Corruption is a major obstacle to the observance and implementation of human rights. Moving from an economic and political perspective on corruption towards a human rights approach involves a shift in perception whereby corruption is viewed not as being solely a misappropriation of wealth and distortion of expenditure, but rather as a potential violation of human rights.
This being said, anti-corruption practitioners rarely make this link and resort to United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms to address corruption and its impact on the enjoyment of human rights. Similarly, none of the UN human rights mechanisms has approached this issue in a systematic manner.
The Practitioners’ Guide on Human Rights and Countering Corruption, by focusing on how UN human rights mechanisms can be better used to report on corruption issues, fills this gap.
Published by the Geneva Academy and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR Centre), it intends to serve as a user-friendly practitioners’ manual and strategic advocacy tool to explore how a human rights-based approach, with its focus on the victims of corruption and state responsibility, can be used to complement and strengthen anti-corruption efforts.
