Corruption and Human Rights: Beyond the Link

Some scholars and even human rights monitoring bodies have started to make the connection between corruption and human rights violations. When asked about this connection, most people easily picture a country ruled by a dictator who steals public money to support his luxury life while the population suffers from the lack of essential public services, such as healthcare and education. The connection in itself is appealing. Nonetheless, sometimes this connection is made without the proper concern for fully developing the argument and its consequences.

The purpose of this study is to go beyond this appealing link and to clarify the argument that making an explicit link with human rights has indeed added value. Framing corruption as a human rights violation cannot be an end in itself, a pure exercise of relabeling the problem. This study aims to give a practical significance to the connection by addressing, in a non-exhaustive way, the practical value of framing corruption as a human rights violation and the possibilities in which international human rights law can be used to strengthen the fight against corruption. By doing so, this book also presents how UN human rights bodies are referring to corruption, and how they could contribute more to fighting this global problem.

This book is an adapted version of the author's LL.M. thesis presented at Radboud University in June 2016, where he graduated cum laude after being the recipient of a scholarship.