The Impact of Foreign Aid on Human Rights Violations

Innocent Flower or the Serpent under It?

Abstract

Despite the vast amount of literature on the effects of foreign aid on democratic and economic structures in the recipient countries, there is a lack of studies focusing on the effect of aid on human rights violations. I consider democracy and human rights as two related concepts and thus any such effects should also be taken into account. This paper aims at finding out whether there is a relationship at all between aid and human rights. I will finish by concluding that there is a slight correlation at the macro level and politics needs to consider this when distributing aid.