Corruption as a Violation of International Human Rights

44 Pages Posted: 7 Jul 2016

See all articles by Anne Peters

Anne Peters

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law

Date Written: July 5, 2016

Abstract

It is a fact that states with a high corruption rate (or a high corruption perception) are at the same time those with a poor human rights record. Beyond this coincidence, the paper seeks to identify a concrete legal relationship between corruption and deficient human rights protection. This is in practical terms relevant, because the extant international norms against corruption have so far yielded only modest success; their implementation could be improved with the help of human rights arguments and instruments.

This paper therefore discusses a dual question: Can corrupt behaviour be conceptualised as a human rights violation? Should it be categorised and sanctioned as a human rights violation? My answer is that such a reconceptualization is legally sound, and that its normative and practical benefits outweigh the risk of reinforcing the anti-Western skepticism towards the fight against corruption. This assessment leads to the practice recommendation of a mutual mainstreaming of the international anti-corruption and human rights procedures. I conclude that the re-framing of corruption not only as a human right issue but as a potential human rights violation can contribute to closing the implementation gap of the international anti-corruption instruments.

Keywords: Anti-Corruption, Grand Corruption, Petty Corruption, Bribery, Human Rights Violation, Criminal Law, State, social Rights, Right to Health, Right to Education, Causality, Ultra Vires, Omission, Human Rights Mainstreaming

Suggested Citation

Peters, Anne, Corruption as a Violation of International Human Rights (July 5, 2016). Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law & International Law (MPIL) Research Paper No. 2016-18, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2805099 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2805099

Anne Peters (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law ( email )

Im Neuenheimer Feld 535
69120 Heidelberg, 69120
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.mpil.de

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