Linkages Between Crimes Against Humanity, Ecology, and Corruption: How Can the ICC Address?

Abstract

The discourse surrounding corruption as an international crime is increasingly urgent, as its impacts transcend national borders, triggering economic crises and threatening global security. This study examines the link between crimes against humanity and corruption, state accountability in relation to state capture through corruption, particularly in research collaborations between public enterprises and corporations, and the connection between corruption and environmental destruction that contributes to human rights violations. The research questions are: (1) What characteristics of corruption constitute gross violations of human rights? and (2) How can international legal mechanisms, particularly the ICC, prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity in conjunction with corruption crimes under international law? Employing a normative research design, this study systematically analyses law as a system of norms, focusing on relevant international conventions and national legislation. The study finds that corruption is characterized by bribery and embezzlement, which are abusive in nature, and that proceeds from corruption may be used to facilitate crimes against humanity and ecological destruction as impacts of environmental crimes. The appropriate international legal mechanism for prosecuting perpetrators of corruption as part of international crimes involves the 1998 Rome Statute, under which the ICC has criminal jurisdiction over the core crimes contained in Article 5