A/HRC/26/42 be affected by corruption; this point is highlighted in the OHCHR response to the questionnaire. 14. As States have different kinds of obligations resulting from their human rights commitments, it is useful to classify the possible violations of human rights caused by corruption according to the different obligations imposed on States: (a) Firstly, corruption can concern individuals (individual negative impact). There is often a direct violation of the human rights of the individual who is affected by corruption. Depending on the context in which corruption occurs, a wide range of different human rights can be violated. Corruption frequently results in discriminatory access to public services.8 The impact on an individual can also be the result of an indirect effect from corruption. For example, if public authorities illegally allow the deforestation of land in return for a bribe, then the right to food, the right to housing and the right to health of the people living in the area concerned may be violated; (b) Secondly, corruption can concern specific, identifiable groups of individuals (collective negative impact). This category includes the effects of corruption that not only affect individuals but also impact upon groups of individuals. For example, corruption can exclude the poor from access to goods and services offered by the administration, or from access to justice. Or, coming back to the example mentioned above, illegal deforestation may affect specific ethnic minorities living in the areas concerned. It can be concluded that marginalized groups such as women, children, persons with disabilities, the elderly, the poor or people belonging to ethnic minorities are particularly affected by corruption. This is especially true in relation to access to public services and welfare, which is often of tremendous importance for people belonging to disadvantaged groups. In its statement made in November 2013, OHCHR cites the undermining of access to justice for disadvantaged groups as an example of the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights.9 Sometimes, corruption is only one element of a human rights violation or one factor aggravating an already existing human rights violation concerning specific groups. For example, if the right to education for marginalized groups is already limited due to discriminatory access requirements, the demand of an official to pay a bribe aggravates the human rights violation. Another example is persons deprived of their liberty who can be victims of corruption and at the same time of torture or other inhumane treatment; (c) Thirdly, corruption can concern society at large (general negative impact). This means that in addition to the effect that corruption has on individuals or groups, there are also negative impacts upon society at large, whether this is in a national or an international sense. There are two main aspects that are frequently mentioned in discussions of the negative impact of corruption on human rights.10 The first aspect relates to the financial and economic resources that are affected by corruption. Corrupt practices divert funds from development and therefore imply a reallocation of funds that may interfere with the effective enforcement of human rights, especially for vulnerable people. Corruption reduces the resources available for the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights (and therefore undermines States’ obligations under article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights). The aims of eradicating poverty and providing for sustainable development, as general targets of human rights, are 8 9 10 6 See, for example, The Human Rights Case Against Corruption, p. 4. See also International Council on Human Rights Policy and Transparency International, eds., Corruption and Human Rights: Making the Connection (2009), p. 32 et seq. The Human Rights Case Against Corruption, p. 4. These aspects are also discussed in the OHCHR response to the questionnaire.