Library Guides: Legal research for non-law students: International materials

Introduction to International materials

You may not need to refer to these types of materials, it will depend on the question you are trying to answer. A number of key resources are linked below, more resources are available in our International Law guide.

Treaties

Treaties can be referred to by a number of different names:

international conventions
international agreements
covenants
final acts
charters
protocols
pacts
accords
constitutions for international organisations

Treaties can be bilateral or multilateral and are usually only binding to the parties in the agreement.

United Nations (UN) Documents

These are documents produced by the different organs of the UN, as well as by states when interacting in and with the UN. They can include:

resolutions from legislative bodies, such as the General Assembly, Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council,
reports of the UN Secretary-General assess the state of the Organization and announce new work initiatives,
cases and rulings by the International Court of Justice, the main judicial body of the UN, and
meeting records, summaries of conferences, UN reports, treaties, maps, yearbooks and more.

Australian Treaties

Australian Treaties Library (AustLII)
The Australian Treaties Library disseminates treaty information to the public in a freely accessible form through the Internet. It is a fully searchable, hypertext-linked resource that includes treaty texts (Australian Treaty Series), indexes, status lists, and explanatory material.
Australian Treaties series (AustLII)
The full-text and status of all treaties signed by Australia
Australian Treaties database (DFAT)
The Australian Treaties Database (ATD) is an online resource for researching treaties to which Australia is a signatory, or where Australia has taken other treaty action.

International Treaties

United Nations Treaty collection
Includes all multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and, those formerly deposited with the League of Nations, their latest status and a link to the full texts.
WorldLII International Treaties Collection
The full-text of the UN treaty collection and a large number of foreign treaty series.
World Treaty Index
Coverage of the WTI will soon include all known agreements in the 20th Century and the first decade of the 21st century.
Dag Hammarskjold Library (UN) - Treaty Research Guide
From the Dag Hammarskjold Library of the United Nations.
Organization of American States - Multilateral Treaties & Bilateral Agreements
Bilateral and multilateral agreements between members states from North, Central and South America.
International Red Cross - Treaties & Documents
FLARE Index to Treaties
Council of Europe Treaty Office
UK Treaties Online
Hague Conventions, protocols & principles

UN Databases

United Nations Official Document System
The Official Document System (ODS) is an online database of UN documents from 1946 onward, including documents of the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiaries, as well as administrative issuances and other documents.
Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law 1997-2013
This publication, edited by the directors of the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany, constitutes the first scholarly periodical to focus on activities of the United Nations in the field of international law.
Dag Hammarskjold Library - UN Resources