2.3 HOW HUMAN RIGHTS ARE VIOLATED obligation to protect: the obligation to protect requires the state and its agents to take the measures necessary to prevent others from violating the rights of an individual or group, including the prevention or infringement of the enjoyment of their freedom. Examples of this type of violations are acts of omission like: - failure to act when a certain group, such as an ethnic group, attacks another - failure to compel companies to pay decent wages  obligation to fulfil: the obligation to fulfil requires the state to take the measures necessary to ensure for each person within its jurisdiction opportunities to obtain satisfaction of those needs which have been recognised in the human rights instruments and cannot be secured by personal efforts. Examples of this type of violations are acts of omission like: - failure to adopt a basic health care system - failure to implement a free education system at the primary level Non-Government Entities - Acts of commission Non-government entities can also be involved in the perpetration of violations of human rights. Most often, the acts consist of violent actions similar to those committed by the State or its agents in contravention of the obligation to respect the freedoms of individuals or groups. Examples of such acts by non-state entities are:     executions of civilians by armed rebels evictions of communities committed by trans-national companies battery by one partner against the other physical assaults by private guards against protesters Some acts by non-state agents are in the area of economic, social and cultural rights. Examples are:    setting wage levels that are lower than legislated rates discriminatory policies in the recruitment of workers dumping of pollutants It cannot be denied that such acts by non-government actors lead to violations of human rights. There is still some disagreement, however, in terms of how to represent the actual violations and how to attribute these. There are those who still maintain that human rights violations should be attributed only to governments. In this approach, while the acts by non-government entities are acknowledged, these are seen as being ultimately the responsibility of the government. Thus, in the case of the kinds of acts by non-government entities that have just been listed, it is the government that is accused of human rights violations through its failure to prevent or combat these acts. On the other hand, there is a growing momentum in favour of the approach that considers acts by non-government entities as violations by themselves. For instance, the United Nations system has started to regard violence against women as a definite category of human rights violations. 7