Human Rights and Corruption in Settling the Accounts of the Past

Abstract

Abstract Human rights abuses and corruption during authoritarian rule are rooted in the arbitrary and coercive use of power. This study examines how two post-authoritarian accountability issues intersected in the Philippines, South Korea, and Indonesia. In the Philippines and South Korea, human rights abuses and corruption were viewed as overlapping or related legacies of authoritarian rule. The activities to eliminate corruption worked as catalysts for milestones of transitional justice, and violations of socio-economic rights were acknowledged. In Indonesia, by contrast, corruption and human rights abuses were treated as special crimes that occur continually across time. Specialized agencies helped Indonesia deal with human rights abuses and corruption during the authoritarian era. This study shows that anti-corruption activities can work as a catalyst for the progress of transitional justice for human rights abuses. It also highlights that post-authoritarian practices to deal with economic violence existed in Asia before transitional justice took shape as a field.