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Understanding Corruption and Human Rights

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Transitional Justice and Socio-Economic Rights in Zimbabwe

Part of the book series: International Criminal Justice Series ((ICJS,volume 24))

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Abstract

Central to the entire discourse of linkages between corruption and transitional justice is the relationship between the former and human rights. This chapter deconstructs the connections between corruption and human rights. In the first part, it unravels some of the mysteries surrounding this debate. It then gives an overview of various theories on the linkages , focusing on the relationship between corruption and specific socio-economic rights. Part of the aim of this chapter is to suggest a framework that integrates the two fields.

Thus, it is unsurprising that justice for corruption is emerging as a priority in the ‘window of opportunity’ presented by a transition from conflict to peace and/or from a repressive regime to democracy. Given the complexities of this broad phenomenon, however, it is also unsurprising that crafting an appropriate response to corruption in transitioning societies poses serious challenges.

Isabel Robinson (Robinson 2015, p. 1)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Robinson 2015, pp. 1–19; Arbour 2007, pp. 1–27; Muvingi 2009, pp. 163–182.

  2. 2.

    Robinson 2015, p. 1.

  3. 3.

    See Gready et al. 2010. See also Gready and Robin 2014, pp. 339–361.

  4. 4.

    Kofele-Kale 2000, p. 152.

  5. 5.

    See Spalding 2014; Murray and Spalding 2015; Kofele-Kale 2000; Spalding 2014. For a contrasting perspective, see Rothstein and Varraich 2017.

  6. 6.

    Spalding 2014. See also Murray and Spalding 2015.

  7. 7.

    Carranza 2008, p. 312.

  8. 8.

    Carranza 2008, pp. 329–330 (emphasis added).

  9. 9.

    Spalding 2014, p. 1365.

  10. 10.

    Goodwin and Rose-Sender 2010.

  11. 11.

    Human Rights Council 2015a, p. 8, para 21.

  12. 12.

    Peters 2015.

  13. 13.

    Human rights violations are defined here according to the Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic and Social Rights, para 9; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 3, 5th Sess., 1990, UN Doc. E/1991/23 , Annex III, para 10. ‘Violations of the Covenant occur when a State fails to satisfy what the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has referred to as “a minimum core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the rights […]. Thus, for example, a State party in which any significant number of individuals is deprived of essential foodstuffs, of essential primary health care, of basic shelter and housing, or of the most basic forms of education is, prima facie, violating the Covenant.”’

  14. 14.

    Schmid and Nolan 2014, p. 364.

  15. 15.

    Marauhn 2004, p. 316.

  16. 16.

    UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion of and Protection of Human Rights 1997.

  17. 17.

    Hecht and Michalowski 2012.

  18. 18.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 24.

  19. 19.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 23.

  20. 20.

    Gathii 2010, p. 125.

  21. 21.

    The importance of the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information (Article 19(2) ICCPR), the right of peaceful assembly (Article 21 ICCPR) and the right to freedom of association (Article 22 ICCPR).

  22. 22.

    Global Organization for Parliamentarians Against Corruption 2013.

  23. 23.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009.

  24. 24.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 24.

  25. 25.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  26. 26.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  27. 27.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  28. 28.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  29. 29.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  30. 30.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  31. 31.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  32. 32.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 27.

  33. 33.

    Robinson 2015, p. 10.

  34. 34.

    Robinson 2015, p. 10.

  35. 35.

    Robinson 2015, p. 10.

  36. 36.

    For instance, indirect discrimination is regarded as a violation of human rights where it is proved.

  37. 37.

    Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project v. Federal Republic of Nigeria and Universal Basic Education Commission, judgment of 30 November 2010, ECW/CCJ/JUD/07/10 ECOWAS, para 19.

  38. 38.

    Koechlin and Carmona 2009.

  39. 39.

    Gathii 2010, p. 197.

  40. 40.

    Bacio-Terracino 2008.

  41. 41.

    Bacio-Terracino 2008, p. 11.

  42. 42.

    Bacio-Terracino 2008.

  43. 43.

    Rothstein and Varraich 2017, pp. 64–67.

  44. 44.

    Rajagopal and Balakrishnan 1999, pp. 1–19.

  45. 45.

    Rothstein and Varraich 2017.

  46. 46.

    Rothstein and Varraich 2017, p. 67.

  47. 47.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009 and 2010; Bacio-Terracino 2010; Gathii 2010, pp. 125–202; De Beco 2011, pp. 1107–1124.

  48. 48.

    Human Rights Council 2015b.

  49. 49.

    Resolution 2003/2 of the former Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Its mandate ended in 2006 when it was replaced by the Advisory Committee.

  50. 50.

    Human Rights Council 2015c.

  51. 51.

    Gee and Button 2014.

  52. 52.

    Petkov 2016, p. 1.

  53. 53.

    Transparency International 2006, p. xvii; Savedoff and Hussmann 2006.

  54. 54.

    Benjamin 2012, p. 31.

  55. 55.

    Nawaz and Chêne 2009.

  56. 56.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 2000, Article 12, para 9.

  57. 57.

    OHCHR 2008.

  58. 58.

    CRC, Article 4; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted 24 January 2007, A/RES/61/106, Article 4(2). Emphasis mine.

  59. 59.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1990, Article 2(1), para 2.

  60. 60.

    Boersma 2012, pp. 229–230.

  61. 61.

    Statute of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1 October 1979, entered into force 30 days after its approval, O.A.S. Off. Rec. OEA/Ser.P/IX.0.2/80.

  62. 62.

    Inter-American Convention against Corruption, adopted on 29 March 1996, entry into force on 6 March 1997.

  63. 63.

    Peters 2015, p. 17.

  64. 64.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1999, Article 11(12), para 17.

  65. 65.

    Peters 2015, p. 17.

  66. 66.

    Albin-Lackey 2014, p. 147.

  67. 67.

    Peters 2015, p. 17.

  68. 68.

    Saul et al. 2014, p. 143.

  69. 69.

    See in general Carmona and Baci-Terracino 2010.

  70. 70.

    Peters 2015, p. 17.

  71. 71.

    Peters 2015, p. 18.

  72. 72.

    UN Commission on Human Rights, UN Doc, E/CN.4/RES/1988/29

  73. 73.

    Shue 1996, p. 52.

  74. 74.

    See, for example, Van Boven et al. 2008.

  75. 75.

    Peters 2015, p. 13.

  76. 76.

    Schmid and Nolan 2014, p. 367.

  77. 77.

    De Schutter 2013, p. 5.

  78. 78.

    Rosga and Satterthwaie 2009, p. 265, n. 43.

  79. 79.

    Peters 2015, p. 13.

  80. 80.

    Peters 2015, p. 13.

  81. 81.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 2000, Article 12, para 33.

  82. 82.

    Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic and Social Rights, para 6.

  83. 83.

    Peters 2015, p. 13.

  84. 84.

    Peters 2015, p. 13.

  85. 85.

    Peters 2015, p. 13; Hugh Glenister v. President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, judgment of 17 March, CCT 48/10 ZACC TA \s “Hugh Glenister v President of the Republic of South Africa and others, 17 March 2011, (CCT 48/10) [2011] ZACC 6 , para 177: ‘The state’s obligation to “respect, protect, promote and fulfil” the rights in the Bill of Rights thus inevitably, in the modern state, creates a duty to create efficient anti-corruption mechanisms’. In the literature, see Carmona and Bacio-Terracino 2010, p. 27.

  86. 86.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 48.

  87. 87.

    Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1999, pp. 42–74.

  88. 88.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1991, Article 11(1).

  89. 89.

    De Schutter 2013, p. 294 (emphasis added).

  90. 90.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 45.

  91. 91.

    Article 2(2).

  92. 92.

    The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 20 on Non-Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted on 22 May 2009.

  93. 93.

    CESCR General Comment on Corruption and Human Rights: A Draft Proposal, para 7, available as Boersma 2012, annexure 2, p. 407. See also Rothstein and Varraich 2017.

  94. 94.

    Peters 2015, p. 23.

  95. 95.

    The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 20 on Non-Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted on 22 May 2009, para 35.

  96. 96.

    Peters 2015, p. 23.

  97. 97.

    Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health (Report on Health), UN Doc. GA 72/137, 14 July 2017.

  98. 98.

    See ICCPR, Article 25; American Convention on Human Rights, adopted on 22 November 1969, entry into force on 18 July 1978, Article 23(2); African Convention on Human and Peoples’ Rights (‘Banjul Charter’), 27 June 1981, entry into force on 21 October 1986, CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58, Article 13(1).

  99. 99.

    Hallo De Wolf and Toebes 2016, p. 89.

  100. 100.

    Bantekas and Oette 2013, p. 386.

  101. 101.

    Rosga and Satterthwaie 2009, p. 277.

  102. 102.

    Bantekas and Oette 2013, p. 388.

  103. 103.

    See Rosga and Satterthwaie 2009, p. 263.

  104. 104.

    Bantekas and Oette 2013, p. 386.

  105. 105.

    OHCHR 2012.

  106. 106.

    Rosga and Satterthwaie 2009, p. 266.

  107. 107.

    United Nations Commission on Human Rights 1990.

  108. 108.

    UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1990, Article 2(1).

  109. 109.

    OHCHR 2012, p. 2.

  110. 110.

    Human Rights Council 2015a.

  111. 111.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009, p. 45.

  112. 112.

    SERAC v. Nigeria ECW/CCJ/APP/12/07; ECW/CCJ/JUD/07/10.

  113. 113.

    International Law Commission 2001, Articles 33(2) and 55.

  114. 114.

    Peters 2015, p. 19.

  115. 115.

    Peters 2015, p. 20.

  116. 116.

    Peters 2015, p. 20.

  117. 117.

    Peters 2015, p. 20.

  118. 118.

    Peters 2015, p. 20.

  119. 119.

    Peters 2015, p. 20.

  120. 120.

    Peters 2015, p. 20.

  121. 121.

    Article 4.

  122. 122.

    Peters 2015, p. 21.

  123. 123.

    International Law Commission 2001, Article 7.

  124. 124.

    Peters 2015, p. 21.

  125. 125.

    International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International 2009 and 2010.

  126. 126.

    See Robinson 2015, pp. 1–19.

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    Prosper Maguchu

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Maguchu, P. (2019). Understanding Corruption and Human Rights. In: Transitional Justice and Socio-Economic Rights in Zimbabwe. International Criminal Justice Series, vol 24. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-323-8_2

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