Title: HUDOC - Human Rights Documentation

Source/Sponsoring Agency: European Court of Human Rights; Directorate of Human Rights (Council of Europe)

URL: http://www.dhcour.coe.fr/hudoc/

Date Checked:       Status: Active

Date Annotated: 10/19/99

Topics: Human Rights Law

Other keywords: European Court of Human Rights; Court Decisions; European Convention on Human Rights; Council of Europe

Contents: HUDOC (Human Rights Documentation) is a web-based database that provides access to the case law of the control bodies established under the European Convention on Human Rights, namely, the European Court of Human Rights, the European Commission of Human Rights, and the Committee of Ministers. A sophisticated search engine permits finely-tuned searches for decisions on admissibility, reports on merits, reports concerning friendly settlements, judgments, decisions, Article 32 resolutions, Article 54 resolutions, and commission reports (as of October 31, 1999). Although Protocol 11 inaugurated a new control mechanism under a single court on November 1, 1998, previous case law is still available in the database; in fact, HUDOC is systematically adding older cases while frequently updating the database with newly rendered cases. For assistance in using the site, an extensive user guide is available as a PDF file; an online help section is also available. The HUDOC site is bilingual (French and English), and has links to the Directorate of Human Rights of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, which sponsor the site. HUDOC is an essential resource for those interested in human rights concerns in Europe.

Author of Annotation: D. Smith