InSITE
A Current Awareness Service of
Cornell Law Library

ISSN 1521-9046

ARCHIVE

Vol. 17, no. 5
October 17, 2011
InSITE highlights selected law-related World Wide Web sites in two ways: as an annotated publication issued electronically and in print; and as a keyword-searchable database.

The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. These information can be accessed as following:

    1. Current Issue
    2. Archived Issues
    3. Searchable Database
    4. RSS Feeds RSS FEED of the Current Issue Editions [What is RSS?]
    5. E-mail subscription: send the following request to lyris@cornell.edu:
      join INSITE-L 'your name'
      where your name(include the quotation marks) is the name you want to be available to the list's administrator. You must send this message from the e-mail address where you want to receive the e-list's messages
    6. In print format for the Cornell Law School community

Global Witness
    URL: http://www.globalwitness.org/
    Global Witness (GW) was founded in 1993 and has offices in Washington D.C. and London. Since its founding, Global Witness has been running campaigns against "natural resource-related Global Witness (GW) was founded in 1993 and has offices in Washington D.C. and London. Since its founding, Global Witness has been running campaigns against "natural resource-related conflict and corruption and associated environmental and human rights abuses." Through advocacy and investigations, GW hopes to solve what they call the "resource curse." This curse harms the citizens of resource-rich countries because conflict over abundant timber, minerals, and other natural resources has led to corruption, destabilized governments, and war. The website provides significant information about the group and its work. The core of the site includes the Campaigns and News and reports sections. The Campaigns section provides detailed discussion of GW’s core activities. Users can access explanations of GW campaigns in four areas: corruption, conflict, accountability, and environment. Each of these is sub-divided into specific areas. For example, the conflict section includes specific treatment of "conflict diamonds," "conflict minerals," and "post conflict reconstruction." Users may also look at campaigns by country, including Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela. The News and reports section allows users to find content by selecting various parameters. Users may identify issues and campaigns, regions and countries, and type of document to obtain needed material. This allows users to tap into a large database of documents in an orderly way. The site is available in English, French, and Chinese.
    [Author: M. Morrison]
International Committee of the Red Cross
    URL: http://www.icrc.org/
    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an independent, neutral organization that provides humanitarian assistance throughout the world, while working to protect war victims through the rule of law. The ICRC website features a Resource Centre tab that provides well-organized access to publications and films, photos, maps, annual reports, International Humanitarian Law (IHL) databases, library and research services, ICRC archives, event information, links to outside websites, a gift shop, and a video newsroom. Navigation of the materials is best done on the Resource Centre page, which provides both browsing and searching options. Materials are arranged for browsing by category, including Document Type (most helpful), Humanitarian Law generally, and Current Issues, among others. The search engine offers both standard and advanced search options, and the results may be organized by relevance or date. Both search options function well, but the advanced option naturally provides more helpful features, such as the opportunity to employ phrases and narrow by date. A nearby link provides access to an extensive list of search tips with examples. Result lists may be further narrowed by category or refined by searching within the list. Although most materials are available for free, some require a nominal fee. English is the predominant language, and some items are available in both English and French. ICRC’s quarterly publication, the International Review of the Red Cross, is available in HTML and PDF formats. Another significant set of resources, the ICRC databases on international humanitarian law, are also available through the website’s Resource Centre tab. The databases contain approximately 100 IHL treaties, commentaries on the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, current signatory lists and an implementation database. Materials are organized by topic, date and country, and together comprise an extremely valuable resource for humanitarian law research. Finally, in addition to the extensive electronic materials offered online through their website, the ICRC website also provides information about its physical library and research services available to the public, including their catalog of over 140,000 books, periodicals, videos, photos and CD-ROMS about international humanitarian law, humanitarian work and ICRC activities.
    [Author: A. Emerson]
WRAP: Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production
    URL: http://www.wrapcompliance.org/
    Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) “is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the certification of lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing throughout the world.” Its focus is on the apparel, footwear, and sewn products sectors, but it has expanded to include certification of facilities in other labor intensive sectors such as hotels, construction and food. As of 2009, WRAP had 1,850 factories from 60 countries involved in the program and had issued over 1,400 certificates. The website lists WRAP’s 12 Principles which are based on generally accepted international workplace standards and include principles on topics such as prohibition of child labor, hours of work, compensation and benefits, and health and safety. Companies fill out an application form provided on the site and are given a self-assessment handbook. Companies are then monitored by an independent monitor, accredited by WRAP, and if the audit is satisfactory, the facility is given one of three levels of certification for a one year period. The website also includes information about training for internal auditors under the auspices of the International Register of Certified Auditor (IRCA) the world’s largest certification body for managerial systems auditors. The site has links to news and media stories about WRAP, a list of events scheduled throughout the year, an “About Us” section in English, Vietnamese, Chinese and Bangla, and a FAQ section. There is also a WRAP blog although it only has two postings and no recent activity. The website serves as a clearing house for WRAP’s programs and makes applications for certificates available. While the majority of the site is open to the public, links for certificate renewals, monitor logins, and status updates for facilities all require a password. Finally there is a list of accredited consulting firms to provide training and consulting services to facilities seeking certification to WRAP’s Apparel Code of Conduct. The site brings all the elements of WRAP together in a clean interface that is easy to navigate. The process for accreditation is simply explained and the tools necessary to accomplish certification or assist with certification are provided in one place.
    [Author: J. Callihan]


InSITE contributors: J. Callihan, A. Emerson, M. Morrison, J. Pajerek (editor)
© 2011 Cornell Law Library

The contents of this publication and any recommendations therein are the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of Cornell University.