New UNESCO Collection of Best Practices for Prsion Libraries

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has made public a series of 16 case studies on best practices by prison libraries in different parts of the world:

"Education is a fundamental human right, of which prisoners should not be deprived. Lifelong learning opportunities in penitentiary contexts can empower individuals by equipping them with the tools to create new lives and livelihoods for themselves after release. Through fostering personal growth, and economic and social reintegration, prison education can result in lower rates of recidivism and promote more cohesive societies. In this context, gender-sensitive and human-centred approaches are key."

"Across the globe, inspiring efforts to promote prison education, including through the development of prison libraries, are being spearheaded by prison authorities, non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, international organizations and educational institutions, among others. This online collection seeks to showcase innovative and effective practices in this area, while sharing key impact data and personal stories that illustrate the transformative power of lifelong learning opportunities that are available to individuals who are incarcerated."

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

30 Documents for 75th Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 and remains of the world's most important documents defining rights.

The UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York has selected 30 key documents related to the 30 articles of the UDHR.

New International Labour Organization Research Repository

The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations, has launched a new research repository that is intended as a one-stop-shop for the organization's many research publications:

The online collection has some 20,000 publications, including flagship reports, major publications, research studies, journal articles from the International Labour Review and International Journal of Labour Research, working papers, training materials, guides, manuals and briefs.

Presentations from Recent Course of the International Association of Law Libraries

The International Association of Law Libraries recently held its 41st Annual Course in Geneva, Switzerland.

Many of the presentations are now inline.

Some highlights:

• The New Roles of the World Trade Organization after the Pandemic Crisis
• The Swiss Legal Order and International Law: Does Direct Democracy Make a Difference?
• The Work of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
• The War in Ukraine: Challenges and Opportunities for International Humanitarian Law
• Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines: Perspective from Médecins Sans Frontières
• Current Issues in Disarmament and Arms Control
• From Words to Deeds, Understanding Armed Non-State Actors Practice and Interpretation of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Norms

Most Recent Annual Report of the International Criminal Court

Earlier this week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) presented its most recent annual report to the UN General Assembly in New York.

ICC president Judge Piotr Hofmański explained that the Court is currently dealing with 6 active situations before and he highlighted some of the key developments of the past year.

In the annual report itself, one can find fuller explanations of the cases being handled.

They include investigations and trials relating to crimes in Uganda, Mali, Darfur, the Central African Republic, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Georgia, Kenya, Libya and the Philippines, among others.

The ICC is an international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands.

It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. 

Project to Watch: Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives

The United Nations Archive in Geneva has been working on a project to digitize the entirety of the archives of the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations.

When made fully accessible to the public very soon, the project will include some 14.2 million pages covering all the activities of the League between 1920 and 1946, and some 27,000 maps and 9,000 photographs.

There is a video explanation of the project on YouTube.

New and Updated Research Guides from GlobaLex

GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, has  published or updated a number of research guides recently:

• The Execution of the International Public Contract during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Perspective: "Many questions arose about the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on contracts and legal agreements. Additionally, the legislator is responsible, on the one hand, to insert explicit provisions that can deal with those cases in the national legislation, and on the other hand, there is also a responsibility on the contractual parties to include in contracts some articles which could deal with disaster and Force Majeure cases, and other articles to define the rights and obligations of each party in these cases. In all cases, the political considerations and the circumstances surrounding each contract must be considered separately. Therefore, it becomes necessary to clarify the effect of the pandemic on the execution of the international administrative contract. Is it a Force Majeure? What are the rights of each party during the period of the pandemic?"
• UPDATE: Researching the United Nations: Finding the Organization's Internal Resource Trails: "The United Nations is such a massive organization that its wide array of processes and products require enough reference sources to warrant a map and compass for navigation. As a map, here are suggested search techniques for several standard types of queries and, as a compass, here are the U.N.'s many diverse search tools organized into resource types."
• UPDATE: An Introduction to International Fisheries Law Research: "International fisheries law, a subfield of the law of the sea, is an emerging area of public international law that seeks to regulate fisheries management in areas within and beyond national jurisdictions. This body of law touches upon some other areas of international law, for example, international environmental law, international marine environmental law, natural resources law, sustainable development law, international trade law, etc. International fisheries law is also interdisciplinary as it often draws on other disciplines, such as, fisheries and marine science, oceanography, marine resource management, fisheries economics, fisheries statistics etc. Although international fisheries law is primarily based on international and regional treaties and customs, other elements, such as, decisions of international courts and tribunals on fisheries matters, practices of States and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), and scholarly writings and publications by leading experts have also contributed to shaping up this evolving area of international law."
• UPDATE: Researching the Inter-American System of Human Rights: "The purpose of this research guide is twofold. The first purpose is to serve as a document that will give the reader a basic understanding of the Inter-American System of Human Rights by presenting a brief history of the Inter-American System of Human Rights, the institutional organs through which the System functions and the enabling instruments of the System. The second purpose is to serve as a point of departure for in-depth research. My comments will be limited to the mission, the internal structure, the administrative organization, and the research materials available at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights website."

New European Court of Human Rights Factsheets

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has published a series of Factsheets that describe important jurisprudence of the institution on a number of subjects.

Recent additions include:

• Racial profiling
• Cannabis-based medication

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 46 member countries. Canada is an observer.

The ECHR is not to be confused with 2 other major international courts based in Europe:

• the Court of Justice of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, which ensures compliance with EU law by EU members states and rules on the interpretation and application of the treaties establishing the European Union
• the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations, based in The Hague

International Law Research Guides from the Peace Palace Library in The Hague

I often write about the law guides published by GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law.

I came across another interesting source: the Peace Palace Library in The Hague. The Library serves the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Court of Justice and The Hague Academy of International Law.

It has published excellent research guides on public and private international law, international organizations, trade, peace and security issues, and much more.

New and Updated Globalex Research Guides on Foreign and International Law Topics

GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, has published and updated a number of research guides recently:

• A Brief Introduction to the Right to Privacy – An International Legal Perspective: "In course of time, the personal data market has become global due to the constant increase of the access and use of the Internet. Eventually, personal data has evolved as the main fuel of the 4th Industrial Revolution era. In such an atmosphere, ordinary citizens, being private individuals, or consumers desire to have adequate legal protections for their privacy rights. Thus, the worldwide debate on privacy concerns has become apparent. Keeping this in mind, this article aims to explore some basic aspects of privacy, including the meaning, value, historical development, challenges, and legal protections as ensured in international, regional, and national legal frameworks."
• United Nations Administrative Law: "The United Nations (UN) Secretariat has a staff of over 35,000 employees and is by far the largest administrative body of the UN system. Naturally, an organization with this many employees will see a variety of disputes related to the rights and obligations of those staff members. The goal of this research guide is to present the sources of law that govern those employment disputes and the research tools and strategies useful for examining those sources. While the direct application of this body of law is limited to the staff of the UN, it is highly influential on the administrative law of other inter-governmental organizations, and the field in general may be relevant as a model for domestic administrative and labor law."
• UPDATE: Legal Research in Germany Between Print and Electronic Media – An Overview: "Starting with a brief introduction to the German legal system and legal tradition, this article looks at legal research from a practitioner's point of view and provides an overview of the major sources for German legal research with a focus on business and commercial law, both print and online. Due to the wealth of German legal literature, it presents but a selection of the most essential sources and does not make a claim to comprehensive portrayal or completeness. Most of the materials mentioned here are in German, as any substantive law research will need to be conducted in the vernacular. To assist the foreign researcher though, references have included the translations of German laws and cases as well as select literature and websites on German law in English. Kommentare (commentaries) and Festschriften as forms of publication specific to German legal research are highlighted as is the way German case law is published and the issues this involves. Extensive coverage is given to legal databases and their growing importance to the researcher."

Space Telescopes and the Law of Outer Space

In Custodia Legis, the blog of the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., recently published a post on Space Telescopes and the Law of Outer Space.

It examines what kind of oversight and guidance on international law there is related to outer space. 

It refers to major United Nations treaties on the topic and to many documents in the library's collections.

Tips for Researching International Human Rights Case Law

The DipLawMatic Dialogues blog posted an article yesterday with Tips for Researching International Human Rights Case Law:

"In the universe of international human rights documentation, case law has a special place. Human rights case law is human rights in action. It confronts general norms with concrete facts and requires a decision about whether or not the general norm has been violated. Human rights case law brings general norms to life. The point of this post is to offer tips for researching human rights case law in each of the systems of protection that are in operation in the world today."

There are tips for finding human rights jurisprudence involving the United Nations system of treaties, as well as case law from the European Court of Human Rights (Council of Europe), the European Court of Justice (European Union), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights.

DipLawMatic Dialogues is published by the Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries.

New European Court of Human Rights Factsheets

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has published a series of Factsheets that describe important jurisprudence of the institution on a number of subjects.

Recent additions include:

• Right to respect for family life of prisoners in remote penal facilities
• Independence of the justice system
• Use of force in the policing of demonstrations

The ECHR hears complaints from individuals living in any of the member states of the Council of Europe about violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The Council of Europe is one of the continent's oldest political organizations, founded in 1949. It has 47 member countries. Canada is an observer.

The ECHR is not to be confused with 2 other major international courts based in Europe:

• the Court of Justice of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, which ensures compliance with EU law by EU members states and rules on the interpretation and application of the treaties establishing the European Union
• the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations, based in The Hague

New Globalex Research Guide on Human Right to Education

GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, has published a new guide on Human Right to Education Research:

"Until the early twentieth century, education was a privilege only allowed to certain classes of a society. While some countries such as Germany tried to enlighten the general public as well by starting mandatory public education in the eighteenth century, this existed only by law and was not fully implemented. To make it worse, states indoctrinate authoritarian ideas through education, a problem which international law could not effectively regulate because they could not pierce sovereigns in human rights issues before the United Nations Charter and 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which specifically provides a human right to education under Article 26 (...) To have a better understanding of the right to education, there is no choice but to get its definition from international law, especially human rights instruments, which provides a more consistent approach to the right to education among states and better protection to humans around the world. Laws from other foreign countries and their implementation of human rights principles should also be considered in order to understand the right to education."

"Numerous international instruments, articles, treatises, and national laws relating to the human right to education have been drafted and published since World War II. International law has been used to pierce state sovereignty to protect a state’s citizens against the abusive use of state powers. Accordingly, research in this field to protect the human right to education has become diversified, complicated, and interdisciplinary. Research has focused on outcomes or contexts of education, applying a wide variety of theories including human capital theories, theories of consciousness-raising, and Neo-Weberian and non-Marxist theories. Further, international instruments should be considered holistically, including treaties, international custom, general principles of law, cases, and soft law from various intergovernmental and nongovernmental organization reports and documents. Domestic laws, including state law and local ordinances, should also be considered because the legal right to education is applied and implemented differently among different states."

"Considering a wide variety of international instruments and literature relating to the human right to education, this guide provides an annotated bibliography of journal articles, treatises, reports, and documents available online to facilitate the research of scholars and practitioners in this field. It also includes a list of primary source instruments with domestic laws of selective countries."

Updated GlobaLex Research Guide on League of Nations Documents

 GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, has updated its guide on Researching League of Nations Documents:

"As the precursor to the United Nations, the League of Nations (1919-1946) is of interest to researchers concerned with the historical and institutional development of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), the expansion of public international law, the establishment of modern treaty protocols and practices, and the evolution of the concepts of international cooperation and justice. League of Nations documents can be greatly useful sources for legal scholarship, but the complex nature of the documentation can also be a source of frustration."

"This guide is intended to provide a starting point for finding and using League of Nations documents. Additional guidance can be found by consulting the research guides and publications listed below. Please note that research into the autonomous institutions affiliated with the League, such as the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Labour Organization, is not included in this guide, being well-covered elsewhere."

Oxford University Press Makes Part of its Collection Free for 75th Anniversary of the United Nations

 Later this month, the United Nations will officially celebrate its 75th birthday.

Oxford Public International Law, part of Oxford University Press, is marking the occasion by making UN-related materials available for free until November 30, 2020:

"This United Nations Day (24 October 2020) marks the 75th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter. In recognition of this milestone we have created a collection of articles and chapters that provide commentary on the role of the UN in international law over the past 75 years, and its significance to the development of global human rights and international peace and security."

"All content featured below from Oxford Scholarly Authorities on International Law, the Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law, and Oxford Scholarship Online, is free to access until 30 November 2020."

 Another interesting collection comes from the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at UN headquarters in New York which has created an online exhibit called 75 Years, 75 Documents to celebrate the occasion. The exhibit is meant as "an exploration of 75 key documents that have shaped the United Nations and our world. The documents selected honour the historic breadth of the Organization’s work in the areas of peace and security, humanitarian assistance, development and human rights."

Updated GlobaLex Research Guide on United Nations Documents

GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, has updated its guide on Researching the United Nations Documents:

"United Nations documentation can feel overwhelming. Researching UN documents can feel even more overwhelming. Two of the most difficult aspects of researching UN bodies, their documentation, and related international topics is the vast amount of documentation the UN produces, and the variety of places researchers should consult to be as comprehensive as possible. The complex structure of the UN often complicates the research even further. This article aims to aid researchers in deciding where to begin researching the UN documents, and it describes the most common entry points."

The updated guide was written by Janet Kearney, Foreign & International Law Librarian at the Maloney Library, Fordham University School of Law and Lucie Olejnikova, Head of Foreign and International Law at the Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School.

UNESCO Database on National Laws for the Protection of Cultural Heritage

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has brought a number of improvements to its NATLAWS Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws. It is a tool for combating the illicit traffic in cultural property.

"In the event of a legal question about the origin of an object (which may have been stolen, pillaged, or illegally exported, imported or acquired), it is useful to have rapid access to the relevant national laws."

"The UNESCO Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws allows the following to be consulted: 

• national laws currently in force related to the protection of the cultural heritage in general;
• import/export certificates for cultural property (available on request);
• official or unofficial translations of national laws and certificates;
• contact details for the national authorities responsible for the protection of the cultural heritage;
• addresses of the official national websites dedicated to the protection of the cultural heritage."

The database gives access to more than 3000 laws, decrees and amendments that cover areas such as monuments, archaeological sites, paintings, coins, archaeological objects, shipwrecks, underwater cities, etc.

Enhancements include the scanning of existing documentation in high-definition, improving the quality of the documents and transforming its interface making it more accessible to users.

World Health Organization Database of COVID-19 Legislation Around the World

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the COVID-19 Law Lab in association with other major international organizations:

"The COVID-19 Law Lab is a database of laws that countries have implemented in response to the pandemic. It includes state of emergency declarations, quarantine measures, disease surveillance, legal measures relating to mask-wearing, social distancing, and access to medication and vaccines. The database will continue to grow as more countries and themes are added."

"It will also feature research on different legal frameworks for COVID-19. These analyses will focus on the human rights impacts of public health laws and help countries identify best practices to guide their immediate responses to COVID-19 and socioeconomic recovery efforts once the pandemic is under control."

There are legal documents from over 190 countries.

In addition to the WHO, the project involves the United Nations Development Programme, yhe UN Programme on HIV/AIDS and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.

COVID-19 IP Policy Tracker From World Intellectual Property Office

The World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, has launched the COVID-19 IP Policy Tracker to help users track intellectual property policy changes being implemented by WIPO member states in their response to the global pandemic.

It contains information on measures adopted by countries such as:

• changes to how hearings into IP matters are held
• extensions of time or grace periods for fee payments in patent and trade-mark matters
• special measures such as compulsory licenses allowing or ordering the manufacture, use and sale of a patented invention such as a medicine to respond to a pandemic-related public health emergency 
• voluntary actions by academia (e.g. making copyrighted publications available for free) and corporations