Human Rights Treaty Ratification of Aid Receiving Countries

This paper examines the consequences of participation in unenforceable international human rights institutions for economic and political development. Specifically, we study the empirical relationship between foreign aid, human rights, and participation in the United Nations Human Rights Treaties (HRT). We find that HRT participation has a significant positive effect on a country’s foreign aid receipts, but precipitates a decline in domestic human rights institutions. Taken together, the results suggest that rewarding participation in international human rights agreements with foreign aid is detrimental to human rights in recipient countries.