International Humanitarian Law Research

PRESENTED BY

MARGARET CLARKREFERENCE LIBRARIAN

SPRING 2009

Researching International Humanitarian Law

What is International Humanitarian Law?

Rules governing the conduct of hostilities.• Protects those who are not, or no longer, fighting• Restricts means and methods of warfare.

Also known as:• Law of armed conflict• Law of war

Researching Humanitarian Law

Where to start researchSecondary sourcesPrimary sources

Where to start research?

Research Guides organize the primary and secondary sourcesoutline strategies for research

What topical guides are relevant?International LawInternational Humanitarian LawInternational Criminal LawWar Crimes

http://www.law.case.edu/war-crimes-research-portal/res_gd.asp

Where to start research?

Encyclopedia of Public International Lawo Browse articles by subject / alphabeticallyo Keyword search – simple o Advanced search

Secondary Sources

1. Treatises

2. Periodical articles, law reviews

3. Reports

4. Current Awareness

1. Treatises

2. Periodical articles

Research Center List of DatabasesLegal TracIndex to Legal PeriodicalsIndex to Foreign Legal PeriodicalsPAIS International Westlaw & LexisNexis

Index to Legal Periodicals and

Books

Index to Legal Periodicals and

Books

3. Reports

Use these tools to find reports:Columbia International Affairs OnlinePAIS InternationalAmnesty International

4. Current Awareness

Types of Current Awareness sources: Newspapers or News Aggregators Newsletters Email alerts News feeds Blogs

Current Awareness sources can be found in a variety of places Humanitarian law web sites Tribunal web sites Non-governmental organizations

News

News aggregator

News aggregator

News feeds

Email Alerts

Press Releases

News aggregatorEmail alertsRSS feeds

Primary Sources

United Nations documentsTreatiesNational LegislationInternational Case LawU.S. Legal MaterialsU.S. Military Materials

Primary Sources: U.N. Documents

Primary Sources: U.N. Documents

Primary Sources: U.N. Documents

United Nations: Official Documents System

Official Documents

Official Documents

Possible subject terms• armed conflict • human rights in armed conflict• war crimes• cultural property protection• children in armed conflict

United Nations: UNBisnet

U.N. publications and official documents

U.N. publications and official documents

Primary Sources

United Nations documentsTreatiesNational LegislationInternational Case LawU.S. Legal MaterialsU.S. Military Materials

Primary Sources: Treaties

Primary Sources

United Nations documentsTreatiesNational LegislationInternational Case LawU.S. Legal MaterialsU.S. Military Materials

Primary Sources: National Legislation

4. Primary Sources – National Legislation

4. Primary Sources – International Case Law

Primary Sources

United Nations documentsTreatiesInternational Case LawU.S. Legal MaterialsU.S. Military Materials

Primary Sources: U.S. Legal Materials

Primary Sources: U.S. Legal Materials

Primary Sources: U.S. Legal Materials

Primary Sources

United Nations documentsTreatiesInternational Case LawU.S. Legal MaterialsU.S. Military Materials

U.S. Military: Army Publications

DOD Directives and Orders

U.S. Military: Judge Advocate Corps

U.S. Military: Army Field Manuals

Pentagon: Military Commissions

U.S. Military: Pentagon Library

QUESTIONS ?