Trafficking in Persons Report 2015

Yesterday the U.S. State Department released this year's Trafficking in Persons Report, which reflects the Department's assessment of the human trafficking situation worldwide and provides a narrative for each country, summarizing and evaluating their government's progress in preventing trafficking, prosecuting suspects, and protecting victims.  The report also offers an excellent overview of the global causes of human trafficking within supply chains and in its various forms, including sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor or debt bondage, involuntary domestic servitude, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers.  It includes statistics and provides links to related reports by the United Nations and other organizations.  This is a great resource for law students or anyone interested in research, practice, or advocacy related to human trafficking. 

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2013 Country Reports on Human Rights

This week the U.S. State Department released the latest of its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (known popularly as the Human Rights Reports), and submitted them to Congress, as required by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.). The Human Rights Reports cover human rights developments and practices during 2013 in all United Nations member states and all countries receiving U.S. assistance. They inform and assist not only Congress in framing foreign policy legislation, but also other governments, journalists, researchers and non-governmental aid organizations worldwide.

The 2013, 2012 and 2011 Human Rights Reports, with global overviews, features for selecting reports on individual countries and filtering by issue across countries, and key United Nations human rights documents, are available here on the Department of State website.  The site also provides the text of all Human Rights Reports going back to 1999.

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Detention Watch Network

Those needing resources on immigration law, asylum, and deportation issues this semester should check out the website of Detention Watch Network, an advocacy group that works to educate the public and policymakers as well as to advocate for detention system reforms. The research pages of this site include links to key U.S. government reports and materials as well as to clearinghouses and other organizations, together with studies and documents from human and civil rights organizations, bar associations, and law school projects focused on the rights of detainees and asylum seekers.
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New International Law Library

If you have ever tried to track down an elusive case from an international court or human rights tribunal, the best news this week may be the launch of the International Law Library, self-described as the "most comprehensive free-access international law library on the Internet." The International Law Library site contains links to over 25,000 decisions of international courts and tribunals and over 30,000 United Nations documents and other treaties and agreements. It is searchable across all types of documents and all collections.

Developed by the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AUSTLII), this digital library is updated regularly with new materials from legal information institutes around the world that are part of the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII), and from other sources. It also features a citator that tracks where international cases, treaties and law journal articles have been cited, as well as links to other international law materials on the Internet. Anyone involved with international law study, research or source gathering should definitely check this out.
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Human Rights Watch Film Festival

There is still time to catch a film at the New York Human Rights Watch Film Festival. The line-up includes a film about immigration reform, genocide in Cambodia and the Mexican criminal justice system.


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The International Civil Rights Center and Museum

The New York Times has an informative article on the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The museum opened on February 1, 2010 and is housed in the former Woolworth's building where the original Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins took place. The museum is an archival center and teaching facility dedicated to civil and human rights. Its website has some great information including a time-line of of the Greensboro sit-ins and a biographical page detailing the people who participated in the first lunch counter sit-in.



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AIDSLEX

AIDSLEX (the AIDS and Law Exchange) is a new internet resource bringing together information and ideas on HIV/AIDS, the law and human rights. This free multi-lingual and global database and web portal, launched in 2009, includes a constantly growing collection of news and developments, law review articles, judicial decisions, legislation, policy documents and reports drawn from United States as well as foreign and international law. Of particular value to law students is the site's topically arranged e-Library, covering issues from health law policy to criminal law and employment discrimination. Most of the 2700 searchable documents are very recent and many are in PDF. AIDSLEX should be a helpful resource for a wide range of research topics.



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Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

The 20th annual Human Rights Watch International Film Festival is scheduled from June 11 through June 25. This year, over 20 films are featured, touching human rights issues across the globe. One particularly interesting film is The Reckoning -- a documentary about the International Criminal Court.




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The Human Trafficking Project

The Human Trafficking Project is a good place to keep track of issues surrounding human trafficking and related crimes. The blog features news, government reports and legislation about trafficking and also provides commentary and discussion about the problem. Recent posts have highlighted the UNODC Global Report on Human Trafficking and featured an exchange on feminism and trafficking.



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Human Rights Watch International Film Festival

The 2008 Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be screening at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center from June 12-26. This festival features works that "help to put a human face on threats to individual freedom and dignity, and celebrate the power of the human spirit and intellect to prevail." Films are selected on the basis of artistic merit and human rights content. This year's program features films from several countries addressing a broad range of issues such as access to health care, civil war and human trafficking



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Human Rights Watch

If you are interested in human rights issues, look at the Human Rights Watch website. Their site provides access to information concerning current human rights issues and includes Human Rights Watch Reports in full text.



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A Search Engine for Human Rights Information

If you are looking for information related to human rights, take a look at Hurisearch. Hurisearch is powerful tool that searches over 3,000 human rights web sites for current, in-depth information. By indexing only web pages that focus on human rights information, Hurisearch filters out irrelevant information and increases the visibility of human rights organizations.


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