full participation in reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Womens Human Rights Net (whrNET)
whrNET is a collaborative Information & Communication Technology (ICT) project developed by an international coalition of women's organizations. whrNET aims to strengthen advocacy for women's human rights through the effective utilization of information and communication technologies.The information provided through the website is organized into the following main categories: Women's Human Rights Issues, Advocacy/Strategies, News and Urgent Action Alerts, and UN/Regional Systems.