Institute for Global Studies || University of Minnesota Human Rights Library || Refugee and Asylum Resources

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Country Documentation Resources for Refugee and Asylum Cases

Prepared by David Weissbrodt and Marci Hoffman

Amnesty International Country Reports (http://www.amnesty.org/ailib).

Asylumlaw.org (http://www.asylumlaw.org).

Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (http://www.uchastings.edu/cgrs/).

Human Rights Watch

World Report 2000
(http://www.hrw.org/wr2k).

Country reports are also available via a Clickable World Map
(http://www.hrw.org/research/CuteMap2.html).

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (http://www.irb.gc.ca/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/query/query=?evaluate).

International Women's Rights Action Watch, IWRAW Country Reports
(http://www.igc.org/iwraw/publications/countries/).

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country
Reports on Human Rights (gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:5000/11/int/lchr). See
also the LCHR Web Site (http://www.lchr.org/lchr/home.htm).

Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Country Reports (http://www.cidh.oas.org/publications.htm).

ReliefWeb Background Information
(http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/vBkC).

REFWORLD Country Reports (UNHCR)
(http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/refworld/country/country.htm).

REFWORLD CD-ROM contains over 17,000 analyses and in-depth reports
on country situations produced by IGOs, NGOs, and governmental bodies.

UN Commission on Human Rights

Resolutions and Documents
(http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/2/chr.htm).

Thematic and country reports
(http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/commission/commission.htm).

Thematic and country reports through UNHCR
(http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/xtraconv.htm).

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

UNHCR Public Information Section Country Profiles
(http://www.unhcr.ch/world/world.htm).

UNHCR Background Papers on Refugee and Asylum Seekers
(http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/refworld/country/cdr/menu.htm).

WRITENET Country Papers
(http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/refworld/country/writenet/menu.htm).

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook
(http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html).

U.S. Dept of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
(http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/hrp_reports_mainhp.html).

U.S. Dept of State Annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom
(http://www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/irf/irf_rpt/ ).

U.S. Dept of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism
(http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/annual_reports.html).

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Alert Series, Profile Series, and Perspective Series
(http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/ins/inservie.htm).  See also the INS Resource Information Center
(RIC) web site (http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/index.htm).

U.S. Library of Congress, Country Studies
(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/).

U.S. National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports
(translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from
nations around the globe) (CD-ROM and by subscriptionnly). (http://wnc.fedworld.gov/).

Foreign Governments Country Background
(http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/forcoun.html).

Newspapers are also an excellent source for human rights conditions in various
countries.

Search tool for many of these resources from one location: (http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/lawform.html).

Search tools for locating other relevant material on the Internet
(very time consuming and leads to lots of false positives)
Excite (http://www.excite.com/).
Lycos (http://www.lycos.com/srch/).
Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com/).
Asylumlaw.org Super-Search (http://www.asylumlaw.org).

For more information on using search engines for effectively, see Search Engines Compared (http://www.llrx.com/features/engine3.htm).

Refugee Documentation Services

Amnesty International's National Refugee Office will research cases on receiving a written request – 500 Sansome Street, #615, San Francisco, CA 94111; 415/291-0601 (ph) / 415/291-8722 (fax). (http://www.amnesty-usa.org/refugee/)

The Refugee Office of AIUSA provides research to help document political asylum claims. Occasionally the office is also able to provide letters of support for particularly compelling cases. They also develop membership activities, such as letter writing actions and do policy work to ensure that a fair and adequate system is maintained.

The Human Rights Documentation Exchange, P.O. Box 2327 Austin, TX (512) 476-9841
(http://www.hrde.org/).

The Refugee Legal Support Service (RLSS) of the Human Rights Documentation Exchange corroborates immigration cases by providing documentation on country conditions to attorneys representing refugees and immigrants.

Related is the Human Rights Documentation Exchange Refugee Legal Support Service
Women's Asylum & Battered Immigrant Women's Documentation Project
Country List (http://www.hrde.org/women_country.pdf)

Other Refugee/Asylum Law Research

Refugee Convention, Protocol, other relevant instruments and ratification information
(http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/instree/auov.htm).

REFWORLD
(http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/welcome.htm).

Refugee and Asylum Links on the World Wide Web
(http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/links/aidlinks.html).

University of Michigan Refugee Caselaw Site
(http://www.refugeecaselaw.org/Refugee/index.htm).

Bibliographies and Research Guides

CALS Asylum Case Research Guide (2000)
(http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/intl/cals/asylumresearch.htm).

Marci Hoffman, ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law, Country Reports (2000) (http://www.asil.org/resource/humrts1.htm#SectionAA).

Elisa Mason, Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web (2000).
(http://www.llrx.com/features/refugee.htm).

Penny Parker, UN Human Rights Documentation, A Guide to Country-Specific Research (1996). (http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/bibliog/guide.htm).

David Weissbrodt and Marci Hoffman, Bibliography for International Human Rights Law (1996)
(http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/bibliog/BIBLIO.htm).

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library, Bibliographies and Guides
(http://hrlibrary.law.umn.edu/bibliog/biblios.htm).