AN ANNOTATED GUIDE TO SELECTED INTERNATIONAL/FOREIGN LAW INTERNET RESOURCES
VI. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
1. General Sites:
a. United Nations Main Page
(United Nations Department of Public Information) http://www.un.org/
This site is the main United Nations website. It offers access to the databases, publications, and research guides of the entire United Nations system.
b. Permanent Missions to the United Nations
(United Nations Development Program) http://www.un.int/index-en/index.html
This site provides links to the websites of the permanent missions of UN members in New York.
c. Official Web Site Locator for the United Nations System of Organizations
(United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination) http://www.unsystem.org/
The Official Web Locator includes a listing in alphabetical order of all United Nations Organizations (UNOs) with abbreviations and city locations of headquarters sites. This is an excellent source for locating the web sites of various UN agencies.
d. UN Documentation Centre
(United Nations) http://www.un.org/documents/
This site provides access to resolutions/decisions of the General Assembly from the 35th session (1980) to the present in PDF format. Also available is a searchable press release database, and selected documents.
Also available from this site: Security Council resolutions (1946-present); a searchable database of Security Council press releases; selected documents; Presidential statements; exchanges of letters between the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council; and the Secretary-General's Reports to the Security Council.
Links are also provided to documents of the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, the Secretariat, and the Trusteeship Council.
e. Office of Legal Affairs, Codification Division
(United Nations) http://www.un.org/law/lindex.htm
This site provides links to UN organizations working in the area of codification, development and promotion of international law.
f. Official Documents System of the United Nations (ODS)
http://documents.un.org/
As described by the site, "this is the official repository for documents published by the United Nations. The full text of documents dating back to 1992 is accessible in Portable
Document Format (PDF) in all official languages of the United Nations - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Documents are stored in two databases, UN Documentation, which includes documents back to 1992 and UN Resolutions, which includes resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and Trusteeship Council since 1946."
g. United Nations Publications
(United Nations)
https://unp.un.org/
The United Nations Publications Catalogue, which lists current UN publications for purchase is available at this site.
h. Hypertext Chart of the UN System
(United Nations)
http://www.un.org/aboutun/chart.html
This site provides an organizational chart for the entire UN system with hypertext links to each organization's website when available.
2. United Nations Databases and Research Guides:
a. UNBISnet
(United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld Library) http://unbisnet.un.org/
UNBIS contains a catalogue of UN publications and documentation that has been indexed by the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Library of the UN Office at Geneva. Also included are non-UN publications held in the collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.
The database also contains voting records for all resolutions which were adopted - either without a vote or by roll-call or recorded vote- by the General Assembly beginning with its 38th session (1983-) and the Security Council beginning with its 1st year (1946-).
Finally, it includes citations to speeches made in the General Assembly beginning with its 38th session (1983-), the Security Council beginning with its 38th year (1983-), the Economic and Social Council beginning in 1983 and the Trusteeship Council beginning with its 15th special session (1982). b. United Nations Documentation: Research Guide
(United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library) http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/
This research guide offers an overview of the documentation of the United Nations, and it provides guidance for conducting research with these materials.
c. United Nations Document Alert
(United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library) http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/da/
Documents Alert is a service provided by the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library which assists in identifying important documents issued recently. A brief annotation is provided. Links to the full-text in PDF format for selected documents is also provided
d. UN-I-QUE : United Nations Info Quest
(United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library) http://lib-unique.un.org/lib/unique.nsf
UN-I-QUE is a database designed to provide quick access to document symbols/sales numbers for UN materials 1946 to date.
e. United Nations System Pathfinder
(UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library) http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/pathfind/frame/start.htm
The UN System Pathfinder is meant to identify major publications of the organizations comprising the United Nations system in 14 broad subject areas. References (document symbols and sales numbers) are given for the latest edition that has been received by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Links are provided to the full-text if available.
f. United Nations Treaty Collection
(United Nations Secretariat) http://untreaty.un.org/
This treaty collection provides electronic access to over 30,000 agreements published in the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS). It includes a very current, electronic version of the publication Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General and a glossary of terms related to treaty actions. available. Access is restricted to GW law students and faculty.
3. Principal International Law Bodies of the United Nations
a. International Law Commission
http://www.un.org/law/ilc/index.htm
The International Law Commission was established by the General Assembly in 1947 to promote the progressive development of international law and its codification. The Commission, which meets annually, is composed of 34 members who are elected by the General Assembly for five year terms and who serve in their individual capacity, not as representatives of their Governments.
The site provides access to the texts of conventions completed by the Commission as well as an online version of the Analytical Guide to the Work of the International Law Commission, based on the recently published Analytical Guide to the Work of the International Law Commission, 1949 to 1997, which allows a researcher to trace the Commission's work on a particular international law issue.
b. Sixth Committee of the General Assembly
http://www.un.org/law/cod/sixth/index.html
Because of the great number of questions which the General Assembly is called upon to consider, the Assembly allocates most questions to its six Main Committees. The Sixth Committee handles legal questions (UN symbol A/C.6/sess./-).
c. United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)
http://www.uncitral.org/
The General Assembly established the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in 1966 in order to assist in "the promotion of the progressive harmonization and unification of the law of international trade." UNCITRAL's site provides access to the model laws completed by the Commission as well as providing access to its CLOUT database (Case Laws [sic] on UNCITRAL Texts) .
4. Other UN-Related Sites of Interest:
a. Academic Council for the United Nations System (ACUNS)
(Yale University) http://www.acuns.wlu.ca/
The Academic Council for the United Nations System (ACUNS) is an international association of scholars, teachers, practitioners, and others who are active in the work and study of the United Nations system and international organizations. The site provides links to many documents concerning the United Nations as well as reports and papers of the Academic Council of the U.N. System, and papers presented for the John W. Holmes Memorial Lecture Series.
b. United Nations Association of the United States of America
(United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA)) http://www.unausa.org/
The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan national organization. Their site provides links to policy documents and current information on U.S. participation in the United Nations.
c. United Nations Foundation
http://www.unfoundation.org/
According to the Foundation’s site its mission is to "support the goals and objectives of the United Nations and its Charter, in order to promote a more peaceful, prosperous and just world - with special emphasis on the UN's work on behalf of economic, social, environmental and humanitarian causes."
The site provides access to UN Wire, which provides a daily summary of events relating to the UN, global affairs, and international relations. The site also provides access to press releases, UN-related links to information and other materials detailing UN activities.
d. United Nations Scholars' Workstation
(Yale University) http://www.library.yale.edu:80/un/
Maintained by Yale University, the UN Scholars' Workstation offers access to a collection of electronic texts, finding aids, data sets, maps and pointers to print and electronic information about the U.N..
e. United States Mission to the United Nations
(United States Representative to the United Nations) http://www.un.int/usa/
The U.S. Mission's site provides access to speeches and policy documents concerning U.S. participation in the United Nations.
5. Selected Specialized Agencies of the United Nations:
a. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
http://www.fao.org/
According to the FAO's website, "[t]he Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in October 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations. Today, FAO is the largest autonomous agency within the United Nations system with 180 Member Nations plus the EC (Member Organization) and more than 4 300 staff members around the world."
This site provides access to FAOSTAT, which offers statistical databases on subjects such as agriculture, fisheries, and nutrition. Also available are numerous FAO reports, documents, and press releases.
b. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
http://www.iaea.or.at/
According to the IAEA's website, "[t]he International Atomic Energy Agency serves as the world's central intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical co-operation in the nuclear field, and as the international inspectorate for the application of nuclear safeguards and verification measures covering civilian nuclear programmes"
The site provides access the Agency's Annual Report, documents and other materials from AIEA General Conferences, Information Circulars, and databases relating to nuclear science and technology.
c. International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
http://www.itu.int/
According to the ITU website, "[t]he ITU, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland is an international organization within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services."
The Union's website provides information and documentation about ITU sponsored conferences and meetings, text of its strategic plan, documents from study groups and databases concerning telecommunication issues.
d. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
http://www.unido.org/
According to UNIDO's website, the Organization's mission is "to improve the living conditions of
people and promote global prosperity through offering tailor-made solutions for the sustainable industrial development of developing countries and countries with economies in transition."
The site provides annual reports, conference documents, and Industrial Development Abstracts (IDA), which contains over 11,000 fully indexed abstracts of UNIDO documentation and includes descriptions of major studies and reports, reports resulting from UNIDO's technical cooperation activities, reports and proceedings of expert working groups, workshops and seminars, and publications in series for the period 1981 to the present.
e. Universal Postal Union (UPU)
http://www.upu.int/
The Universal Postal Union (UPU), with headquarters in Berne, Switzerland, is the specialized institution of the United Nations that regulates the postal services of its 189 members worldwide.
UPU's site provides access to its agreements and regulations, statistics, and information about the postal administrations of its members.
f. World Health Organization (WHO)
http://www.who.int/
According to the WHO's website, it is "a specialized agency of the United Nations with 191 member states, [which] promotes technical cooperation for health among nations, carries out programs to control and eradicate disease, and strives to improve the quality of life."
The WTO site offers the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the World Health Report, World Health Assembly documentation, and WHOSIS, the WHO Statistical Information System.
g. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html.en
According to WIPO's site, "the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an intergovernmental organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. WIPO is responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States, and for the administration of various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property."
The site provides access to the Organization's Annual Report, WIPO Magazine, budget information, and conference documents.
h. World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
http://www.wmo.ch/
According to the site, "the World Meteorological Organization coordinates global scientific activity to allow increasingly prompt and accurate weather information and other services for public, private and commercial use, including international airline and shipping industries."
The WMO site provides information about major WMO programs, documents from WMO constituent body sessions, press releases, and other documents on meteorological issues.
1. General Sites:
a. A TO Z Index Of European Union Websites
(Delegation of the European Commission to the United States) http://www.eurunion.org/infores/euindex.htm
The website of the U.S. Delegation of the European Commission provides information geared to an American audience with such online publications as The European Union: A Guide for Americans. The site's most useful section is the A to Z Index of European Union Websites, which provides subject access to EU information sources.
b. Europa
http://www.europa.eu.int/index.htm
EUROPA serves as the umbrella site for the EU, providing links to the home pages of all institutions and specialized agencies of the Union. It provides general information on the EU, as well as offering online access to official documents, treaties, legislation in force and such major publications as The Bulletin of the European Union. EU bibliographic databases such as IDEA (online directory of officials and services of the institutions); ECLAS (online catalog of the Commission's Central Library); RAPID (Spokesman's Service's database, includes press releases, information memos, memos, speeches, key public documents such as European Council communiques, Council press releases, and statements on foreign and security policy from1985-present), are also available.
c. EUROSTAT
(EU Statistical Office)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/
Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union's website provides a wealth of statistical data on European social and economic conditions, industrial production, trade and agriculture.
2. Web Sites of the Main Institutions Involved in the Legislative Process of the European Union
a. The European Commission
http://europa.eu.int/comm/index.htm
The Commission's homepage provides profiles on the commissioners, key speeches of the President, press releases and official documents such as White and Green Papers, reports and work programmes, action plans, and the Bulletin of the EU back to 1996. It also provides links to the homepages of the 26 Directorates-General (DGs) as well as other specialized services of the Commission. The DGs are often a good place to start when researching a EU policy on a particular subject as each one has expertise in a particular subject area such as the environment, telecommunications, and Science, Research, and Development to name just a few examples.
b. Council of The European Union (Council of Ministers)
http://ue.eu.int/en/summ.htm
The Council's website provides the full-text of selected instruments taken from treaties, timetables of meetings, a public register of council documents, a database on Common Foreign and Security Policy statements, press releases and a website devoted to the Council President.
c. European Parliament (EUROPARL)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
The Parliament's website is an excellent source for tracking EU legislation and retrieving the resultant documents. It is chock full of materials such as EP News, a four-page monthly newsletter giving a résumé of debates taking place in the European Parliament as well as decisions taken. The site also includes plenary session records, reports, and minutes; rules of procedure; reports of EU Parliament hearings and conferences; and full texts of COM documents published in the Official Journal C series from July 1, 1996.
d. Court of Justice and Court of First Instance (European Union)
http://curia.eu.int/en/index.htm
From the Court of Justice's site, one can obtain basic information about the Court; press releases; weekly Proceedings of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance; a daily "diary" of Court activities; an alphabetic list of cases lodged before the Court of Justice and Court of First Instance; and recent case law of both courts.
e. Economic and Social Committee (ESC)
http://eesc.europa.eu/
The Committee's website gives basic information about the Committee, membership, selected press releases and the texts of opinions. Coverage of the opinions is January 1998 to date.
f. Committee of the Regions (COR)
http://www.cor.europa.eu/
The work product of the Committee are its opinions, which are adopted at one of their four yearly plenary session. Their website provides basic information about the Committee and includes press releases that summarize their plenary sessions. Other links include lists of opinions adopted. The full text of most current opinions can be found on EUR-Lex beginning in 1998. Older items are available via EUDOR or CELEX.
3. Key European Union Databases available via the Internet
a. ECLAS - Commission's Central Library Catalog
http://europa.eu.int/eclas/
The Commission's Central Library Catalog is an excellent source for locating bibliographic information regarding EU law and policy.
b. EIRO Online: European Industrial Relations Observatory Online
http://www.eiro.eurofound.eu.int/
The European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) offers news and analysis on European industrial relations. The site is sponsored by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. According to the site, "the database contains more than 5,000 records, dating from 1997 to the present. It includes news and feature articles, comparative studies, annual reviews, annual updates on key issues such as pay and working time, thematic and sectoral analyses, and the EIRObserver Bulletin."
c. EUR-Lex
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm
According to the site, "EUR-Lex provides direct free access to European Union law. The system makes it possible to consult the Official Journal of the European Union and it includes inter alia the treaties, legislation, case-law and legislative proposals." The site offers direct access to the latest issues of the L (Legislation) and C (Information and Notices) series of the Official Journal, together with the previous 10 days’ issues. Entering the date and the publication reference, allows direct access to a particular issue of the Official Journal. Lastly, there is the possibility of consulting the issues of the Official Journal made available online since 1998. The texts published in the Official Journal, including texts prior to 1998, can also be accessed using the search functions provided on the site. "
d. The Legislative Observatory of the European Parliament (OEIL)
http://www2.europarl.eu.int/oeil/index.jsp
OEIL is helpful for tracking the status of legislation on which the Parliament must be consulted or for which it shares joint legislative authority with the Council.
Search in the European Parliament's Legislative Observatory for the references of all documents of all the institutions and the consultative committees (i.e. Economic and Social Committee and Committee of the Regions) involved in the inter-institutional legislative process. OEIL covers all ongoing procedures irrespective of when they began, all terminated procedures and all resolutions on topical and urgent subjects since July 1994, expected procedures in the context of the Commission's annual working programme, and documents forwarded for information by the Commission to Parliament, for one year.
e. PreLex
http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/apcnet.cfm?CL=en
According to the site, PreLex, “the database on inter-institutional procedures follows the major stages of the decision-making process between the Commission and the other institutions such as: the stage of the procedure; decisions of the institutions; persons' names; services responsible; references of documents …etc, and monitors the works of the various institutions involved (European Parliament, Council, ESC, Committee of the Regions, European central Bank, Court of Justice, etc.).
PreLex follows all Commission proposals (legislative and budgetary dossiers, conclusions of international agreements) and communications from their transmission to the Council or the European Parliament. Links allow users to access directly the electronic texts available (COM documents, Official Journal, Bulletin of the European Union, documents of the European Parliament, press releases, etc.). “
f. RAPID
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/searchAction.do
RAPID is the database of the Spokesman's Service. Includes press releases, information memos, memos, speeches, key public documents such as European Council's communiques, Council press releases, and statements on foreign and security policy. Coverage dates from 1985.
1. International Governmental Organizations
a. African Union/Union Africaine
(Northwestern University Library) http://www.africa-union.org/
The African Union is the successor organization to the Organization for African Unity (OAU). The main objectives of the organization are to "to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonisation and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; for the defence of sovereignty, territorial integrity and consolidation of the independence of African States, as well as promoting international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations." The website of the new organization provides access to press releases, statements of Union officials, and meeting documents.
b. International Governmental Organizations
(Northwestern University Library) http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/resource/internat/igo.html
This site provides a comprehensive list of links to a large number of International Organizations.
2. Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/DefaultEN.asp
According to the Council's website, "the Council of Europe is an international organisation based in the French city of Strasbourg. Its main role is to strengthen democracy, human rights and the rule of law throughout its member states. The defence and promotion of these fundamental values is no longer simply an internal matter for governments but has become a shared and collective responsibility of all the countries concerned."
The Council's site provides the Statute of the Council of Europe, the texts of treaties concluded by the Council on various topics, and documents and reports from the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly, and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
3. League of Nations Statistical and Disarmament Documents
(Northwestern University Library)
http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/league/
According to the site, "Northwestern University Library's "League of Nations Statistics and Disarmament Documents" contains the full texts of more than 250 titles (49,000 pages) of League of Nations documents. The selected documents are focused on three areas: the founding documents of the League; the League's statistical publications, Armaments Yearbook and Statistical Yearbook; and Category IX Disarmament documents. Most of the titles in the collection are Category IX."
4. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
http://www.oecd.org/
According to OECD's site, "the OECD groups 29 member countries in an organization that provides governments [with] a setting in which to discuss, develop and perfect economic and social policy.... Their exchanges may lead to agreements to act in a formal way - for example, by establishing legally-binding codes for free flow of capital and services, agreements to crack down on bribery or to end subsidies for shipbuilding. But more often, their discussion makes for better informed work within their own governments on the spectrum of public policy and clarifies the impact of national policies on the international community. And it offers a chance to reflect and exchange perspectives with other countries similar to their own. "
Their site offers OECD Policy Briefs, documents and other materials from the Ministerial meetings, the OECD Observer, and OECD in Figures.
a. OECD Decisions, Recommendations, and Other Instruments in Force
http://webdomino1.oecd.org/horizontal/oecdacts.nsf/
This page provides access to OECD decisions, recommendations, and other documents in text format. Documents are accessible by subject, type of act, and reference number. A search engine is also available for keyword searching.
5. Organization of American States (OAS)
http://www.oas.org/
According to the OAS website, the Organization of American States is "[m]ade up of 35 member states, the OAS is the region's premier political forum for multilateral dialogue and action. ...Through the Summit of the Americas process, the hemisphere's heads of state and government have given the OAS important responsibilities and mandates, including, 1) strengthening freedom of speech and thought as a basic human right; 2) promoting greater participation by civil society in decision-making at all levels of government; 3) improving cooperation to address the problem of illegal drugs; and 4) supporting the process to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas."
The site provides the text of the OAS Charter, documentation from the various deliberative bodies of the OAS, and the texts of Inter-American Treaties approved within the framework of the Organization.
Last updated 7/12/07
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