In order to complete the assignment on Zimbabwe, it will be necessary to locate both legal sources and background information relating to current political developments, conflicts, and other problems in the country.

Access to authoritative legal sources, particularly those in print, presents some difficulty. One should not count on being able to locate up-to-date printed versions of even the most basic legal sources. However, in order to determine what is immediately available in the I.U. Law Library, one should search IUCAT, using the subject keyword search terms “Zimbabwe law reports” or “law Zimbabwe.” The latter will retrieve bibliographic records for collections of statutes, as well as case reports. To locate bibliographic records of all printed sources of Zimbabwe law, whether available at I.U. or not, one should use the same keyword searches in WorldCat. Another approach to identifying printed sources of Zimbabwe is to consult a bibliography. The best such source available is the chapter on Zimbabwe in Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World (Law Reference K38 .R49 1989). This loose-leaf service contains a fairly up-to-date list of sources of legislation and case law, helpfully organized by subject.

Before searching for electronic versions of Zimbabwe law on the internet, one should first search for an introductory guide. Fortunately, there is a recent guide to Zimbabwe law available through Globalex, at http://www.nyulawglobbal.org/globalex/Zimbabwe.htm. This guide does not contain links to other web sites, but does provide an up-to-date description of the legal system. Foreign Law, mentioned above, also contains a short background introduction to the law and legal system of Zimbabwe, while the chapter on Zimbabwe in Modern Legal Systems Cyclopedia (Law Reference K530 .M62) provides a much longer introduction. However, both these sources should be used carefully, as neither is as up-to-date as the Globalex article.

The best index of legislation on the internet is provided by the World Legal Information Institute, or WORLDLII, which is located at http://www.worldlii.org/. Following the links at this web site will lead to a list of links providing access to Zimbabwe statutes, including the web site of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, located at http://www.parlzim.gov.zw/default.aspx.

Current versions of the Zimbabwe constitution are available at several web sites, including the Parliament web site. However, the best source is Constitutions of the Countries of the World, a commercial database accessible through a link on the Library’s Online Resources page. This web site is produced by Oxford University Press, and includes an introductory note on the Zimbabwe Constitution, a select bibliography, an up-to-date version of the text itself, as well as historical documents. Once in the database, the user should do a browse search to retrieve the documents relating to Zimbabwe.

To locate information on Zimbabwe’s treaty obligations, the researcher will have to consult several different online sources. The most important site is that of the United Nations, which oversees most human rights treaties. The researcher should begin with the United Nations Human Rights Research Guide, at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/spechr.htm. This page provides links to all Charter-based and treaty-based organizations within the U.N. structure that deal with human rights issues. This page also provides a useful overview of the complicated U.N. human rights machinery. Linking to the home page of the Human Rights Commission, the researcher will find further useful links to “International Law” (http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/) and “Countries” (http://www.ohchr.org/english/countries/). The former provides access to authoritative versions of the various human rights treaties, while the latter provides access to information about Zimbabwe’s status in particular. Here the researcher will find a status table indicating which instruments Zimbabwe has ratified, the text of any reservations or declarations made by Zimbabwe upon ratification, as well as a variety of special reports related to human rights in Zimbabwe. Finally, there is also a link to “Issues,” (http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/), which gathers documents under specific headings, such as “HIV/Aids,” which might be relevant to determining the international law applicable in Zimbabwe.

Another authoritative internet source of the text of treaties is EISIL, the Electronic Information System for International Law, which is linked from the Library’s Online Resources page. EISIL is an easy-to-use collection of treaties sponsored by the American Society of International Law. The database contains the text of multi-lateral treaties on all subjects, organized by topic. The only drawback to EISIL is that it does not include status tables indicating the countries currently bound by the treaties included. Therefore, if the researcher identifies a treaty potentially relevant to circumstances in Zimbabwe, he or she will then have to go elsewhere determine whether Zimbabwe is bound by the treaty in question. In most cases, this will involve visiting the web site of whichever agency sponsored the treaty or has the task of administering it. There is a useful guide to EISIL at http://www.llrx.com/features/eisil.htm.

There are many web-based sources that provide useful information about political conditions in Zimbabwe. Basic current information is available from the CIA Factbook, at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html. More in-depth information is available at the U.S. Department of State web site’s Zimbabwe country page, at http://www.state.gov/p/af/ci/zi/. Most importantly, this web site provides access to the Country Reports on Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, at http://www.hrw.org/, provides useful assessments of the human rights situation in its annual World Report. The various Reports on Zimbabwe are accessible from the Zimbabwe country page. Amnesty International USA (http://www.amestyusa.org/) also provides background human rights information in annual reports, available at its Zimbabwe country page. Kubatana.net (http://www.kubatana.net/index.htm) currently archives over 9700 documents related to Zimbabwean civil society, generated by over 350 NGOs, CSOs, news sources, etc. Documents are accessible either through a topical arrangement or through a site search.