Human rights

The relationships between corruption and human rights are complex but cry out for exploring. Could anti-corruption benefit from a human rights perspective? How can the two communities work better together – and what are some risks and challenges?

This Quick Guide gives a brief introduction to the ideas of the Basel Institute’s Vice-President, Professor Anne Peters, and some of our initial work at the intersection of corruption and human rights.

About this Quick Guide

This Working Paper explores the wide variety of non-conviction based (NCB) forfeiture laws in Latin America, with a special focus on the region’s predominant model, Extinción de dominio.

It argues that NCB forfeiture legislation, which allows for the recovery of stolen assets outside of criminal proceedings, can contribute significantly to a state’s criminal policy response to rampant economic and organised crime.

The paper emphasises the importance of critically reviewing and harmonising domestic practices of NCB forfeiture around emerging standards, so that they can reach their large potential in asset recovery. Ensuring their alignment with international human rights and other recognised norms and procedural rules ultimately builds trust, lends legitimacy and fosters judicial cooperation in international NCB forfeiture cases.

About this report

This case study explains how the Peruvian State used its non-conviction based forfeiture law, extinción de dominio, to recover a Swiss bank account containing illicit kickbacks paid for the purchase of war planes.

This case was the first of a series of cases between Peru and Switzerland involving Peru’s extinción de dominio law, which enables the confiscation of illicit assets in cases where a criminal conviction of an individual is not possible or desirable. It has paved the way for other proceedings, some of which are still pending in the tribunals.

The case is relatively small in monetary terms – around USD 700,000 plus interest – but hugely significant in terms of asset recovery efforts and international co-operation. The case study shows how the extinción de dominio law was applied with proportionality and in full respect of the rule of law and fundamental human rights.

Open-access licence and acknowledgements

This publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Case Study series. It is licensed for sharing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

Mark Pieth, President of the Board of the Basel Institute on Governance and author of the book Gold Laundering, offers an insight into the risks of human rights and environmental harms in gold supply chains. Where are the risks and responsibilities?

Collective Action with gold refiners, suppliers and other stakeholders, he concludes, can help to clean up the industry.

In this eye-opening book, Mark Pieth gives an in-depth insight into how the global gold market works, what role Switzerland plays in it, where the hidden abuses lie and how human rights in the gold industry can be protected in a credible way.

The exclusively researched depiction of a key area of economic policy takes us both to the glittering world of gold refining and to the world’s worst mining regions. Mark Pieth illuminates the historical roots of the gold trade before turning his attention to today’s supply chains, from mines to refineries and clandestine intermediaries to consumers: central banks, investors, jewellers and watchmakers. He reveals some of the horrific problems caused by gold mining that still receive little attention due to a lack of binding regulations – severe environmental destruction, forced labour and human trafficking, land grabbing, stolen assets and money laundering.

Mark Pieth not only points out the problems, but presents clear and coherent solutions for more transparency, greater responsibility for the main players and better protection of human rights.