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New Rights - New Laws: Legal Information in a Changing World Wide Web

When the organizers of the IALL Course on International Law Librarianship asked me to speak on resources on the World Wide Web related to the theme of the Course, “New Rights – New Laws: Legal Information in a Changing World,” I spent some time thinking about the theme. What do we mean by “new rights – new laws?” Do we really mean “changing rights, changing laws?” And what do we mean by a “changing world?” Are we talking about societies in the process of transition or that have undergone transition? Are we really talking about post-Communist Eastern Europe? Post-apartheid South Africa? The U.S. after September 11 – post-attack America? Post-conflict Iraq? The mega-changes in these societies can present threats to human dignity and rights. Times of upheaval, conflict, and political instability endanger basic human rights such as the rights to freedom of opinion, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, and freedom from arbitrary detention.