This chapter considers the definitions of the two concepts: leisure and human rights. It examines competing views on leisure as a period of time or a state of mind and considers its relationship with the concept of freedom. The concept of human rights is considered in its historical context, particularly in the form of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and the rival schools of thought which have developed around the phenomenon. The relationships between leisure and human rights are introduced and the extent to which these relationships are recognised or ignored in leisure research and human rights research and practice.