International Refugee Law: Sources To Support Safe Harbor Participants & Other Interns: Refugee Case Databases & Tips To Find Foreign Cases

• The Refugee Law Reader: Cases, Documents and Materials - BLS Prof. Maryellen Fullerton is on the editorial board.

• Refworld > Search Case Law

Also:

UNHCR, Compilation of Case Law on Refugee Protection in International Law (Mar. 2008)

• In Westlaw, there are ALR International annotations interpreting the 1951 Convention and the Torture Convention, such as:
  • Construction and Application of Article 1A of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, Regarding Term "Refugee"--Global Cases, 1 A.L.R. Int'l 599.
  • Construction and Application of Article 33 of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, Regarding Prohibition of Expulsion or Return--Global Cases, 2 A.L.R. Int'l 259.
  • Construction and Application of Article 1F of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, Regarding Exclusion of Certain Individuals Based on Crimes or Acts--Global Cases, 3 A.L.R. Int'l 235.
  • Construction and Application of Article 31(1) of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees, July 28, 1951, 189 U.N.T.S. 137, Regarding Penalties Imposed on Refugees Unlawfully in Country of Refuge—Global Cases, 4 A.L.R. Int'l 105.
  • Construction and Application of Article 1C of United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Refugees Regarding Cessation of Refugee Circumstances--Global Cases, 5 A.L.R. Int'l 1  
  • Construction and Application of Article 1 of United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, or Punishment, Dec. 10, 1984, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85, and Implementing Legislation—Definition of Term “Torture”—Non-United States Cases, 4 A.L.R. Int'l 165.

• RefWorld > Search Case Law

Can sort case law by Country and Keywords.

• European Network on Statelessness, Statelessness Case Law Database

• Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Instructions for attorneys working on individual asylum cases to create an account and to access CGRS' TA Library of litigation support resources.

Related:

• American University, Washington College of Law, Gender Jurisprudence and International Criminal Law Project

Provides decisions and orders of international/ized criminal courts and tribunals that address issues relating to sexual and gender-based violence.

• New Zealand: RefNZ Indexes of Cases

• United States: U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals, BIA Precedent Chart (headnotes arranged by topic)

• Immigration Law--A Comparative Approach: Guide to Researching Immigration Law of Australia, Canada and the United States (Jan./Feb. 2024)
• Update: Researching the Legal Aspects of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (Feb. 2016)

• World Legal Information Institute: Category: Courts and Case Law
  • WLII allows you to search free sources of decisions published by many foreign courts and tribunals.  For some countries, such as Australia, WLII also links to case citators. 
  • Links to  WLII "Courts and Case Law" pages for:

• Australia
  • Also supports searches of Migration Review Tribunal decisions and Refugee Review Tribunal decisions. 
  • Additional material may be available through AUSTLII.

• Canada
  • Also supports searches of Immigration and Refugee Board decisions.
  • Additional material may be available through CANLII.

• Hong Kong, China
  • Additional material may be available through HKLII.

• Ireland
  • Additional material may be available through BIALII.

• New Zealand
  • Link to RefNZ's indexes of cases
  • Additional material may be available through NZLII.

• South Africa
  • Additional material may be available through SAFLII.

• United Kingdom
  • Also supports searches of Asylum and Immigration Tribunal decisions.
  • Link to UK Supreme Court.
  • Additional material is available through BAILII.  See note: "Since February 2010 appeals against decisions relating to Asylum and Immigration are found in BAILII's Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) database."

• The World Law Guide: Courts and Cases
  • WLG primarily links to websites of high courts in many countries.

Westlaw and Lexis+ provide U.S. cases concerning international law and cases of selected international courts and tribunals.  They also provide cases of selected courts and tribunals in common-law oriented jurisdictions.

• Westlaw path:

> Tab: Westlaw

> Under: Specialty areas, click: "International Materials"

> Choose jurisdiction

Westlaw provides large databases of cases for Australia, Canada, European Union, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom.

• Lexis+ path:

> To the right of "Explore," click tab: International 

> Choose jurisdiction

Lexis Advance provides large databases of cases for Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

• United Kingdom: ICLR (provides The Law Reports for the Superior and Appellate Courts of England and Wales).

• vLex: BLS Library provides material from vLex America Latina + vLex Argentina, vLex Brasil, vLex Mexico, vLex Chile, vLex El Salvador.  Use "Advanced search" to limit by jurisdiction and content type. Click "Select more jurisdictions" to find El Salvador.