Rights are not conferred by government.

Their existence is either recognized or denied by government.

That recognition or denial is of importance because it may adversely affect your life.
One of those rare times when we tend to agree .
It is also a gauge of the quality of that government.
I'd say it's a gauge of the quality of the people. The gov't can inherently only hold what power the people are willing to abide them holding. In the end, you only really have those 'rights' that you can clearly articulate and are willing and able to defend, and that's true as individuals and as a people.