Research Guides
Human Rights: Primary Sources
Resources for the study of human rights.
Human Rights Documents
-
Human Rights Studies Online This link opens in a new windowMultimedia database of primary and secondary sources on genocide, international human rights laws, nonprofit human rights organizations, and more.
-
Gathering a Body of Global Agreements: Human RIghtsCollection of key United Nation documents, including the agreements from most of the major global conferences organized by the United Nations, and many important conventions and treaties.
-
Human Rights Documents OnlinePublications from hundreds of human rights organizations, 1980 - present.
-
RightDocsSearch tool for UN Human Rights Council resolutions, amendments, votes, reports, and related documents.
-
Amnesty International Research Archives CollectionMicrofiche collection of country dossiers, annual reports, and other documents dating back to 1962. Located in Microforms & Newspapers, Suzzallo ground floor, call number M-1884.
-
Columbia University Center for Human Rights Documentation & ResearchPremier collection of human rights organization records, archives and papers. Includes papers from Amnesty International USA, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, and The Committee of Concerned Scientists.
-
Human Rights Documentation InitiativeArchived documents and web resources from a variety of human rights organizations worldwide.
-
UN Human rights treaties: Travaux PreparatoiresDrafting histories from the major post-World War II human rights treaties.
-
Women's Learning Partnership: Corpus of LawsCompendium of Muslim religious and cultural laws and interpretations, by country and by legal instrument.
-
Amnesty International Bulletins1975-2013, selected bulletins.
Other Primary Sources
-
Digital National Security Archive This link opens in a new windowCollection of declassified US government documents. Includes primary documents, glossaries, chronologies, bibliographies, overviews, and photographs.
-
U.S. Declassified Documents Online This link opens in a new windowSelected previously-classified government documents. 1900-2022.
-
CREST - CIA Records Search ToolFormerly the CIA Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic Reading Room. Declassified documents and selected FOIA requested documents.
-
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowIndex to Congressional publications, 1789 to present; including full-text hearings from, 1824-1979 and full-text bills & laws, 1789 to the present.
-
African Human Rights Case Law AnalyserFull text collection of decisions from the African Human Rights System.
-
Bureau of Justice StatisticsData on crime and justice in the U.S. Includes data analysis tools on all aspects of criminal behavior, victim information, trends, etc.
-
Guantanamo Lawyers Digital ArchiveCollection of narratives contributed by attorneys who represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.
-
National Archive of Criminal Justice DataData on capital punishment, inmate statistics for state and federal facilities, terrorism, violence against women, and more.
-
Voices from the Rwanda TribunalVideo interviews of United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda staff, judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, and others associated with the court; a project of the UW iSchool.
-
TRACFED This link opens in a new window
Information on Federal criminal, civil and administrative enforcement, as well as information on Federal employment and distribution of funds.
-
Unfinished SentencesShares the stories of survivors of crimes against humanity committed in El Salvador’s armed conflict; from the UW Center for Human Rights.