International Human Rights and the International Human Rights System A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions human beings from other forms of life. Human beings have been preoccupied with two fundamental questions about themselves: • What does it mean to be human? • What do human beings require to live fully human lives? People have sought answers to these questions in the various disciplines of human knowledge and science. • Philosophers have pondered these questions and developed theories. • Theologians have studied and developed religious teaching and practices. • Biologists have studied the ways in which our bodies are comprised and work. • Sociologists have studied the way humans interact. • Anthropologists explore these questions by observing cultures and societies. Human rights are the answers to these two fundamental questions using the language and concepts of philosophers, at a general level, and of lawyers, when it comes to expressing these answers in detailed legal terms. They are the attempt to express in law what it means to be human and what human beings require to live fully human lives; the essential entitlements of each person, derived from her or his dignity as a human being. They are a comprehensive statement of this, touching all aspects of human personhood and human existence and treating the human person holistically; as a whole person and not merely a collection of parts. Family in Tarialan soum, Uvs aimag (province), Mongolia. UN Photo by Eskinder Debebe. 6 | Chapter 2: What are human rights?