Transnational Corruption, Violations of Human Rights and States’ Extraterritorial Responsibility: A Case for International Action Strategies

Abstract

Although transnational corruption in Failing States is evidence of bad governance, its reconstruction as a gross violation of human rights – especially economic and social rights – is fairly recent. The present study argues that violation of economic and social rights through transnational corruption is linked to State failure, which in turn has transnational spill-over repercussions that threaten the common interests of international peace and security. The international community has extraterritorial human rights obligations to devise appropriate responses to current destruction of the economic foundations of Failing States and stop the economic crimes perpetrated by corrupt regimes against their own people. This paper argues that domestic anti-corruption institutions are inadequate to contain this problem and this inadequacy necessarily requires coordinated international or regional action. Such international action may include managerial strategies to reengineer and manage political culture change in Failing States, and legal strategies to confront the impunity of Failing States, individual perpetrators and their associates.