Researching Refugee Law

Introduction

The Convention and the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees define a refugee as a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country ... ."

This guide focuses on research and resources relating to refugees, migration, human rights, and related issues.

Research Guides

Research guides are good sources to consult before and during a research project since they often discuss research methodology and strategy and highlight important print and electronic sources. Listed below are some guide on researching refugee law as well as researching related areas, such as human rights, treaties, and asylum law.

• Researching International Human Rights (UC Berkeley Law Library).
• Researching Treaties and International Agreements (UC Berkeley Law Library).
• Researching Asylum Cases (UC Berkeley Law Library).
• Guide to International Refugee Law Resources on the Web (LLRX.com).
• Update to Guide to Country Research for Refugee Status Determination (LLRX.com).
  • Update to Annex: Human Rights, Country and Legal Information Resources on the Internet (LLRX.com).
• Asylum, Immigration and Refugee Law (Boston University Law Library).
• Foreign and International Law Resources: An Annotated Guide to Web Sites Around the World: Immigration and Asylum Law (Harvard Law Library).
• Researching Immigration Law (University of Minnesota Law Library).
• ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law. Covers many subjects: human rights, treaties, the United Nations, and more.

International Instruments and Documents

In addition to the Refugee Convention and Protocol there are a number of other relevant human rights treaties, declarations, and other instruments related to refugee law. For a good explanation of international documents and bodies, see Refugee Protection: A Guide to International Refugee Law.

• UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Provides the text of the convention and protocol, status information, reservations and declarations, handbooks, and ExCom documents, and Travaux préparatoires.
  • Legal Protection Pages (under Protecting Refugees)
  • Research/Evaluation Pages.
    • Legal Information. Provides access to refugee policy documents, national legislation, international instruments, both universal and regional.
    • Country of Origin Information. Access to UNHCR documents, governmental documents, NGO reports.
  • REFWORLD CD-ROM. Contains international law, national legislation, and national case law. See Marci for access to this CD-ROM.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Web Site. Provides the texts of primary human rights instruments, including instruments related to Nationality, statelessness, asylum and refugees.
• UN Treaty Collection (UCB only). Access to the text of many treaties published in UNTS, plus status and ratification information.
• EISIL (Electronic Information System for International Law). See human rights category which provides links to the text of primary human rights and related instruments, plus usable citations, and links to other relevant sites.
• University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. A large collection of human rights instruments and documents.
• International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The ICRC provides access to the Geneva conventions, a humanitarian law treaties database, a national legislation database, and more information.
  • IHL Database. A large collection of international humanitarian law treaties and conventions, plus commentary.
  • National Implementation Database. A good collection of national legislation relating to humanitarian law.

Selected International Organizations

International organizations are a good source for reports and document on issues such as detention; country of origin conditions, etc. Many human rights organizations provide good documentation for refugee and asylum work. For more help researching human rights, see Researching International Human Rights Law.

Selected Inter-governmental Organizations (IGOs)

• United Nations Homepage. See topical pages, such as human rights and humanitarian affairs.
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The primary refugee IGO. Provides access to many documents, instruments and information related to refugee issues.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), Nationality, Statelessness, Asylum and Refugees page. Provides access to documents and news related to these issues. Also links to related issues, such as international humanitarian law and war crimes.
• UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). UN documents and information related to humanitarian issues.
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Policy document, development reports (Human Development Report and Arab Human Development Report).
• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC is a cross between an IGO and a NGO. Provides access to a tremendous amount of information re humanitarian law and issues. See also Refugees and IDPs page.
• International Organization for Migration (IOM). Information related to many issues related to migration. Access to UN resolutions and reports related to migration.

Selected Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

• Amnesty International, a human rights NGO. The Library provides news and reports by country, region, and topic. There is also a page devoted to refugee documents and news.
• Asylumlaw.org. This site provides several kinds of materials, including human rights reports on several countries by the governments of the UK and other countries. It provides resources for case support (country condition information), legal research, and links to other relevant sites. The site now includes over800 documents on country conditions, arranged by topics and country. They can be found by browsing the documents in the Case Support section. Briefs, an expert witness database, and a discussion forum are available by registering on the site (registration is free). There is a super search which allows the researcher to search 15 human rights databases at once.
• Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. Case summaries, gender asylum law documents, country condition reports, and links.
• Human Rights First
  • Material Support
• Human Rights Watch, another human rights NGO. Provides country condition information, as well as a page devoted to refugee issues.
• Refugee Council USA
  • Material Support
• Refugee Law Center, provides court and legal documents, country condition information and other documentation.
• U.S. Committee for Refugees. Worldwide refugee information, country conditions information, statistics, and more.

Other Relevant Web Sites

• IHL Research Portal. A collection of international instruments, reports, analysis and more. You must register to use, but the resource is free.
• INCORE Internet Country Guides. Links to reports and information re conflicts in various countries.
• Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN). A good source for news and information on humanitarian, refugees, human rights, and related issues.
• Forced Migration Online. Access to a wide variety of documents, articles, reports regarding forced migrants worldwide. Research guides and handbooks are also available.
• Global IDP Project. Documents, information, and links regarding the internally displaced.
• OneWorld.net. News and information regarding many human rights and refugee issues.
• ReliefWeb. Contains many documents and reports on humanitarian relief and operations. Good source of news.

Country Conditions

U.S. Law

See for a thorough outline of immigration legal research and sources.

Useful Books and Print Materials

• T. Alexander Aleinikoff, David A. Martin & Hiroshi Motomura, Immigration and Citizenship Process and Policy (5th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: West Group, 2003). [Patron Services, Course Reserve].
• Richard D. Steel, Steel on Immigration Law (2nd ed., New York, N.Y.: C. Boardman, 1992-) [Patron Services KF4819 .S84 1992]. Also available on Westlaw (STEEL).
• David S. Weissbrodt, Immigration Law and Procedure in a Nutshell (4th ed., St. Paul, MN.: West Group, 1998) [Patron Services KF4819.3 .W4 1998].
• Austin T. Fragomen et al., Immigration Law and Business (St. Paul, MN: West Group, 1983-) [KF4819 .F73].
• Charles Gordon and Stanley Mailman, Immigration Law and Procedure (Rev. ed., New York, N.Y.: Bender, [1966]-) [Patron Services KF4819 .G6].
• Interpreter Releases (New York: Foreign Language Information Service, 1924-) (Current issues at Patron Services, KF4802 .I57]. Also available on Westlaw from January 1987 (INTERREL).

Legislation

• USC, USCA, USCS (see Titles 8, 18, 29, and 42) in print.
• Lexis (Legal > Area of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Statutes & Legislative Materials > USCS - Immigration - Titles 8, 18, 29 and 42).
• Westlaw (FIM-USCA).
• United States Code.
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Laws, Regulations and Guides

U.S. Law — Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations

• CFR in print.
• Bender's Immigration Regulations Service ( [New York] : M. Bender, 1994-) [Patron Services, KF4819 .G61 1994].
• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > administrative Materials & Regulations > CFR-Immigration Titles).
• Westlaw (FIM-CFR).
• GPO Access.
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR).
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Laws, Regulations and Guides

Federal Register

• Current issues.
• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Administrative Materials & Regulations > Federal Register and CFR-Immigration).
• Westlaw (FIM-FR).
• Federal Register (GPO Access) (1994-present, plus search engine).
• Federal Register (USDOJ) (1996-present) .
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Laws, Regulations and Guides

U.S. Law — Administrative Decisions and Case Law

Board of Immigration Appeals Decisions (BIA)

• Attorney General and BIA Precedent Decisions.
• BIA Decisions (site includes index and precedent table) .
• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law -By Topic > Immigration > Administrative Materials & Regulations > Agency Decisions > Immigration Precedent Decisions) (from August 29, 1940) and (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Administrative Materials & Regulations > Agency Decisions > Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) & AAU Non-Precedent Decisions).
• Westlaw (FIM-BIA) (from August 1940).
• Administrative Decisions under Immigration & Nationality Laws (KF4812 .A2).

Decisions issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Administrative Appeals Unit ("AAU"). Office of Administrative Appeals

• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Administrative Materials & Regulations > Agency Decisions > Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) & AAU Non-Precedent Decisions).
• Westlaw (FIM-AAU) (from 1989).

OCAHO EFOIA Decisions (Immigration-related decisions issued by the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer of the US DOJ)

• OCAHO EFOIA Decisions (alphabetical by case name).
• OCAHO EFOIA Decisions (scroll to the bottom, arranged by volume).
• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Administrative Materials & Regulations > AGency Decisions> OFfice of Chief Administrative Hearing Officer Immigration Review Decisions) (from March 1988).
• Westlaw (FIM-OCAHO) (from March 1988).

Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals Decisions

• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Administrative Materials & Regulations > Agency Decisions > Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals Decisions) (from Feb. 1987).
• Westlaw (FIM-BALCA) (from Nov. 1987).
• Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) (Office of Administrative Law Judges).

Federal Decisions

• Lexis (Legal > Areas of Law-By Topic > Immigration > Cases > Federal Immigration Cases).
• Westlaw (FIM-CS), Supreme Court cases (FIM-SCT), Courts of Appeals Cases (FIM-CTA), and District Court cases (FIM-DCT).
• Decisions from the Supreme Court.
• Cases from US Circuit Courts of Appeals.
• Print resources.

Foreign and Comparative Law

This section of the guide focuses on sources for primary law for selected countries, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The Law Library collects the law for many jurisdictions, so please ask if you need to research other countries. For more assistance researching foreign law, see the Researching Foreign and Comparative Law guide. Some of the databases listed below with "UCB only" require that you set the proxy settings on your browser in order to access these materials from home. You will also need to enter your CALNET Id and Passphrase to gain access to these databases.

Constitutions

• Blaustein, Albert P., Constitutions of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1971-) [BSR K44 .C755]. This resource is also available on the web, see the Law Library's list of databases.
• International Constitutional Law.
• Constitution Finder (University of Richmond).
• Researching Constitutional Law on the Internet (University of Chicago).
• Collection of links to Constitutional Law sites on the Internet (WashLaw).

Legislation

• T. Reynolds & A. Flores, Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World (Littleton, CO: Rothman, 1989-) [Reference Desk K20.A1 R49]. See also the electronic version, Foreign Law Guide (UCB only). Arranged by country, it provides information on the legal system, legal resources, and information about selected legislation by topic. See the following topics: aliens, citizenship and nationality, and immigration and emigration.
• Country of Origin and Legal Information (UNHCR). Arranged by country, this portion of the UNHCR site contains legislation and other information.
• Annual Review of Population Law. This web site contains a database of summaries and excerpts of legislation, constitutions, court decisions, and other official government documents from every country in the world relating to population policies, reproductive rights and health, women's rights, HIV/AIDS and related topics.
• Legislationonline. Contains national legislation and other documents from the OSCE participating States regarding human rights issues and the rule of law. See the Citizenship and Migration sections in particular.
• An Annotated Guide to Web Sites Around the World (Harvard Law Library). Links to country web sites and national laws by subject.
• A Selective List of Guides to Foreign Legal Research (Columbia Law Library). Links to research guides for many countries.

Case law

• Researching Asylum Cases (UC Berkeley Law Library). This guide covers basic case law research for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Refugee Case Law (University of Michigan). Database containing contains cases from the highest national courts of Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
• Court Decisions by Country (Refugee Law Center). Provides selected decisions from Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand and the United States.

Locating Books in the Law Library

The Law Library has a tremendous amount of valuable print resources related to refugee law. Use the online catalog, LawCat, to locate relevant books and materials. While keyword searching is a good way to begin one's research, subject searching is also valuable. Relevant subject headings include:

Basic Documents on International Migration Law (2nd rev. ed., The Hague; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers; Cambridge, MA: Sold and distributed in the USA and Canada by Kluwer Law International, 1997).

Francis M. Deng, Internally Displaced Persons: Compilation and Analysis of Legal Norms (New York; Geneva: United Nations, 1998).

Ann Vibeke Eggli, Mass Refugee Influx and the Limits of Public International Law (The Hague; New York: Nijhoff; Norwell, MA: Distributed in North, Central, and South America by Kluwer Law International, 2002).

Human Rights and Forced Displacement (Anne F. Bayefsky and Joan Fitzpatrick eds., The Hague; Boston: M. Nijhoff Publishers, 2000).

Human Rights Protection for Refugees, Asylum-seekers, and Internally Displaced Persons: A Guide to International Mechanisms and Procedures (Joan Fitzpatrick ed., Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers, 2002).

Refugee Protection in International Law (Feller et al., eds., Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003). Available on the UNHCR web site.

Thomas Spijkerboer, Gender and Refugee Status (Aldershot, Hants, England; Burlington, Vt., USA: Ashgate/Dartmouth, 2000).

Mark Von Sternberg, The Grounds of Refugee Protection in the Context of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law: Canadian and United States Case Law Compared (The Hague; New York: M. Nijhoff Publishers, 2002).

Journal Literature

Please consult the Sources for Locating Journal Articles guide. This guide will highlight the best sources, beyond full-text articles on Lexis and Westlaw, for locating relevant journal articles. A thorough researcher will search journal indexes in order to find articles on the topic, see Index to Legal Periodicals (ILP), Legal Resource Index (LRI), Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP), Legal Journals Index (LJI), and Current Index to Legal Periodicals (CILP). Depending on the topic, law-related journal indexes are useful as well.

Other Useful Resources

The web sites of these organizations, groups and governmental bodies may provide some useful information on immigration and refugee issues.

• American Immigration Lawyers Association.
• Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
• Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board.
• Center for Immigration Studies.
• Center for Refugee Studies.
• Central American Refugee Center.
• Danish Immigration Service.
• European Council on Refugees and Exiles.
• New Zealand Immigration Service.
• Norwegian Refugee Council.
• RefugeeNET (the web site of the EU Networks on Reception, Integration and Voluntary Repatriation of Refugees).
• UK Immigration & Nationality Directorate.
• UK Refugee Council.
• U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics.

Prepared by Marci Hoffman, International and Foreign Law Librarian, UC Berkeley Law Library, January 2006.