Acts of corruption as a violation of international human rights law from the view of State responsibility1

Abstract

The article proposes that corruption can be configured as an internationally wrong-ful act from the international responsibility of the State, since its manifestations are violations of international human rights law in its international and constitutional spheres, an approach in which some supervisory bodies have cautiously advanced in the UN universal system. Re-lying on recent developments from the constitutional control of treaties in Colombia and the constitutionalization of human rights in different jurisdictions, the article reframes the fight against corruption outside the criminal law of the States and analyzes how to reconfigure acts of corruption into acts that imply the State’s international responsibility, identifying the breached norm, victim, attribution to agents, damages and reparations. Methodologically, the article uses documentary analysis and recent cases.