Law Useful Websites: United Nations

This guide introduces selected general reference sources on United Nations legal materials in the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library.

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) has a database of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs). It lists them all with signature date and entry into force in the Country Lists of BITs and has a search form to allow you to find the full text.

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. The UNCITRAL Secretariat has established a system for collecting and disseminating information on court decisions and arbitral awards relating to the Conventions and Model Laws that have emanated from the work of the Commission.

The Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database is a repository of gender equality related provisions extracted from 195 constitutions from around the world. The countries are organized according to five geographical regions (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) and are reflective of the Member States and Territories of the United Nations. Although a number of constitutional websites and resources that contain constitutions on a global scale are available, this Global Gender Equality Constitutional Database is the first searchable database that specifically presents constitutional provisions through a gender lens.

United Nations Integrated Database of Trade Disputes for Latin America and the Caribbean

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is a United Nations court of law dealing with war crimes that took place during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990's.

Website of the United Nations on legal information related to international law

Utrecht’s SIM library of human rights jurisprudence has been reborn as "Jurisprudence" at the UN OHCHR website

Oceans and Law of the Sea Home Page of the UN.

Website of the principal human rights official Organisation of the United Nations. Links to relevant legislation and documents

Website provides commentary and coverage on the UN and UN-related issues.

United Nations website which has links to information on International and other subjects

The Audiovisual Library is a unique, multimedia resource which provides the United Nations with the unprecedented capacity to provide high quality international law training and research materials to an unlimited number of recipients on a global level. The Audiovisual Library consists of three pillars:
(1) the Historic Archives containing documents and audiovisual materials relating to the negotiation and adoption of significant legal instruments under the auspices of the United Nations and related agencies since 1945;
(2) the Lecture featuring a permanent collection of lectures on virtually every subject of international law given by leading international law scholars and practitioners from different countries and legal systems; and
(3) the Library providing an on-line international law library with links to treaties, jurisprudence, publications and documents, scholarly writings and research guides. The Audiovisual Library is available to all individuals and institutions around the world for free via the Internet.

Web page link to the guide to UN documentation.

The United Nations iLibrary is the first online platform for accessing the full text of books, journals and series etc published by the United Nations. Every year approximately 500 new titles are planned to be added to United Nations iLibrary. Roughly 70% of which are in English and cover a wide range of topics.

The website also provides a repository of documents relevant to the Rule of law.

The Index provides easy access to country-specific human rights information emanating from international human rights mechanisms in the United Nations system: the Treaty Bodies, the Special Procedures and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This tool aims at raising awareness of the human rights recommendations coming from these mechanisms and assisting governments, civil society organizations, national human rights institutions, and United Nations partners with their implementation. The Index allows the user to find out about human rights issues worldwide, and to see how the legal interpretation of international human rights law has evolved over the past ten years.