and marginalized individuals and communities. Because a human right is a universal entitlement, its implementation is evaluated particularly by the degree to which it benefits those who hitherto have been the most disadvantaged and marginalized and brings them up to the mainstream level of protection. Thus, in adopting intellectual property regimes, States and other actors must give particular attention at the national and international levels to the adequate protection of the human rights of disadvantaged and marginalized individuals and groups, such as indigenous peoples.’ Participation realization and acknowledges the constraints due to limits on available resources, it also imposes on States parties various obligations which have immediate effect, including core obligations.’ Progressive realization over @ period of time should not be interpreted as depriving States parties’ obligations of all meaningful must be consistent with the obligation of States parties 9. International human rights law includes the right of everyone to be consulted and participate in significant decision-making processes that affect them. The right to participate is reflected in numerous international instruments, including the Covenant® and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,’ as well as the Declaration on the Right to Development.?° Accordingly, the Committee supports the active and informed participation of all those affected by intellectual property regimes. Accountability 10, The Committee reiterates its position set out in its statement on poverty, “rights and obligations demand accountability: unless supported by a system of accountability, they can become no more than window-dressing.”"! While the State holds the primary duty to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, other actors, including non-State actors and international organizations, carry obligations, which must be subject to scrutiny. Accordingly, the adequate protection of human rights needs accessible, transparent and effective accountability mechanisms to ensure that rights are respected, and where they are not, that victims can find redress. A human rights approach to intellectual property requires that all actors are held to account for their obligations under international human rights law, specifically with regard to the adoption, interpretation and implementation of intellectual property systems. General legal obligations 11. In the context of intellectual property, it should be noted that while the Covenant provides for progressive to ensure the progressive realization of full enjoyment of all the rights in the Covenant. Furthermore, all parties are urged to ensure that intellectual property regimes contribute, in a practical and substantive way, to the full realization of all the Covenant rights. Core obligations 12. — In this regard, it should also be recalled that the Committee’s General Comment No. 3, adopted in 1990, confirms that States parties have a “core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the rights" enunciated in the Covenant. As the Committee observes, without such a core obligation, the Covenant "would be largely deprived of its raison d’étre”.* More recently, the Committee has begun to identify the core obligations arising from the “minimum essential levels in relation to the rights to health, food and education’..* The Committee wishes to emphasize that any intellectual property regime that makes it more difficult for a State party to comply with its core obligations in relation to health, food, education, especially, or any other right set out in the Covenant, is inconsistent with the legally binding obligations of the State party. international cooperation and assistance 13. As the Committee confirmed in its General Comment No. 14 on the right to health, it is particularly incumbent on all those in a position to assist, to provide “international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical”, in order to enable developing countries to fulfill their core obligations under the Covenant. Accordingly, itis incumbent upon developed 12 7 Statement by the and Cultural Rights Covenant on Committee on “Poverty Economic, Social aon Economic, Social and the International and Cultural HPwd E/C.12/2001/10, 4 May 2001, paragraph Article 25. 0 11 56 content, Rather, progressive realization means that States parties have a specific and continuing obligation to move as expeditiously and effectively as possible towards the full realization of all the rights enshrined in the Covenant, Accordingly, the Committee wishes to emphasize that national and international intellectual property regimes 11. Article 13.1. Article 2.3. See note 7, paragraph 14. cure ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS HANDBOOK See, for example, the Committee's General Comments No. 3 (on the nature of States pes obligations, article 2.1 of the Covenant) and 9 (the domestic application of the Covenant), No. 13 (on the right to education, paras. Rights”, 43-44) and No. 14 (on the right to health, paras, 30-32), in HRI/GEN/1/Rev.5, 13 2" 15 26 April 2001. General Comment No. a parapet) General Comments General Comment os. 11, 10, see note 12. 3 and 14, see note No. 14, paragraph 45, see note