LibGuides: POLI 122: Politics of Human Rights (Spring 2023): Human Rights Resources

Use the resources on this page to find county-by-country background info and/or reports on key human rights issues.

Human Rights Indicators - UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation / Interactive Map: Status of Ratification of Human Rights Treaties / Map: Accreditation of National Human Rights Institutions
US Department of State - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
1993+. Reports cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights. Prepared by U.S. Department of State for Congress.
Also US Docs, Geisel Floor2 West
Previous years are available in Internet Archive
Human Rights by Country
from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Human Rights Watch - Regions
"Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people worldwide. We scrupulously investigate abuses, expose the facts widely, and pressure those with power to respect rights and secure justice. Human Rights Watch is an independent, international organization that works as part of a vibrant movement to uphold human dignity and advance the cause of human rights for all."
Amnesty International - Human Rights by Country
"Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights."
Freedom House - Freedom in the World
Country and territory reports covering population, political rights (numerical rating), civil liberties (numerical rating), status (Free, Partly Free, or Not Free), and a 10-year ratings timeline.
Attacks on the Press by Year and Region
A Worldwide Survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists
RefWorld: National Legislation / National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities
Laws relating to refugees, human rights, citizenship, etc.

Migrant and Immigrant Population Demographics

Migration Policy Institute - Migration Data Hub
Includes country and comparative data, including many country profiles (with links) and US trends.
Migration & Remittances Data - World Bank
Includes fact book that provides a snapshot of migration and remittances for all countries, regions and income groups of the world, annual remittances data, bilateral migration matrix, and some downloadable datasets.
OECD iLibrary Migration indicators
In particular, note the table for Inflows of foreign population by nationality
Operations Portal: Refugee Situations
Information sharing portals with data about UNHCR and partners’ response to the current emergencies and other protracted refugee crises.

Use these guides find cross national data sources by topic.

International Government Data & Statistics
From UC Berkeley. List arranged by subject: Children & Families, Crime & Security, Development, Economics, Food & Commodities, Education & Culture, Environment, Health, Population, Politics & Elections, Social & Humanitarian, Urban & Housing, Women & Gender, Microdata, Open Data

Use these sources for overviews of current issues in individual countries.

CIA World Factbook
Latest edition of annual survey, with profiles of all countries and territories from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Internet Archive version includes captures back to 2007 and archives back to 2000. FDLP Archive version includes downloads back to 2000.

Political Risk Yearbook
The Political Risk Yearbook is an annual publication that “contains all 100 Political Risk Services’ Country Reports updated to the previous December, demarcated along regional lines, using the globally-recognized Coplin-O’Leary political risk rating methodology.” Included in Business Source Complete.

Economist Intelligence Unit (UCSD Portal)
Portal to UCSD-subscribed EIU content. Includes searchable online archive (1996- ) and feed of Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) global country publications. Strong on current political, economic, and business affairs worldwide.
Europa World Plus
Economic, political, historical, and geographic profiles of countries and global regions. Contact info for political, business, media, and cultural agencies and officials. Search or browse by country, region, organization, or people. Access limited to 1 user at a time. Try again later if refused.

Use these sources to find country-level (and sometimes smaller) data on a plethora of topics.

Sage Data (formerly Data-Planet)
Provides easy access to statistical data. Data is downloadable in Excel and CSV, and shapefiles when multiple geographies are covered. Sources include: Bombay Stock Exchange, British Bankers' Association, Chicago Board Options, Exchange, China Data Center, D&B (Dun & Bradstreet), Dave Leip's Atlas of US Presidential Elections, Defense Manpower Data Center, Deutsche Börse Group, Dow Jones, Easy Analytic Software Inc. (EASI), Eurostat, FTSE Group, HSI Services Limited (Hong Kong), International Monetary Fund, London Bullion Market Association , London Platinum & Palladium Market, NASDAQ OMX Group, National Bureau of Economic Research, Nikkei, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Standard & Poor's, World Bank, World Resource Institute, Xignite, and many US Federal agencies. See the Data-Planet Libguides for more detail.
ProQuest Statistical Insight
1973-present. Huge database of citations to statistical publications from U.S. federal and state governments, international agencies, nonprofit and educational institutions, and private publishers including trade and industry groups. Full text of the publication or report is often included, and many tables are downloadable in Excel. Particularly good for demographic and country-level information. Previous name Statistical Universe.
As of 2020, subscription includes:
Statistical Insight Tables
Statistical Insight Statistical Reference Index Full Text
Statistical Insight American Statistics Index Abstracts and Indexing ONLY (no current full text)
ProQuest Statistical Insight IIS Abstracts and Indexing Web Service (no current full text)
ProQuest Statistical Insight SRI Abstracts and Indexing Web Service
ProQuest Statistical Abstracts of the World
A collection of the statistical abstracts of various countries, both individually searchable and cross searchable. These statistical abstracts are generally issued by the national statistical offices of foreign governments and contain country-level data not easily found elsewhere. Global and regional statistical compendia issued by international organizations and research firms are also included.

Country Statistical Yearbooks
List of statistical yearbooks by country compiled by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries
UN Data
Wide range of economic, social, cultural, and demographic indicators: population, environment, health, economics, technology, trade, refugees, and more.
AidData
AidData is a collaborative initiative to provide products and services that promote the dissemination, analysis, and understanding of development finance information. At the core of the AidData program is the AidData web portal, which is a gateway to nearly 1 million records of development finance activities from donors around the world.
EuroStat
Top place to look for European statistics on economy and finance, population and social conditions, industry, trade, and services, agriculture and fisheries, transport, environment and energy, science and technology, and general and regional statistics.
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Eurostat is the Statistical Office of the European Communities. Its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level. By harmonising statistics from the European statistical system (ESS) to a single methodology, the statistics are made comparable.
FAOSTAT
On-line statistical databases covering international statistics in agriculture, food production, trade, forest products, fisheries and more. From the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Human Development Report
Full text of UNDP Human Development Reports, from 1990 to the next to most current year, plus national Human Development Reports and an excellent statistics section on industrialized and developing countries. Includes the Human Development Index and related indicators for Health, Education, Income/Composition of Resources, Inequality, Gender, Poverty, Work, employment and vulnerability, Human Security, Trade and Financial Flows, Mobility and Communication, Environmental sustainability, Demography, Socio-economic sustainability.
ILOSTAT
International Labour Organization (ILO) Database on International Labor Statistics, offering annual data from 1979 to the present for a wide range of variables, including employment and unemployment, earnings, wages, strikes and more.

IMF eLibrary Data
Provides comprehensive access to International financial statistics (IFS), Balance of payments statistics (BOPS), Direction of trade statistics (DOTS), and Government finance statistics (GFS) databases. View and download predefined data reports or create.

InterAmerican Development Bank - Specialized Datasets
Statistics for Latin American countries, offering annual data (from 1990) on a wide range of variables, including national accounts, balance of payments, prices, labor statistics, and more.

International Country Risk Guide: Table 3B: Political Risk Points by Component
The ICRG Researcher's Dataset - Table 3B provides annual averages of the 12 components of ICRG's Political Risk Ratings (Table 3B), as published in the International Country Risk Guide since 1984. Average ratings are provided for all countries covered by ICRG from 1984 through the last full calendar year.

International Telecommunication Union statistics

International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events (ITERATE), 1968 - [most recent]
The ITERATE project is an attempt to quantify data on the characteristics of transnational terrorist groups, their activities which have international impact, and the environment in which they operate.

Millennium Development Goals Indicators
Has official data, definitions, methodologies and sources for more than 60 indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Military Balance (Institute for Strategic Studies)
Annual publication with detailed statistical information about the world's militaries including budget, enlisted personnel, and firepower.
Monthly Bulletin of Statistics
The latest economic statistics and population estimates for most countries and areas of the world. Issued by the United Nations.

OECD iLibrary
OECD iLibrary is the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development's Online Library for Books, Papers and Statistics and the gateway to its analysis and data. Coverage includes development, economics, education, energy, environment, scitech, social issues, and more.

openAfrica
openAFRICA aims to be the largest independent repository of open data on the African continent.
Penn World Table
Alan Heston, Robert Summers, and Bettina Aten
The Penn World Table provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 168 countries starting with 1950.
SIPRI Databases
Facts on international relations and security trends
SIPRI multilateral peace operations database
SIPRI military expenditure database
SIPRI arms transfers database
SIPRI arms embargoes database
SIPRI national reports database
Statistics Canada
Canada's national statistical agency. Includes data on the Canadian economy, population, labour force, education, health and much more.
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Some data is available only for purchase.
Sustainable Development Goals
Click on Engage > Member States for country-level goals, statements, documents, and reports.
Sustainable Development Goals Indicators Database
Provides access to data compiled through the UN System in preparation for the Secretary-General's annual report on "Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals"

UNdata
Single search interface for data produced and collected by various United Nations (UN) organizations. Provides 442 economic, social, cultural, health, and demographic data series for countries of the world. Data providers include UN, UNESCO, FAO, WHO, IMF, UNICEF, ITU, and World Bank. Some indicators reach back as far as the 1940s.

UN Member States On the Record
Provides direct access to official documents reflecting the views of United Nations Member States by bringing together in one place documents available elsewhere.
UN Statistics Division
Links several free databases from UN Statistics Division.
UNESCO Institute for Statistics
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) statistical institute website. Includes statistical data sets of world education and literacy indicators, and selected data from the UNESCO Statistical Yearbook.
USAID
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. The site provides an overview of each county where the agency does work.
World Bank DataBank
DataBank is an analysis and visualisation tool that contains collections of time series data on a variety of topics. You can create your own queries; generate tables, charts, and maps; and easily save, embed, and share them. Includes World Development Indicators...
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Statistical Capacity Indicators, Education Statistics, Gender Statistics, Health Nutrition and Population Statistics, Poverty and Equity, Doing Business, IDA Results Measurement System, Millennium Development Goals, Quarterly Public Sector Debt, Joint External Debt Hub, Job, Global Economic Prospects, Africa Development Indicators, Population estimates and projections, Health Nutrition and Population Statistics by Wealth Quintile, Landmine Contamination Casualties and Clearance (LC3D), Enterprise Surveys, Global Economic Monitor (GEM), Exporter Dynamics Database, Arica Development Entrepreneurship, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Sustainable Mobility for All, PPPs Regulator Quality, Human Capital Index, World Bureaucracy Indicators, Logistics Perfomance Index (LPI), Health Equality and Financial Protection Indicators (HEFPI), Global Financial Inclusion and Consumer Protection Survey, Economic Fitness, Environment Social and Governance (ESG) Data, MIX Market, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), International Comparison Program (ICP) 2011, Wealth Accounts, Economic Fitness, Africa Infrastructure, International Debt Statistics (formerly Global Development Finance), Global Bilateral Migration, UNCTAD - Trade Analysis Information System (TRAINS), International Comparison Program (ICP) 2005, Global Financial Inclusion, The Atlas of Social Protection: Indicators of Resilience and Equity, Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, Global Partnership for Education, Global Financial Development, G20 Financial Inclusion Indicators, ESCAP World Bank: International Trade Costs, Sustainable Energy for All, Service Delivery Indicators, Adjusted Net Savings, Indonesia Database for Policy and Economic Research, Subnational Malnutrition, LAC EQUITY LAB, India Power Sector Review Database, Country Partnership Strategy for India (FY2013-17), Agriculture in Africa – Telling Facts from Myths, National Poverty Line - Subnational Poverty, Quarterly External Debt Statistics GDDS, Quarterly External Debt Statistics SDDS, Subnational Population
Country Studies from the Library of Congress
Each online book contains historical and cultural background information on the country it covers. Formerly known as the Area Handbooks from the Department of the Army.
International Statistical Agencies
Links to the official statistical agencies of foreign countries.

Finding Key Human Rights Documents

Human Rights Library - University of Minnesota
*The* site to begin human rights research. Comprehensive site includes full-text documents, treaties, international agreements, and more.
Human Rights - United Nations Documentation: Research Guide
Research guide to UN materials dealing with human rights, with links to full text when available.
Council of Europe Human Rights and Rule of Law
Contains news and full-text legal documents
OHCHR Jurisprudence
This database provides easy access to jurisprudence emanating from the United Nations Treaty Bodies which receive and consider complaints from individuals: the Human Rights Committee (CCPR), the Committee against Torture (CAT), the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Project Diana: Human Rights Cases (Project Avalon)
Contains articles, documents, and links to resources in a variety of subject areas
Human Rights Texts: Converting Human Rights Primary Source Documents into Data
Replication data for Fariss CJ, Linder FJ, Jones ZM, Crabtree CD, Biek MA, Ross A-SM, et al. (2015) Human Rights Texts: Converting Human Rights Primary Source Documents into Data. PLoS ONE 10(9): e0138935. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138935. Corpus of over 14,000 reports and documents from human rights organizations.

Visual History Archive (VHA)
USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive allows users to search through and view more than 54,000 video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of genocide.

Initially a repository of Holocaust testimony, the Visual History Archive has expanded to include testimonies from the Armenian Genocide that coincided with World War I, the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China, the Cambodian Genocide of 1975-1979, the Guatemalan Genocide of 1978-1983, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the ongoing conflicts in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, and anti-Rohingya mass violence. It also includes testimonies about contemporary acts of violence against Jews. . Individual Registration required.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
For quick reference