Human Rights

Corruption and Human Rights

Group II
Dela Cruz, Julius Anthony
Francisco, Elleason Joshua
Hyatt, Janeth
 The presentation of the topic is
composed of the following:
• Connection between human rights and corruption
• Cases on the nexus of corruption and human rights
• Remedies/ Protection/Approaches suggested and or applied by
countries to to reduce the impact of corruption on human rights
Connection between Human rights and Corruption
Why is there a need to inform people of the link between
corruption and human rights?
• According to OHCHR “An efficient anti-corruption strategy
must be informed by key human rights principles. An
independent judiciary, freedom of the press, freedom of
expression, access to information, transparency in the political
system and accountability are essential both for successful anti-
corruption strategies and for the enjoyment of human rights.”
 How do we determine when a given act or
perceived corruption violates a human right?
 The state has three levels of obligations in relation to human
rights – to respect, to protect and to fulfill. These are guidelines
that assist us to see obligations that must be considered essential
to the realization of human rights principles.
 Transparency International defines corruption as:

• Abuse of entrusted power for private gain

 What is being undermined by corruption?
• it diverts funds intended for investment for public services;
• erodes the rule of law;
• distorts justice system;
• interferes with political processes and;
• affects the delivery of public services
Wallenberg, R. (2018). The Nexus between Anti-corruption and Human rights
 Distinctions made by Transparency
International on corruption
Prasad, D. & Eeckeloo, L. (2019). Corruption and Human Rights
 Grand corruption
• Consists of acts committed at a high level of government that
distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling
leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.
 Petty corruption
• Refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-
level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens,
who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places
like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies.
 Political corruption
• Is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure
in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision
makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status
and wealth.
A thesis that nearly every human right can
be affected by corruption
First, corruption can affect individuals
(individual negative impact)
Second, corruption can affect specific, identifiable
groups of individuals (collective negative impact)
Third, corruption can concern society at large
(general negative impact).
How can corruption lead to
human rights violation?
 Directly
• Corruption may directly constitute a violation of a human right
when a corrupt act is deliberately used as a means to violate a
right, or when a State acts in a way that prevents individuals
from enjoying that right or fails to act in a way that ensures that
individuals can enjoy that right.
 Indirectly
• Corruption is an essential factor contributing to a chain of
events that eventually leads to the violation of a human right.
• The right is violated by an act that derives from a corrupt act
and the act of corruption is a necessary condition for the
violation.
Corruption as a threat to the full
enjoyment of human rights
• Corruption as a threat to life, liberty, and security of person
• Corruption as a threat to freedom from ill-treatment and torture
in detention
• Corruption as a threat to independence of the judiciary, due
process and the right to remedy
• Corruption as a violation of the right to political participation
• Corruption as a right to freedom of expression
• Corruption as a threat to general obligations under economic,
social and cultural rights
Corruption as a threat to rights, to adequate standard
of living and to an education
• First, since corruption can slow down economic growth and
decrease government revenue, it can also limit the State’s ability to
provide.
• Second, corrupt transactions result in people being arbitrarily
denied access to socio- economic rights in several ways.
• Third, firms and individuals may also use corruption to avoid
regulatory standards.
Corruption as a threat to rights to adequate
standard of living and to an education
• Fourth, public officials may misappropriate funds intended for food,
water, health, housing, and education programmes or they may divert
materials bought for those programmes for personal gain in violation of
Articles 11 and 12 of the ICESCR.
• Fifth, corruption in government and in the provision of government goods
and services is likely to impair the economic, social and cultural rights of
specific sectors of the population such as people living in poverty.
 Report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
16 January 2019
• Corruption not only hinders the effective implementation of
human rights obligations, but also creates an environment
conducive to human rights abuses, including torture and ill-
treatment.
Cases on the nexus of corruption and
human rights
 Vineet v. Union of India
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1203995/

• Supreme court of India dealing with issues of corruption of

high ranking officials and politicians that are connected
with the terrorists
• An allegation of supporting terrorists was made because of
suspicious transaction of funds by the government called
hawala transactions.
• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed in its
responsibility to properly investigate the
transactions because of lack of urgency in
investigating the high ranking politicians
• CBI was replace by the Central Vigilance
Commission
• This became a historic and landmark case
• Inspiring the public to be aware regarding issue of
corruption since it often violates economic and social
rights
• Corruption affects all of us in inhibits the development of our
economy and justice especially to the poor people that must
be benefited by public resources and care since they are only
depending on the government
• Corruption and bad management practices eat into the
nation’s wealth, channeling money away from such
projects and the very people most dependent on
government for support.
• Corruption can interrupt investment, restrict trade, reduce
economic growth distort the facts and figures associated
with government expenditure. But the most alarming
studies are the ones directly linking corruption in certain
countries to increasing levels of poverty and income
inequality
People of the Philippines vs Imelda Marcos,
Criminal cases
Criminal Case No. 17287, Criminal Case No. 17288, Criminal Case No. 17289, Criminal Case No. 17290, Criminal Case No.
22867, Criminal Case No. 22868, Criminal Case No. 22869

• 7 graft cases of Imelda Marcos

• Transferred 200 million dollars to seven Swiss foundations
during her term as governor
• Imelda was found guilty for organizing, coordinating and
directing the affairs of seven foundations that allegedly hid
the wealth of the Marcoses.
• Sentenced her to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the
seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law
• Upon the return of the Marcoses from exile, several cases
were filed against Imelda related to the billions of dollars
allegedly amassed by her family during her husband’s
presidency. Among the charges ascribed against Imelda are
Information's for graft due to her direct and indirect financial
or pecuniary interest in and participation in the management
• Maler Establishment (Criminal Case No. 17287)

• Trinidad Foundation (Criminal Case No. 17288)

• Rayby Foundation (Criminal Case No. 17289)

• Palmy Foundation (Criminal Case No. 17290)

• Vibur Foundation (Criminal Case No. 22867)

• Rosaly’s Foundation (Criminal Case No. 22868)

• Avertina Foundation (Criminal Case No. 22869)

• “Though named as a foundation, the evidence shows that
these entities were put up primarily for the entrepreneurial
activity of opening bank accounts and deposits, transferring
funds, earning interests and even profit from investment,
for the private benefit of the Marcos family as
beneficiaries,” said the decision.
• It shows that there is lacking of good governance where
corruption will definitely flourish.
 Key principles of good governance include:

• Honesty
• Transparency
• Responsiveness
• Separation of powers
• Rule of law
• Effectiveness and efficiency
• Fairness
• Accountability
• A good governance must have a leader who operates in good faith.
• The transactions and decisions of the government must be available
to the public to access
• There must separation of powers and chain accountability.
• Friends and family members, or suspected conflicts of
interest cannot overlap between layers of management and
directors, boards or senior politician to ensure better
judgment assessment and better performance.
• The government must comply with the laws, codes, guidelines
and regulations of the nations on which they operate.
• Ensuring the public or private institution will be held to account to
their mistakes.
Remedies/ Protection/Approaches suggested
and or applied by countries to reduce the impact of
corruption on human rights
 United Nations Convention against
Corruption (UNCAC)
• The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally
binding universal anti-corruption instrument. The Convention's far-
reaching approach and the mandatory character of many of its provisions
make it a unique tool for developing a comprehensive response to a global
problem. The vast majority of United Nations Member States are parties
to the Convention.
 United Nations Convention against
Corruption (UNCAC)
• The UNCAC was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on
31 October 2003 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. It was open
to all States for signature from 9 to 11 December 2003 in Merida, Mexico,
and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in New York until 9 December
2005, in accordance with article 67 (1) of the Convention.
• Philippines, as state party, signed the UNCAC last 9 December
2003, and ratified the same last 8 November 2006.
 Prevention
• Corruption can be prosecuted after the fact, but first and foremost, it
requires prevention. An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated to
prevention, with measures directed at both the public and private sectors.
These include model preventive policies, such as the establishment of
anticorruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of
election campaigns and political parties. States must endeavour to ensure
that their public services are subject to safeguards that promote efficiency,
transparency and recruitment based on merit
 Criminalization
• The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences to cover
a wide range of acts of corruption, if these are not already crimes under domestic
law. In some cases, States are legally obliged to establish offences; in other cases,
in order to take into account differences in domestic law, they are required to
consider doing so. The Convention goes beyond previous instruments of this kind,
criminalizing not only basic forms of corruption such as bribery and the
embezzlement of public funds, but also trading in influence and the concealment
and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. Offences committed in support of
corruption, including money-laundering and obstructing justice, are also dealt with.
 International Cooperation
• Countries agreed to cooperate with one another in every aspect of the fight
against corruption, including prevention, investigation, and the
prosecution of offenders. Countries are bound by the Convention to render
specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring
evidence for use in court, to extradite offenders. Countries are also
required to undertake measures which will support the tracing, freezing,
seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption.
 Asset Recovery
• In a major breakthrough, countries agreed on asset-recovery, which is
stated explicitly as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This is a
particularly important issue for many developing countries where high-
level corruption has plundered the national wealth, and where resources
are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies
under new governments.
 Asset Recovery
• Several provisions specify how cooperation and assistance will be rendered.
In particular, in the case of embezzlement of public funds, the confiscated
property would be returned to the state requesting it; in the case of proceeds
of any other offence covered by the Convention, the property would be
returned providing the proof of ownership or recognition of the damage
caused to a requesting state; in all other cases, priority consideration would
be given to the return of confiscated property to the requesting state, to the
return of such property to the prior legitimate owners or to compensation of
the victims.
 Asset Recovery
• Effective asset-recovery provisions will support the efforts of countries to
redress the worst effects of corruption while sending at the same time, a
message to corrupt officials that there will be no place to hide their illicit
assets. Accordingly, article 51 provides for the return of assets to countries
of origin as a fundamental principle of this Convention.

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/uncac.html
 One of the Philippines’ practices in
compliance with UNCAC
• Executive Order 176 Series of 2015 Establishment of Integrity Management
System (IMS) which institutionalizes the Integrity Management Program (IMP)
as the National Corruption Prevention Program, through the establishment of
the Integrity Management Systems (IMS).
• The said Executive Order created a Program Management Committee (PMC)
as the programme overseer of the IMP. The PMC is chaired and co-chaired by
the Office of the President and the Office of the Ombudsman.
 Objectives of the IMS
• Reducing the level of corruption vulnerabilities at the level of the public-
sector institution to ensure the attainment of its mandate and to improve
the public’s trust and confidence in the government.
 Implementation Review
Mechanism (IRM)
• The Implementation Review Mechanism (IRM) is a peer review process
that assists States parties to effectively implement the Convention. In
accordance with the terms of reference, each State party is reviewed by two
peers - one from the same regional group - which are selected by a drawing
of lots at the beginning of each year of the review cycle.
 IRM’s Guiding principles

• Transparent, efficient, non-intrusive, inclusive and impartial;

• Non-adversarial and non-punitive, without any form of ranking;
• Opportunities to share good practices and challenges;
• Technical, promoting constructive collaboration; and
• Complements existing international and regional review mechanisms.
• The Mechanism promotes the purposes of the Convention, provides the
Conference of the States Parties with information on measures taken by
States parties in implementing the Convention and the difficulties
encountered by them in doing so, and helps States parties to identify and
substantiate specific needs for technical assistance and to promote and
facilitate the provision of such assistance.
• In addition, the Mechanism promotes and facilitates international
cooperation, provides the Conference with information on successes, good
practices and challenges of States parties in implementing and using the
Convention, and promotes and facilitates the exchange of information,
practices and experiences gained in the implementation of the Convention.
 IRM’s Governmental Experts

• Each State party is to nominate up to 15 governmental experts for the

purpose of the review process. These experts then carry out the reviews on
behalf of their countries.
Model Schedule Of A Country
Review
 IRM’s Self-assessment Checklist

• The Conference of the States parties decided that a comprehensive self-

assessment checklist should be used as a tool to facilitate the provision of
information on the implementation of the Convention (resolution 3/1).
 IRM’s Country Pairings For Each
Review Cycle
• In each review cycle, each State party must undergo review once, and must
perform between one and three reviews of other States. The timing of when
each State is undergoing review, or acting as reviewing State, is determined
by drawing of lots.

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/uncac.html
 Ensuring the anti-corruption
efforts ‘do no harm’
• Tensions between human rights and anti-corruption arise when the process of
detecting, investigating and prosecuting corruption infringes on the right to a
fair trial, the presumption of innocence, the right to property and the right to
privacy.
 Enhancing accountability for
corrupt practices through human
rights law
• These organizations analyze and make recommendations
concerning specific issues, review state compliance with treaty
obligations, and in some cases to receive individual petitions
alleging violations of rights by a state. 
• National reports prepared by the state under review.
• Information contained in the reports of independent human rights
experts.
• Information from other stakeholders including civil society groups.

https://www.u4.no/topics/human-rights/basics
 UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs)
• The UN Guiding Principles recognize that corruption can
undermine access to remedy for victims of human rights abuse.
Commentary Principle 25 clarifies that States should ensure that
“Procedures for the provision of remedy should be impartial,
protected from corruption and free from political or other attempts
to influence the outcome”.
• Businesses may directly and indirectly adversely impact human
rights through corruption in a number of ways.

https://globalnaps.org/issue/corruption/
 Combating corruption: The World Bank
• The World Bank Group recognizes that corruption comes in
different forms. It might impact service delivery, such as when an
official asks for bribes to perform routine services.
 Approach: The World Bank
• Corruption is a global problem that requires global solutions. The
World Bank Group has been working to mitigate the pernicious
effects of corruption in its client countries for more than 20 years.
 Fighting corruption within World Bank
Group-financed projects
• The World Bank Group's approach to fighting corruption combines a proactive policy of
anticipating and managing risks in its own projects. The Bank Group subjects all
potential projects to rigorous scrutiny and works with clients to reduce possible
corruption risks that have been identified.
• The Bank Group’s independent Sanctions System includes the Integrity Vice Presidency,
which is responsible for investigating allegations of fraud and corruption in World Bank-
funded projects. Public complaint mechanisms are built into projects to encourage and
empower oversight, and projects are actively supervised during implementation.

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/governance/brief/anti-corruption
Corruption = Monopoly Power + Discretion
– Accountability

Klitgaard, 1988. See also, UNDP, 2004.

Thank you!