Oxford LibGuides: LGBTI law: Treaties & IHR

Treaties & International Human Rights

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
United Nations Human Rights Council
Official website
UN Free & Equal
UN Free & Equal is an initiative of the United Nations Human Rights Office.
OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Core international human rights instruments
OHCHR maintained portal to international conventions on human rights and their monitoring bodies.

In December 2010, the then Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, delivered a speech in New York calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality and protection of LGBT individuals from violence and discrimination.

Secretary-General's speech on Human Rights day, 2010
Free resource. Transcript of Ban Ki-moon's speech on Ending Violence and Criminal Sanctions Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, 9th December 2010.
Resolution 17/19 Human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity
Official document of UN Human Right's Council A/HRC/RES/17/19. Commissioned a study on discrimination and violence against LGBT individuals.
Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Official document A/HRC/19/41
Human Rights Council Panel on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Free resource. Information on the panel discussion on LGBT rights held in March 2012.
Combatting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
Free resource. Policies for combatting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

European Convention on Human Rights & Related Protocols
Open access on official EC website. Links to related materials
HUDOC: ECHR: database of case law
Search screen for database of decisions. Use the left hand column to set sensible filters or construct a search string

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European Court of Human Rights

The HUDOC database [open access available to all with access to the internet] provides access to the case-law of the Court (Grand Chamber, Chamber and Committee judgments and decisions*, communicated cases, advisory opinions and legal summaries from the Case-Law Information Note), the European Commission of Human Rights (decisions and reports) and the Committee of Ministers (resolutions).

*Committee decisions appeared on HUDOC only as of April 2010. Decisions concerning single judge cases are not published. Commission decisions prior to 1960 exist in hard copy only in the Court Archives.
European Court of Human Rights Thematic Factsheets
Open Access. The Court's Press Office produces & updates "factsheets by theme on the Court’s case-law and pending cases." Note the fact sheets are non-binding.

Born free and equal : Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics (2nd edn, 2019)
Free resource. PDF produced by the OHCHR in 2012 on sexual orientation and gender identity in international human rights law.
Speeches and statements on LGBT rights
Free resource. Links to speeches and statements by OHCHR and UN representatives on LGBT rights. Includes speeches from the Global Forum for the International Day against Homophobia, The Hague, 17 May 2013.

Going to Strasbourg : an oral history of sexual orientation discrimination and the European Convention on Human Rights by Paul Johnson
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link

ISBN: 9780198777618

Publication Date: 2016

Print copy is at KM208.2 JOH 2016

International Human Rights are the subject of a separate Bodleian guide

Human Rights
by Kate Matthews Last Updated May 22, 2025 490 views this year