This paper describes the principles and characteristics of the human rights-based approach (HRBA) in German development cooperation. In 2011 the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) adopted a binding Human Rights Strategy, which reaffirmed human rights as one of the guiding principles in all sectors and priority areas of German development policy such as education, health care or agricultural development. The paper briefly presents how human rights can be protected through political dialogue with partner countries and the use of conditionality when providing German budget support. It presents the key issues of implementing human rights in German development cooperation policy.