Environment, Biodiversity and Climate

Antarctic Treaty System - Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) Major Global Environmental Instruments

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, UNEP, Geneva, Switzerland.

Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)  carries the text of the treaty as well as updated appendices and notifications on endangered species.   

Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention), IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.

Convention to Combat Desertification, Geneva, Switzerland. (Under construction)

Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (ENTRI)  Full text, summaries and status of treaties and other international agreements related to global environmental change.  Maintained by Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network.

European Environmental Law  Full text cases and legislation on European Community Environmental Law as well as conference listings, discussion forums, reviews and links.  Housed at Maastricht University. 

Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission.

International Water  Law Project 

International Whaling Commission Secretariat for the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

Internet Guide to International Fisheries Law  Includes Fisheries Agreements and texts dealing with marine mammals and other species.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: International Agreements Concerning Living Marine Resources of Interest to NOAA Fisheries 

North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, Montreal, Canada.

Ozone Secretariat Nairobi, Kenya. Maintains the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and  Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database From Oregon State University, a searchable database of summaries and full text of 150 water-related treaties.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Secretariat

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat  

United Nations Environment Programme Register of  Environmental Conventions

Human Rights/Humanitarianism

Bayefsky.com Database on the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System from York University. All material is organized by state and by subject matter. Includes detailed guidance on using the complaint option of the treaty system.

European Convention on Human Rights Strasbourg, European Court of Human Rights.

Fourth World Documentation Archive From the Center for World Indigenous Studies.

Human Rights Web Includes a Summary of UN Agreements on Human Rights.

International Humanitarian Law Database From the International Committee of the Red Cross.   

Project Diana An international human rights database from Yale Law School.

UN Documentation Research Guide on Human Rights  

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: International Human Rights Instruments

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Treaty Bodies Database 

UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights 

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library has a well-organized, comprehensive, and easy-to-use collection of human rights treaties and instruments. This site includes citations to print sources for each instrument.   

Native Americans

Indian Affairs Laws and Treaties  From Oklahoma State University. Treaties arranged by date.

Native American Treaties  Searchable database of treaties. 

Oceans

International Maritime Organization Conventions 

United Nations Division of Ocean Affairs  and the Law of the Sea 

Private International Law

Hague Conventions on Private International Law Texts and status information. Includes bibliographies and translations. 

UNIDROIT International Conventions drawn up by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) and adopted at diplomatic conferences convened by member States of UNIDROIT. Texts and status information.   

U. S. Department of State. Office of the Legal Advisor; Private International Law  "The purpose of this web site is to provide a convenient location to find treaties in force for the United States, other international instruments, and information on current negotiations and projects covering the private international law of such areas as trade and commerce, finance and banking, trusts and estates, family and children matters, and international judicial assistance.

Status Information

Current status of multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations  This is a subscription database available to authorized users of the Ginn Library.

United Nations Department of Disarmament Affairs page on the status of Multilateral Arms Regulation and Disarmament Agreements.

U.S. Department of State

• Treaties in Force
• Treaty Actions

U.S. Senate Legislation and Records: Treaties  This site identifies treaties received from the President, treaties on the Executive Calendar, treaties approved by the Senate, and listings of other recent treaty status actions, including treaties that were rejected by the Senate or withdrawn by the President, during the current Congress.

Trade and Commercial Relations

Bilateral Investment Treaties from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

Codex Alimentarius FAO/WHO Food Standards

European Free Trade Association (EFTA)  

Income Tax Treaties from the United States Internal Revenue Service.  

International Alternative Dispute Resolution Treaties and Conventions in international arbitration of commercial disputes.

Juris International At the University of Montreal, a searchable database of international trade treaties.  

Lex Mercatoria & International Trade/Commercial Law Monitor  A comprehensive site, housed at the University of Tromso in Norway, which includes connections to trade documents, conventions, law resources, international organizations and news sources. 

MERCOSUR Secretariat  This is the official MERCOSUR site.  A detailed resource with treaties, maps and regulations. 

NAFTA Secretariat  This body of NAFTA is responsible for administration of the dispute settlement provisions of the Agreement. The site includes dispute settlement provisions, procedural timelines, decisions and links.  

NAFTA Treaty  An indexed, full-text version of the North American Free Trade Agreement. 

Organization of American States (OAS) Trade Documents  Full text trade agreements between countries of the Western Hemisphere. Includes multilateral agreements (e.g., WTO/GATT), free trade agreements (e.g., NAFTA), bilateral agreements, regional scope agreements (e.g., ALADI), customs unions agreements (e.g., Mercosur, Caricom), etc. 

Trade Compliance Center  From the Department of Commerce,  the TCC helps US exporters receive the fullest benefits from the more than 200 trade agreements the US has signed.  This site contains a Trade Agreement Database and Market Access Information with reports and country commercial and trade practice guides.  Links to other U.S. and world trade information sites.

UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) 

UN Convention of Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (UNCISG)  Housed at the Pace University School of Law, Institute of International Commercial Law, this site is dedicated to the uniform international sales law.  Includes CISG treaty texts, cases (in a searchable database), scholarly information on CISG and links to other International Trade sites.  

U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)  The USTR is a tremendous source for information and insight into the U.S. government's position on international trade issues.  This comprehensive site offers sections on the WTO, trade sectors, trade and the environment, speeches and  testimony and text of USTR negotiated agreements.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland  

WIPO Administered Treaties (World Intellectual Property Organisation)

World Trade Organization  The site is divided into two sections -- Trade Topics and Resources.  The Trade Topics include:  Goods, Services, Intellectual Property, Environment, Development, Policy Review, Dispute Settlements (which includes an overview of current disputes, panel and appellate body reports and adopted panel reports), Government Procurement, Research and Analysis and others.  In the Resources section, you will find news releases, the Uruguay Round Agreements and Trade Statistics.