What Does Kosovo Teach Us about Using Human Rights Law to Prosecute Corruption Offences?

Abstract

If a patient must pay a bribe to obtain life-saving surgery, does the doctor’s solicitation of a bribe represent a violation of the victim’s human rights? This paper explores the ways in which anti-corruption practitioners can look to various provisions in human rights law in order to prevent or prosecute corruption-related offences. We use Kosovo as a case study because its constitution gives direct effect to the major international human rights conventions. We find - using Kosovo as a case study - that some types of corruption lead to separately prosecutable human rights offences. We also find that pre-existing violations of human rights law create strong incentives for individuals to engage in corruption. We offer concrete suggestions to lawyers and prosecutors for using human rights provisions to encourage the prosecution corruption offences in highly corrupt countries like Kosovo. We also present a method of prosecuting human rights offences leading to - or resulting from - corruption as administrative offences and offer pricing models for assessing the optimal fine for the human rights offences occurring concomitant with cases of corruption.