Chapter 2 | Page 50 2.2.2 Obligation of respect, protect and fulfil In line with the general approach to human rights obligations on the States parties, ESC rights scholarship identifies multiple forms of duties on the State to ensure the fulfilment of these obligations.20 For example, the ESCR Committee uses the terminology of respect, protect and fulfil in relation to different levels of obligations on the States that arise out of international human rights norms.21 The Committee further breaks down the obligation to fulfil into obligations to facilitate, promote and provide in the context of ESC rights.22 These typologies represent policy attitudes and dispositions of the State in relation to individual human rights that, reinforce and complement each other and would, therefore, be meaningful if observed with the same level of seriousness and commitment. In its general usage, the obligation to respect is a negative obligation on the State to refrain from interference with the exercise of human rights by individuals and groups. For example, an individual’s right to housing must be respected by the State by refraining from any policy intervention or action which could prevent, restrict or limit the enjoyment of this right. From the perspective of the tripartite typology, the obligation to respect presupposes an individual’s ability to enjoy the right in the absence of State or third party interference. Thus, the obligation to respect these rights can be meaningful only in situations where the individuals are initially able to enjoy or afford them.23 In other words, if individuals are unable to enjoy the rights in the first 20 Sepúlveda, above n 13, 12. 21 This ‘tri-partite typology’ of state obligations, which divides State obligations into obligations to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights was first applied by Henry Shue (duties of avoidance, protection and aid), and later further developed and refined by several other experts, including Eide, Van Hoof, Steiner and Alston, and later adopted by the ESCR Committee itself. 22 For example see, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No 19: The Right to Social Security (art. 9), 39th sess, UN Doc E/C.12/GC/19 (4 February 2008), [47]. 23 Ida Elisabeth Koch, 'The Justiciability of Indivisible Rights' (2003) 72(1) Nordic Journal of International Law 3-39, 12.