Corruption makes it possible for critics to be silenced, for justice to be subverted and for human rights abuses to go unpunished. When corruption reigns, basic human rights and liberties come under threat and social and economic contracts become unpredictable1.

The World Bank2 distinguishes between two main forms of corruption: state capture and administrative corruption. State capture refers to the actions of individuals, groups or firms, both in the public and private sectors, who influence the formation of laws, regulations, decrees and other government policies to their advantage as a result of the illicit and nontransparent provisions of private benefits to public officials. Administrative corruption refers to the intentional imposition of distortions in the prescribed implementation of existing laws, rules and regulations to provide advantages to either government or nongovernment actors as a result of the illicit and non-transparent provision of private gains to public officials. Corruption can also be classified as petty (need based) and grand (greed based) corruption. Petty corruption is found where public servants who may be grossly underpaid depend on small kickbacks from the public to feed their families and pay school fees. Grand corruption involves high officials who make decisions on large public contracts3.

No matter what kinds of corruption it is, corruption affects both civil and political rights4 as well as economic, social, and cultural rights5. It hinders economic development, reduces social services, and diverts investments in infrastructure, institutions and social services6; most important, it affects you and me.

One of my friends who is a victim of petty corruption. Her life was totally ruined since her brother was in jail with injustice life sentence. Her mom is so ill because of his brother. And she becomes the bread and butter of the family. She seldom gets good rest as they have to visit her brother every weekend. “Reporting to work is tiresome, while going home is even more stressful” she always says. “Why not fight back and plead for innocent?” I asked. “You would never know how corruption here it is in my country. Bribery and kickback is a common thing” she said. It was hard to believe such thing happened to my friend, my surroundings!! This was something beyond my imagination, as I had never met this before and did not pay special attention on injustices and ware how it affects a person’s life. Since then, I have been tracking articles and news about corruption and how it affects civilian welfare. I realized that it is not only in her country; such things happen everywhere. I could not imagine how many more are out there whose life was damaged or is under threatening because of corruption.

I feel honor that I could be with Dr. Hong, Tai-Tze, Zhang-Men-Ren of Tai Ji Men (hereinafter referred to “TJM”), President of Federation of World Peace and Love (hereinafter referred to “FOWPAL), Honorary Vice-President and member of Advisory Board of Association of World Citizens UN/NGO/DPI/ECOSOC, and President of Association of World Citizens (hereinafter referred to “AWC”), Taiwan to promote Peace and Love and provoke Human Rights since young. Being as a Di-Zi (means students) of Dr. Hong and a member of AWC and FOWPAL, I was able to join various activities and devote myself to the society and my country to make it better. Followed Dr. Hong, I joined the Culture Trip of Peace and Love to Seattle in 1999. Together with the brothers and sisters of TJM and members of AWC and friends of FOWPAL, we have encouraged over 2 million friends covering158 countries to endorse for Declaration of Human Rights for World Citizens, Love of the World a Declaration of Peace, Peace Declaration, Declaration of International Love and Peace Day.

Some friends asked me “Does it work (to save the world, to stop the conflict, to stop the World War III)?” “I don’t know”, I replied. But there is one thing I could be sure－if we do not make out first step, there would be ZERO chance to make the planet better. It is just like if a society is dominated by a group of powerful people (“dominant group”) who define unequal relationships between categories of people. This dominant group with access to power affects and victimizes subordinate group (people who are powerless, disadvantaged or live in poverty). Dominant group creates inequalities and deprive subordinate group of exercising its human rights by different means, while we just sit there, take it, persuade ourselves to regard it as a part of nature, or pessimism to convince in that “This is life”, then Would Peace would never ever come true.

Human rights do matter each of us. Injustice occurs everywhere. It could happen to you and me and people we are beloved. Could you imagine that perhaps when you are sitting on the cough to relax a bit, there might be a civilian who is interrogated for a crime that he did not commit to? Provoking Human Right is not as difficult as you thought. A good start could be from joining us to write an article or convey your thought about human rights and let more people to know the essential of the issue. I firmly believe to unite people with the concept of peace and to work together; we could achieve the goal of world peace one day.

Bibliography:
1. UNDP, Practice Note: Anti-corruption, February 2004
2. The World Bank, Anticorruption in Transition: A contribution to the policy debate, 2000
3. UNDP, Fighting Corruption to improve Governance, Feb. 1999
4. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49
5. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, entry into force 3 January 1976, in accordance with article 27
6. UNDP, Anti-corruption practice note, February 2004