Human Rights Organizations

The Canada-U.S. Human Rights Information and Documentation Network (CUSHRID Net)
CUSHRID Net was developed to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information between human rights organizations; establishment of uniform standards for human rights documentation, information management and exchange; development of co-operative projects in the areas of documentation and information management to avoid duplication; training in various aspects of documentation and information management; and contacts and exchanges with information and documentation networks in other parts of the world. See their Directory of Human Rights Sites on the Internet.

Global Fund for Women
The Global Fund For Women is an international organization which focuses on female human rights. It supports issues as diverse as literacy, domestic violence, economic autonomy, and the international trafficking of women, among others. It supports women's groups based outside of the U.S. The GFW is the only United States-based organization that exclusively supports international women's rights groups. The Fund's three areas of concern are: Female human rights, Women's access to media and communications technology, and Women's economic autonomy.

Caucusus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD)
The Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development is a non-governmental, non-partisan, non-profit organization. Its main task is to provide the framework for pluralistic discussion, independent research and publishing activity concerning the problems of democratic transition, peace and sustainable economic development for the trans-Caucas region.

Human Rights Library, University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library contains a collection of over ninety of the most important international human rights treaties and other instruments; general comments, recommendations, decisions, and views of human rights treaty bodies; material on the work of other U.N. human rights bodies, including the Commission and its Sub-Commission; the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; decisions and advisory opinions of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; material from the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Asylum Branch of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; material on human rights in Africa, human rights education materials, human rights bibliographies; and links to other human rights sites. The treaties and general comments are accessible through a WAIS search device.

Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa
The Human Rights Research and Education Centre is a national centre devoted to the fields of equality rights, fundamental freedoms and social and economic rights, both domestic and international. It is the largest, most comprehensive facility of its kind in Canada. International projects include: Corporate Codes of Conduct and Cross-Border Due Diligence in Social Justice Issues, Good Governance in Thailand, Human Rights Mechanisms in Indonesia, China, Latin America, Rule of law, and Women's rights.

Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch conducts regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries around the world. It addresses the human rights practices of governments of all political stripes, of all geopolitical alignments, and of all ethnic and religious persuasions.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) home page has detailed information on the organization's structure and on its missions around the world. Many, if not most, of the texts describing its missions are available in English, Spanish, and French.

International Human Rights Database-DIANA
The DIANA database provides access to documents by organization or region.

Journal of Humanitarian Assitance
The purpose of the Journal is to bring together academics, policy makers and practitioners in the field of humanitarian assistance. The Journal aims to provide a means for policy debate, the sharing of lessons learned, and the fostering of cooperation within and between the different professions concerned with the many aspects of this work. The Journal encompasses all aspects of humanitarian assistance, from early warning, to emergency provision, to the transition to development, including: law, politics, the military, logistics, and the work of national and international organisations.

Peace Brigades International
Peace Brigades International (PBI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which protects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts. When invited, they send teams of volunteers into areas of repression and conflict. The volunteers accompany human rights defenders, their organizations and others threatened by political violence. Perpetrators of human rights abuses usually do not want the world to witness their actions. The presence of volunteers backed by a support network helps to deter violence. PBI creates space for local activists to work for social justice and human rights.

Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
Since 1974, the Washington Office on Latin America has worked to secure fundamental human rights in Latin America, to establish and strengthen democratic institutions and to shape U.S. foreign policy toward the hemisphere, cooperating with collegial organizations in Latin America.