Despite the best efforts of international human rights treaties and other instruments, rest and leisure continue to struggle for recognition as well founded guarantees in international human rights law. This study investigates the rationales, background, and scope of the right to rest and leisure in international human rights law. With an evolution closely linked to the predatory and exclusionary histories of slavery, post-colony, and gender discrimination, and epistemically anchored in foundations of human dignity, agency, autonomy, and solidarity, this study argues that rest and leisure as human rights defy convenient categories and potentially emerge as the rights that calibrate the capacity of everyone to be truly human.