International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions Indivisible means that there are no conflicts between rights and no priorities among rights. There will be situations or occasions where rights must be balanced and prudent decisions taken about how all rights can best be protected and promoted. However, no right or category of rights is inherently more important than other rights. Human rights are a comprehensive, integrated whole, incapable of division or subordination of some rights to others, because human rights describe a whole and integrated human being, not a part-person. Interdependent means that the enjoyment and fulfilment of any right depends on the enjoyment and fulfilment of other rights. So, for example, a child who is unable to receive necessary medical care (the right to the highest attainable standard of health) will have difficulty in learning at school (the right to education) and, as an adult, will have difficulty in finding a fulfilling job (the right to work), in expressing her or his views (the right to freedom of expression), in contributing to political life (the right to vote) and so on. These rights are interdependent, relying on the enjoyment of one for the enjoyment of others. KEY POINTS: CHAPTER 2 • Human rights are the answers, in legal terminology, to two fundamentally human questions: “what does it mean to be human?” and “what do human beings require to live fully human lives?” • Human rights have five essential characteristics. They are inherent, universal, inalienable, indivisible and interdependent. 8 | Chapter 2: What are human rights?