Working Group: Women's Human Rights Resources

Facilitating women's human rights research across the globe 

By: Emma Tomas (2L) and Nancy You (2L)

Photo Credit: Narih Lee 

Leads: Emma Tomas (2L) and Nancy You (2L)

Members: Ashley Chana (1L), Victoria Element (1L), Milana Grahovac (1L), Aditi Mallavrapu (LLM), Serena Meghji (1L), Megan Peters (1L), Michaila Pilcher (1L), Jackem Stewart (1L), Christine Wang (1L), Nicky Young (2L), and Christy Zsa (2L).

What are the objectives of the working group and what kind of work do members of the working group do?

The Women’s Human Rights Resources (WHRR) database provides annotations for key United Nations (UN) documents and leading scholarly articles on a range of topics from economic globalization to reproductive rights to armed conflict. The WHRR database receives more than 15,000 hits per month, with diverse users from over 100 countries. This year’s group will continue to update the existing content while adding new content from the UN.

When and how did the partnership between the organization and Faculty of Law come about? How does the organization support your work?  

The WHRR database was created in 1995 and has since become an important tool for human rights defenders, professionals, and international law scholars. The database provides a roadmap for scholarly and academic research, facilitating and disseminating research across the globe. Each source is categorized based on type (article, document, or link), subject matter, and author. With the help of the Bora Laskin Law Library in 2011, the WHRR Working Group was initiated to keep the WHRR database current and to ensure that professionals and scholars around the world can continue to access recent key resources for the various subjects in the central location of the database. 

How does this working group contribute to the IHRP experience?  

Participating in the working group is an effective and rewarding way to develop legal research and writing skills outside the classroom while exploring important topics in international law. Students gain foundational knowledge and become well-versed on the latest issues surrounding women’s human rights. The working group is continuously working to grow the Faculty of Law’s own resource database that promotes the dissemination of research and information on international women’s human rights. 

The Women’s Human Rights Resources Database can be accessed at https://library.law.utoronto.ca/womens-human-rights-resources-programme-whrr.