The Nexus between Anti-Corruption and Human Rights

Corruption can have direct implications for human-rights related issues. Moreover, it undermines the functioning and legitimacy of institutions and the State itself. Whichever form it takes, grand or petty, corruption results in states not fulfilling their human rights obligations and in people not enjoying their rights. Still, the anti-corruption practice and human-rights practice seem to evolve on parallel tracks, in separate forums and with distinct agendas. Recently, international human rights mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council, have paid increasing attention to the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights and made numerous recommendations to Member States with the aim to prevent and suppress corruption. The concept of a HRBA to anti-corruption is increasingly gaining acceptance, but how should we understand the “human rights approach to anti-corruption?”

The study was commissioned by the Evaluation Department of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and undertaken by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. It focuses on translating theoretical discussions about the connections between human rights protection and anti-corruption work into practice. Its intended audiences are anti-corruption specialists wishing to know more about what human rights principles and institutions can bring to their work and human rights specialists wishing to build bridges between human rights practice and anti-corruption work.

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