INTRODUCTION

The obligation to fulfil requires the State to adopt appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures towards the full realization of human rights. The implication is that the realization of human rights must become the object of a policy aimed at improving them. Not only must policies in place not violate human rights, and take them into account as a transversal concern (a requirement referred to as mainstreaming); in addition, policies must be put in place explicitly in order to make progress towards fulfilling them. Human rights require, in that sense, appropriate policy-making.

This chapter is divided into four sections. Section 1 describes the general principles that should guide States in seeking to achieve the progressive realization of human rights by discharging their obligation to fulfil. The focus is particularly on economic and social rights, but the principles apply equally to civil and political rights, which also require, for their implementation, the provision of resources (whether human, financial, natural, technological, or informational: for a slightly different list, see R. E. Robertson, ‘Measuring State Compliance with the Obligation to Devote the “Maximum Available Resources” to Realizing Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights', Human Rights Quarterly, 16, No. 4 (1994), 693 at 703–13). Section 2 then examines the usefulness of framework laws and action plans in the realization of human rights, and section 3 discusses the use of indicators and benchmarks in monitoring progress with the objective of full realization.