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. Some key resources are linked below, more resources are available in our International Law guide.

Treaties

Treaties can be referred to by many 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.

Treaty websites and collections

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.
Australian International Treaty Making Information Kit
Answers to a number of frequently asked questions about the nature of treaties and why it is important for Australia to be involved in their negotiation; information about the constitutional arrangements which underpin treaty making and about how you can have an input into the process.

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.
Dag Hammarskjold Library (UN) - Treaty Research Guide
From the Dag Hammarskjold Library of the United Nations.
International Humanitarian Law Databases - Treaties & Documents
Includes the text of IHL treaties, related documents, and lists of signatories, ratifications, accessions, reservations, or declarations. It also provides the ICRC Commentaries on the 1949 Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, including updates as they are released.

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.
UN Documentation Research Guides | Dag Hammarskjold Library
Present an overview of selected UN documents, publications, databases, and websites.

Library

Legal research for non-law students: International materials