Guides: Human Rights Law Research Guide: Secondary Sources: Treatises & Books

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Getting Started with Secondary Sources

If you are new to human rights law, or unfamiliar with a particular aspect thereof, start your research with a secondary source. In addition to providing background information, explanatory analysis, and commentary, secondary sources will help you to identify primary law materials that are relevant to your topic, such as treaties, country reports, national legislation, and case law.

In the column below, you will find a list of introductory resources on human rights law, as well as tips for locating additional resources. A selection of in-depth and specialized resources on human rights law from the Georgetown Law Library's collection is provided in column to the right.

Introductory Resources on Human Rights Law

Advanced Introduction to International Human Rights Law, 2nd ed.
Call Number: K3240 .S525 2020
This accessible introduction offers a concise overview of the current state of international human rights law, covering both the theoretical and practical aspects thereof, including its norms, institutions, and procedures.
A Dictionary of Human Rights
Call Number: K3239.3 .R67 2013 Electronic
This reference work includes more than 200 entries, each of which provides a detailed description or explanation of a key concept, issue, international organization, non-governmental organization, treaty or other legal instrument related to the study of human rights law.
Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights
Call Number: K3239.6 .E44 2022 Electronic
Published in 2022, the Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights includes over 340 articles written by renowned scholars and legal practitioners from more than 65 countries. Topics are arranged alphabetically and cover both substantive human rights, as well as relevant institutions, legal documents, and aspects of international law. The Many of the contributors have a grounding in the broader social sciences, making this a unique and multi-disciplinary resource.
Encyclopedia of Human Rights
Call Number: JC571 .E673 2009
Published in 2009 by Oxford University Press, this five-volume encyclopedia covers all aspects of human rights theory, practice, law, and history, focusing on developments since the end of World War II. It includes entries on fundamental rights, core legal instruments and norms, descriptions of key organizations and institutions, profiles of leading individuals, and summaries of major events and crises. Available in print and online.
Human Rights: An Introduction
Call Number: JC571 .O29 2013 Electronic
Provides a comprehensive overview of human rights and related issues from an inter-disciplinary perspective, using case studies and personal testimonials as illustrations.
International Human Rights in a Nutshell (5th ed.)
Call Number: Reading Room Study Aids K3240.4 .B84 2017
This entry in the popular Nutshell series provides an overview of human rights protections at the international, regional, and national levels. It also covers the treatment of human rights treaties and norms within the U.S. legal system, the role of non-governmental human rights organizations, and recent developments in human rights law.
International Human Rights Law (3rd ed.)
Call Number: K3240 .I583 2018
Written by leading experts in the field, the third edition of this textbook covers all the essential components of international human rights law, from foundational issues to substantive rights and systems of protection.
Oxford Handbook of International Human Rights Law
Call Number: K3240 .O94 2013 Electronic
Featuring contributions from more than 40 leading scholars, this comprehensive reference work traces the history and evolution of human rights law, including its moral and philosophical foundations. It goes on to describe the recognition of specific categories of rights, the role of the UN and international tribunals in enforcing these rights, the emergence of regional human rights systems, and the impact of human rights norms and doctrines on the development of international law.
Research Methods in Human Rights
Call Number: JF130 .R47 2017 Electronic
This collection of essays offers practical advice on how best to conduct human rights research in specific contexts. It features contributions from more than a dozen legal and social science scholars who employ different methodologies.
Women's Rights Are Human Rights
Call Number: KZ5010 .A2 HR/PUB/14/2
This publication introduces readers to the international legal instruments that recognize and safeguard the rights of women. It also describes the work of the UN bodies responsible for monitoring the compliance of countries that have ratified these instruments.

Find More Resources on Human Rights Law

To locate additional books on human rights law from the Georgetown Law Library's collection, use the Advanced Search and select Law Library Catalog. For greater precision, search for human rights as an exact phrase in the Subject field. In the following line, enter one or more keywords using the default Any Field setting: