--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 12:22:51 +0100
From: Elisa Mason <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: For moderation - Country Conditions
Sender: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]

Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
Message-ID: <000501bff561$80f2eca0$1362ff3e@todd>


Dear List Members,

For info., some new resources are now available that can assist you with
country conditions research in support of the refugee status determination
process.

Asylumlaw.org has "developed a tool to help streamline researching country
conditions."  Referred to as "Super-Search," it's available at
http://asylumlaw.org/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/webinator/metanew4 and it allows
users to search the complete texts of multiple sources of human rights and
refugee documentation at once. The sources currently searched include:
Asylumlaw.org, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Refugee Review
Tribunal in Australia, the Refugee Status Appeal Authority in New Zealand,
the UN Commission on Human Rights and its Sub-Commission, the UK Home Office
Reports, and U.S. State Department Reports.  More information about the
service is provided at http://www.asylumlaw.org/site_map/site_map3.htm.

A similar "meta-search" engine was developed last year by the University of
Minnesota Human Rights Library.  It's not quite as focused as Super-Search,
since it searches major human rights and refugee web sites generally, but
you can choose to search a greater number of resources at the same time
(currently, 15).  To try out some sample searches, go to
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/lawform.html or
http://heiwww.unige.ch/humanrts/lawform.html (European mirror).

A more recent development at the University of Minnesota Human Rights
Library is a "Country Conditions" service that links directly to the most
current reports produced by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, U.S.
Department of State and Writenet on a country-by-country basis. See
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/asylum/country_conditions.html or the European
mirror at http://heiwww.unige.ch/humanrts/asylum/country_conditions.html.
This kind of detailed breakdown adds a lot of value in that it provides the
user with a greater degree of specificity than is normally available through
directories; however, it also can be quite a challenge to maintain since the
links and the listing must be updated as soon as new reports are published
in order to ensure reliable access to current information.

Examples of other directories with links to relevant country information:

INCORE Regional Internet Guides -
http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/countries/index.html
- Although not every country is covered, the guides that are available link
to much more than individual reports: e-mail lists, organizations, news,
maps, academic articles, etc. No new guides have been added to the list
since September 1999, nor have existing ones been updated.

Internet Directory (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada) -
http://www.irb.gc.ca/research/webdir/index_e.stm
- This database of internet resources is quite extensive, as it includes web
directories, country information sources, and serials (journals,
newsletters), organized on a country and regional basis.  The current
edition is dated May 1999.

Several country of origin information sources not covered by the
above-mentioned tools include the following:

Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, Publications -
http://www.cidh.oas.org/publications.htm
- Includes annual reports as of 1991 and individual country reports.
Available in English and Spanish.

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, Publications -
http://www.ihf-hr.org/publicat.htm
- Looks at human rights conditions in OSCE participating states.  IHF's
annual reports provide a country-by-country analysis of human rights
developments.  The 2000 report is available in pdf format, while previous
ones (1997-1999) are in html.

REFQUEST - http://www.irb.gc.ca/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/refquest_e?
REFINFO - http://www.irb.gc.ca/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/refinfo_e?
- These are two bilingual resources produced by the Immigration and Refugee
Board of Canada.  They're also examples of what's often referred to as the
"invisible web" -- they are accessible via the web, but because they are
housed in specialized databases and not as html documents, they cannot be
searched using traditional web search tools.  Instead, users must search
them locally.  However, given the advances made in search engine technology,
this problem will most likely be resolved in the near future.

Swiss Federal Office for Refugees, Information Papers -
http://www.asyl.admin.ch/franz/publ3f.htm
- In French and German.  Focuses on the countries of origin of
asylum-seekers in Switzerland.

Elisa Mason
Consultant, Forced Migration Portal Project

--- End Forwarded Message ---



%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%