PAIL Guide to Procedural International Law

III.  Doctrines

Certain substantive international law doctrines play a vital role in the practical enforcement of international legal rules and values.

A.  State Responsibility, Protection of Aliens, Investment Protection

State responsibility rules (including diplomatic protection of aliens and investor protection) are of substantial importance to the enforcement of rules to safeguard the life, liberty and property of individuals and businesses around the world. State Responsibility and diplomatic protection are those general rules and procedures that make it possible to hold a State accountable for its violations of international law.

Global Development Finance 2005 - The World Bank Group
GDF 2000 tracks the annual movement of int'l capital flows to developing countries. This site reports this info.

Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law at Cambridge University
Site dedicated to information on State Responsibility and its codification by the U.N. International Law Commission (ILC).

Responsibility of State for Internationally Wrongful Acts
The Articles on State Responsibility were drafted by the International Law Commission and adopted by the General Assembly in 2001. While not binding law, they purport to exemplify the current state of international law regarding the legal responsibility of states for wrongful acts.

B.  Human Rights Protection and Remedies

The substantive rules governing how a State must treat its own citizens is called the international law of Human Rights. This law has well-developed doctrines and procedures for enforcement of the values of fundamental human dignity.

Human Rights Web
This site provides background info on human rights and the human rights movement. It also provides the texts to UN documents on human rights, as well as hyperlinks to other human rights organizations.

Project Diana
"A reference tool for research in human rights law, with online litigation documents and links to reference sites." Legal briefs, organization charters, treaty texts, and bibliographies relating to a variety of human rights issues and ongoing cases are accessible. One can browse topics using a subject index.

The American Society of International Law — Human Rights
A listing of web-based resources for international human rights law. Includes a methodology for human rights research.

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library
This site contains international materials, treaties, declarations, resolutions, opinions and decisions from international tribunals and treaty bodies. Also provided is a search engine that allows users to search for documents on this site and others.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
An overview of United Nations' efforts in the name of human rights. Among other things, the site sets out particular links to topical issues such as HIV/AIDS, women's rights, and children's rights.

Amnesty International A leading organization in the fight to uphold and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. The site provides daily the latest news reports on stories around the world.

Human Rights Watch
A leading organization in the fight to uphold and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. The site provides daily the latest news reports on stories around the world.

Human Rights Research Guide — United Nations
The UN's comprehensive guide to human rights web sites, with substantial notations and commentary on the sources and their relevance.

Human Rights Research Guide
The research guide from Polo Universitario di Forli features numerous links to treaties, documents, & relevant web sites.

Concise Guide to Human Rights on the Internet — Derechos.org human rights report
Derechos.org's human right guide provides a solid basic overview of human rights resources available online.

International Human Rights Research Guide — UC Hastings
This guide provides an overview of international human rights research tools at the Hastings Law Library and on the Internet. It includes information about indexes, books, periodicals, and websites with useful human rights information.

Human Rights Research Guide — Columbia Law School
The Columbia Law School Guide is organized around commonly-asked human rights questions, with limited key resources identified as starting points for additional research.

Human Rights Guide — NYU Law
The NYU Law School Guide addresses a wide variety of resources.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
These yearly reports are submitted to Congress by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the U.S. State Department.

C.  Humanitarian Law and Refugee Law

Humanitarian law governs the protections afforded to individuals, both combatants and non-combatants, during armed conflict or occupation. Refugee law governs the protection of individuals who have fled across an international border fleeing an armed conflict.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
The ICRC "endeavors to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles." One can surf through news of the ICRC, its operations country by country, topical issues, and a separate section on int'l humanitarian law.

The US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants
The US Committee for Refugees & Immigrants addresses the needs and rights of persons in forced or voluntary migration worldwide. Their site contains a wide variety of resources.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The United Nations Refugee Agency is mandated by the United Nations to protect refugees worldwide and solve refugee problems that arise as the result of armed conflict. It currently is providing assistance to over 20 million refugees worldwide.

Worldwide refugee information — the University of Essex
The Albert Sloman Library's Human Rights Directory.

Refugee & aid links — University of Minnesota
The UMN Human Rights Library Refugee and Aid link page.

Refugees & asylum seekers — University of Southampton
The Social Science Department's collection of worldwide information on refugee movements and policies.

Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals Who Are Not Nationals of the Country in Which They Live
Complete text of General Assembly resolution 40/144 of 13 December 1985.

International Investment Agreements — Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development
The OECD's site dedicated to country information on investment agreements and their social impact.

United Nations Refugee Works Agency
A separate UN agency mandated to care for the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees living throughout the Middle East.

Refugee Caselaw Site Ð University of Michigan Law School
Our core collection contains cases from the highest national courts of Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These cases have been selected and summarized by the Director of the Refugee Caselaw Site, Professor James Hathaway of the University of Michigan Law School, and by Professor Walter KŠlin of the Institute of Public Law of the Faculty of Law, University of Bern. Since 2004, the collection has been incrementally expanded to include decisions from other asylum countries, as well as the most important decisions of lower courts and tribunals in the core collection states. These cases are selected and indexed by teams of leading experts and members of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges from around the world.

Refugee Law Center
Refugee Law Center is a non-profit non-governmental organization working to protect and strengthen the rights of refugees and immigrants.

International Journal of Refugee Law Ð Oxford University
The International Journal of Refugee Law has fulfilled its promise, as predicted by the Times Higher Education Supplement, in becoming one of the key source materials in the field of refugee protection. The journal aims to stimulate research and thinking on refugee law and its development, taking account of the broadest range of State and international organization practice. In addition, it serves as an essential tool for all engaged in the protection of refugees and finding solutions to their problems. It regularly provides key information and commentary on today`s critical issues, including the causes of refugee and related movements, internal displacement, the particular situation of women and refugee children, the human rights dimension, restrictive policies, asylum and determination procedures, populations at risk and the conditions in different countries. It is of immeasurable value to anyone involved in refugee work, whether lawyers, teachers, students, researchers, NGO workers, or officials in immigration, government, and international organizations.

D.  Management of International Resources

A significant new area of international legal regulation is the protection of international common resources, including common areas and the environment.

1.  International Environmental Law

Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (ENTRI)
Online search service for finding info on environmental treaties and national resource indicators. ENTRI divides issues into 9 issue areas, including land use, global climate change, ozone depletion, etc.

Linkages
This site reports on the progress of various environmental conventions of importance today, including the Montreal Protocol, Basel Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, etc.

The American Society for International Law — International Environmental Law
A listing of resources of international environmental law. Includes links to both primary and secondary sources as well as search strategies for conducting research on international environmental law.

International Environmental Law
A listing of international treaties and documents as well as a vast array of web resources relating to international environmental law.

Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW) Impact
Lists "important victories for the environment won by E-LAW advocates worldwide."

World Wildlife Federation Global Network
Provides up-to-date information on the most current environmental concerns.

International Environmental Law & Policy — American University, Washington College of Law
American University's comprehensive guide to international environmental resources.

Center for International Environmental Law
The CIEL site contains resources in a wide range of environmental categories.

ECOLEX Gateway to Environmental Law
The ECOLEX Gateway provides access to treaties, national legislation (search by nation), court decisions and other materials.

Environmental Law Research Guide — NYU School of Law
The NYU Law School Guide addresses a wide variety of environmental law resources.

The United Nations Environmental Program
A UN program that links environmental concerns to development, mandated to enable countries to pursue economic development without compromising environmental concerns.

Electronic Information System for International Law Ð International Environmental Law

International Environmental Law Research Centre
The International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) is an independent, non-profit research organisation established in 1995. It is an Association under Articles 60ff of the Swiss Civil Code. It has offices in the International Environment House in Geneva (Switzerland), Nairobi (Kenya), and New Delhi (India). IELRC provides a unique forum for collaborative research between researchers in the North and South. IELRC is uniquely positioned to provide policy-relevant research at the international level given its strong network of competence in two significant regions of the developing world. IELRC's offices in Geneva and Nairobi give researchers access to primary international materials for research.

Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD)
FIELD is a non-governmental organisation bringing together public international lawyers committed to the promotion of environmental protection and sustainable development through law.

2.  Common Spaces

a.  Rivers

International Joint Commission
The IJC helps the U.S. and Canadian governments find solutions to problems in the waters that separate the two nations. This site provides the announcements of the IJC, news from the IJC, etc. It also provides a search engine.

International Water Law Project
A website providing information on international water law and policy, including treaties, articles, news stories, case law and links.

International Rivers Network
The IRN's collection of river and dam related legal links.

Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database
A website created by the Geosciences Department of Oregon State University that contains international agreements on freshwater management, as well as maps of all international river basins.

b.  Polar Regions

Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection
This webpage gives the full text of this treaty, plus it gives links to related treaties.

Arctic Council
"The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that provides a mechanism to address the common concerns and challenges faced by the Arctic governments and the people of the Arctic." This site offers the official papers of the council, the Council working groups, and links to arctic data and info.

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition
Non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the Antarctic environment.

Office of Polar Programs — National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation, the main US governmental body overseeing the Antarctic, provides a plethora of interesting links on both polar regions.

c.  Oceans

ENTRI - Oceans and Their Living Resources
This site provides links to the full texts of treaties pertaining to the Ocean.

Maritime and Oceanic Law Center
Search through dissertations, theses, case law, legislation, and the history of maritime and oceanic law. (Site is primarily in French.)

Oceans and Law of the Sea
This site reports the recent actions of the UN on the law of the sea, provides recent cases decided by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, gives the decisions of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, etc.

International Maritime Organization
The official website of the IMO offering links to the most up-to-date conventions related to the oceans.

Council on Ocean Law
"The Council on Ocean Law has established this web site to serve as a reference center, document library, and guide to information related to the development and application of ocean law, and in particular to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This website focuses on United States positions and actions with regard to the Convention, but it also attempts to provide information concerning ocean policy issues in the United States and elsewhere."

Law of the Sea Research Guide — University of Oregon
The UO Law Library's guide to resources and oceanic and maritime law.

Maritime Law by Country
The Admiralty Law Guide's collection of links to resources at the national level.

Global Web Service on Oceans, Coasts, & Islands — The Nippon Foundation
The Regional Task Force on Ocean Policy maintains several PDF research guides to ocean law (look for PDF links at the end of the page).

Guide to International Fisheries Law
The Guide claims to be "the largest collection of free information on international fisheries law and related subjects on the web."

d.  Space

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967
A short narrative about the treaty, followed by the text of the treaty.

Atmosphere and Space — Fletcher School, Tufts University
Sets out major conventions related to space.

Aviation and Space Law — CataLaw
Provides links to US, European, and multinational websites related to space law.

Space, Aviation & Admiralty Law — HierosGamos
Among other things, this site offers links to the full text of major space treaties.

Office for Outer Space Affairs — UN Office at Vienna
The UN's office on outer space affairs maintains a vast array of space law-related links and resources.

Space law portal
The SpaceLawStation brings together numerous resources, including legal materials, related to space exploration and affairs.

E.  Management of International Economy

The international economy represents perhaps the most significant global resource and opportunity for the advancement of human interests. International law has developed a wide diversity of doctrines, procedures and institutions to promote development, investment, trade, and intellectual property.

Lex Mercatoria
Single Site for international law and institutions related to commerce and the economy.

Researching International Economic Law — University of Houston
This site identifies sources for research on international economic law. Includes sources on International Economic Law, International Law, Foreign Law, Private International Law, Business and General Sources.

American Society of International Law — International Economic Law
A guide to electronic resources on international economic law. The site is divided by topic (International Trade Law, International Financial Law, etc.) Includes links to treaties/conventions as well as to governmental and non-governmental organizations that deal with international economic law.

Trade/Business Transactions Law — US Department of State
Provides links to private international law conventions divided into treaties to which the US is a party, ratification is under consideration, and is not a party.

International Trade Law — Georgetown University Law Center
A multitude of links related to international trade law including international organizations, institutions and regional agreements, US Government agencies, treaties and international agreements, dispute settlement, and research guides online.

International Trade Law — University of Bologna
A thorough list of links related to international trade law, separating out the links to international trade treaties.

Global Trade Law — HierosGamos
Links related to global trade law divided into categories such as treaties, supranational organizations, regulations, and agencies and programs.

UN Commission on International Trade Law
UNCITRAL's web site features resoures related to their mission of modernization and harmonization of rules on international business.

CISG Database — Pace Law School
The Pace CISG database contains resources related to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the uniform international sales law of countries that account for two-thirds of all world trade.

International Trade Research Guide — NYU Law School
The NUY law library's collection of international trade resources.

Enterweb; trade law links
The Enterweb site lists and rates Internet resources related to Business Law, Trade Law and International Trade Law.

1.  Trade Rules

World Trade Organization (WTO)
Find WTO news, trade topics, resources (documents, data, analysis), etc.

Trade Compliance Center
"The Trade Compliance Center helps American exporters overcome foreign trade barriers and works to ensure that foreign countries comply with their commitments to the United States." This site includes a link to information to help the user understand trade agreements, lays out trade agreements, and maintains technical regulation updates.

International Trade links — Southern Illinois University
The SIU Law Library's collection of UN materials on international trade.

Internet Resources for International Business — Columbia University
The Columbia Law Library's collection of UN materials on international trade.

International Trade Forum Ð The magazine of the International Trade Centre
The International Trade Forum is the magazine of the International Trade Centre (ITC). It focuses on trade promotion and export development, as part of ITC's technical cooperation programme with developing countries and economies in transition. The magazine is published quarterly in English, French and Spanish.

Trade Issues, Rules and WTO
This section is on WTO issues and current developments. It is a speciality of the TWN website. You will find current news and in-depth analysis of the WTO negotiations and the WTO agreements, from the perspective of developing countries. Documents are placed in the following categories: (Special): Negotiations and news on the Seattle Conference; (Special) Selection of the Director-General; (B) General trade issues; (C) General investment issues; (D) General WTO issues; E) Uruguay Round Agreements; (F) WTO "New Issues"; (G) Previous WTO conferences; (H) Dispute Settlement System; (I) MAI/OECD process. (J) NGO views and activities on the WTO, MAI and others.

2.  International Finance and Development

World Bank
Offers World Bank news, speeches, publications, data & maps, etc. includes search engine.

International Monetary Fund
Read IMF news, publications, country info, fund rates. Site also includes search engine, and one can search by country.

International Finance links — George Washington University
This bibliography includes major sources of multi-country financial information available at Gelman Library. It does not include sources of financial data for individual countries.

International Economic Law — ASIL
This guide from the American Society of International Law focuses on materials that consider the role of central banks in international economic relations and the development of economic and monetary policy. International financial and securities markets are also addressed.

United Nations Development Programme
The UN's global development network, an organization that connects countries to the knowledge, experience and resources needed to help people build a better life. The UNDP operates programs in 166 countries worldwide.

University of Iowa Center for International Finance and Development
A substantial work (300 pages) that covers major aspects of public international finance and international development. Coverage includes the roles of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank in a globalized economy as well as the Mexican and Asian financial crises.

3.  Intellectual Property - Cyberspace

Lex Mercatoria
List of links to institutions and law on IP, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

World Intellectual Property Organization
Site covering many topics on IP.

International Economic Law: Intellectual Property Law — American Society of International Law
A listing of web resources on international intellectual property law. Includes links to the US Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office. Select "Intellectual Property Law" from the menu at top.

Cyberspace Law — FindLaw
General information on cyberlaw with links divided into categories such as domain names, e-commerce, and technology licensing.

International IP Law — ASIL
The American Society of International Law's comprehensive guide to International IP-related law.

International IP Law Research Guide — University of Chicago
The UIC Law Library's guide to international IP law research.

International Aspects of IP Protection — UC, Hastings College of Law
This page includes internet links and print resources available in the Hastings College of the Law Library.