Oxford LibGuides: Human Rights: Treaties

Finding the full-text of human rights' treaties, related protocols etc

HeinOnline
Includes full-text of all treaties published in both UNTS and LNTS.
Click on International Treaties & Agreements - then UN Law Collection _ then All Titles. Note on the screen that now appears there is a link called Treaty Search. Use this option if you have a LNTS or UNTS citation already.
Alternative names: Hein Online ; HOL

HeinOnline includes five major collections:
The Law Journal Library includes over 500 U.S., U.K., Australian and International Law Journals. For most journals the date coverage starts very early (in many cases at the first issue). However the most recent editions (within the last calendar year) are sometime unavailable due to licensing restrictions. HeinOnline makes these journals available on a rolling yearly basis.
The Treaties and Agreements Library includes all U.S. treaties and agreements including those in force, expired or yet to be published.
The U.S. Supreme Court Library includes all U.S. Supreme Court opinions as published in the U.S. Reports
The Federal Register 1936-1995, and indexes to the register.
Legal Classics Library. Full text of over 100 legal texts including Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Cardozo's Growth of the Law (1924), and Story's first edition of Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833). Provincial Statutes of Canada includes Provincial Statutes for ten of the Canadian provinces. Contains public and private acts passed by Canadian provincial governments. Current, revised, and historical content is now available for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Historical and revised content only is available for Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
All content consists of scanned images of the original printed editions. This allows you to view the content as it originally appeared in print complete with page numbers and pictures.
To save or print articles from HeinOnline choose PRINT OPTIONS followed by DOWNLOAD AS PDF. You will then be able to print out and/or save articles using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Oxford Historical Treaties
Remote access requires Oxford SSO. Solution for treaties where the citation is to either CTS or Parry's.
Alternative names: OHT ; CTS

Oxford Historical Treaties (OHT) makes the full text of The Consolidated Treaty Series (CTS) available online, each treaty available as a PDF.
Parry's CTS is considered the most comprehensive collection of treaties (from all nations)for the period 1648 to 1919.

International Legal Materials (ILM)
Requires Oxford SSO for remote access. ILM can be first print journal to pick up new treaties, recent judgments etc as well as providing articles. HeinOnline + JSTOR current combined have full run. Or see More for other provides of parts of ILM
more...less...
LexisLibrary has both a library of texts of treaties & agreements drawn from I.L.M. (1975 to "date" ie within 2 weeks of publication of latest issue of ILM.) & full run of journal. For full journal from home page, click on Sources tab. Change UK to International. Click the letter I. Select & ok International Legal Materials. In the search box if you want to search by citation, you need to include the full stops in the abbreviation eg 42 I.L.M. 2. (The use of " " around the citation is optional) If you just want a treaty text: on initial Source page - change UK to International - then put ILM in the Find a source box to right.

United Nations Treaty Series
Official website. Has status information, depository notifications etc. Includes an option to search the League of Nations Treaty Series.
African Commission on Human & Peoples' Rights
Official website
Council of Europe Treaty Series (CETS/ETS)
Official website. The text of all Council of Europe treaties, their explanatory reports, the status of signatures and ratifications, the declarations and reservations made by States, as well as the notifications issued by the Treaty Office since 2000, are available on this website. Texts of declarations and reservations as well as electronic notifications are available in the Council of Europe's official languages only.
Organisation of American States - Treaties and documents
Open access.Texts of multilateral and bilateral treaties relating to the OAS.
UKTS : United Kingdom Treaty Series 1892 onwards
FCO maintained database."UK Treaties Online (UKTO) provides an official record of the UK's treaty obligations under international law and is sourced by Treaty Section of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. UKTO gives access to information on over 14,000 treaties to which the UK is or has been a party with links to texts of command papers published in the UK Treaty Series from 1892."
Pretoria United Nations human rights treaty system impact study
Open Access "This is a large-scale, long term project aimed at facilitating a better understanding of the dynamics involved in the processes through which the UN human rights treaty system (the treaties themselves and the treaty monitoring bodies based in Geneva) makes a difference on the domestic level, or fails to do so."
more...less...
A joint project of Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria and the Geneva Academy in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

TP are the documents creating during the drafting a treaty. They can be useful in determining the intended scope and meaning of the final provisions. There may be an edited collection available as a published volume or volumes (as in the first below). For more recent treaties they may be available via the web. It is recommended that you consult the online guide linked at the foot of this box for more guidance as to what is available.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by William A. Schabas (Editor)
Call Number: Internat 570 S291b
ISBN: 9781107015500
Publication Date: 2013 (3 volumes)

Travaux Préparatoires to the European Convention on Human Rights
Open access. A pdf with links through to documents held by the Library of the ECtHR
European Social Charter : Collected Travaux préparatoires
Open access. Made available on the official Council of Europe website
A la recherche des travaux preparatoires (Globalex)
Open access. Online guide to finding TP both in print and online. Updated every few years.

The public international law collection is on Level 3 of the Law Library. One floor up from the entrance level, accessible by both stairs and a lift.

United Nations Treaty Series

Call Number: Internat 010 UN
League of Nations Treaty Series

Call Number: Internat 010 LN
Council of Europe - treaty series

Call Number: Internat 025 Eur
International Legal Materials

Call Number: Internat 300 I240

For help with treaty law generally

Treaties & treaty law
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Sep 19, 2023 855 views this year

For help with international humanitarian law

War, weapons & victims : legal responses
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Sep 20, 2023 238 views this year
People on the move: legal & HR responses
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Sep 19, 2023 171 views this year