Exploring Corruption as a Violation of Human Rights in the Practices of International Human Rights Institutions

This article discusses the evolution of soft law concerning the link between corruption and human rights. Evolution is defined as the increase in quantity and/or quality in International Human Rights Institutions’ normative outputs concerning corruption and human rights in (non-legally binding) instruments. Previous scholarly research was used as the benchmark to assess the evolution. The results indicated quantitative and qualitative evolutions in the production of the normative outputs regarding the link between corruption and human rights. The number of normative outputs produced by the respective institutions doubled and a substantial content-based evolution was identified. However, no normative output explicitly addressing corruption as a violation of human rights was found. Considering the pivotal role of the normative outputs to guide the implementation of human rights promotion and protection, this article suggests that the International Human Rights Institutions should continue to address and further clarify the link between corruption and human rights.