I. >> H  uman Rights and Indicators: Rationale and Some Concerns >> What are human rights? A. What are human rights? Human rights are universal legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions and omissions that interfere with fundamental freedoms, entitlements and human dignity.2 Human rights are inherent in all human beings and are founded on respect for the dignity and worth of each person. They stem from cherished human values that are common to all cultures and civilizations. Human rights have been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and codified in a series of international human rights treaties ratified by States and other instruments adopted after the Second World War. There are also regional human rights instruments, and most States have adopted constitutions and other laws that formally protect basic human rights and freedoms. While international treaties and customary law, together with interpretive practice by treaty organs, form the backbone of international human rights law, other non-binding instruments such as declarations, guidelines and principles adopted at the international level contribute to its understanding, implementation and development. 1 Human rights characteristics Human rights are universal, inalienable, interrelated, interdependent and indivisible. Taken together, these characteristics, briefly outlined in figure III, ensure that all human rights are to be realized, whether they are civil and political rights (e.g., the right to participate in public affairs, freedom from torture and arbitrary detention), economic, social and cultural rights (e.g., the rights to food, social security and education) or collective rights (e.g., the right to development, the rights of indigenous peoples), for all people and at all times, except in specific situations of derogation and according to due process. The level of enjoyment of one right is dependent on the realization of other rights. For instance, the rights to vote and participate in public affairs may be of little importance to someone who has nothing to eat. Furthermore, their meaningful enjoyment is dependent, for instance, on the realization of the right to education. Similarly, improvement in the enjoyment of any human right cannot be at the expense of the enjoyment of any other right. Thus, the realization of civil rights is as important as the realization of economic rights. 2 Human rights obligations The underlying feature of human rights is the identification of rights holders, who, by virtue of being human, have a claim to certain entitlements, and duty bearers, who are legally bound to respect, protect and fulfil 3 the entitlements associated with those claims (box 2). In invoking rights, it is important not only to identify the elements that are considered to be entitlements, but also to specify the agents that have the duty to bring about the enjoyment of those entitlements.4 Thus, there are rights of individuals and group(s) and there are correlated obligations, primarily for States—individually and collectively. Human rights law obliges the State and other duty bearers not to infringe on or compromise the fundamental freedoms and rights of people, and to take action to realize them. A distinction is made in international human rights law between a State’s immediate obligations and those 2.  Frequently Asked Questions on a Human Rights-based Approach to Development Cooperation (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.06.XIV.10), p. 1. 3. In the human rights literature, these are referred to in the Maastricht Guidelines, which define the scope of State obligations in relation to economic, social and cultural rights, but are equally relevant to civil and political rights. See Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Maastricht, Netherlands, 22–26 January 1997). 4. Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999), pp. 227–248. 10 Human Rights Indicators