•Corruption and poverty:

  Corruption has a direct bearing on the persistent level of poverty experienced.

  At the broadest levels corruption brings inefficiencies into expenditure of money

  intended for public good, distorts the allocation of resources and policy decisions.  It is

  often responsible for the funneling of scarce public resources to uneconomic high-

  profile projects. As a consequence, fewer resources are available for poverty reducing

  activities, like building schools, hospitals and roads. In such situations it is primarily

  the poor people who must bear the burden of corruption in terms of inadequate and in

  times dangerous structures, facilities and poor educational provision.

   Futhermore corruption increases poverty by constraining investment and retarding  

   growth. It reduces and drives away both local and international investment. For the

   poor this means less employment opportunities and therefore less income and little

   possibility the quality of life. For example when potential investors are asked for bribes

   before enterprises can be started, such bribes act as a “tax” leading investors and

   entrepreneurs to get discouraged and frustrated when they find the unofficial cost of

   starting an enterprise is too great for it to be profitable.

• Corruption and democracy:

   Politically, corruption constitutes a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law. Its

   effect on the social fabric of the society is the most damaging of all. It undermines 

   people’s trust in the political institutions, its leadership and the political system as a

   whole hereby losing its legitimacy. Frustration and general apathy among a

   disillusioned  public result in a weak civil society. This in turn clears the way for

   despots as well as democratically elected yet unscrupulous leaders to turn national

    assets into personal wealth. Accountable political leadership can not develop in a

   corrupt climate.

   Additionally corruption produces gross inequalities of income and unbalanced

   development. A few people become rich, while the majority of the population sinks

   deeper into poverty. This is bound to produce social unrest and instability in future.

• Corruption and the enjoyment of fundamental human rights:

   From a Human Rights perspective, corruption is one of the greatest obstacles in

   fulfilling a state’s obligation to protect and promote the rights of its citizens. Where

   decisions have an impact on the exercise of a fundamental human right, the corrupt

   motive will render it arbitrary. An arbitrary arrest, arbitrary deportation, or the

   arbitrary interference with privacy, will constitute a violation of the relevant

   protected right.

    Corrupt judicial systems not only violate the basic right to equality before the law but   

   deny procedural rights guaranteed by international human rights conventions.

    Corruption in public administration even endangers the right to life, e.g. it causes

    funds to be diverted from medical care to private or personal pockets.