| GABON Gabonese Republic Republique Gabonaise Joined United Nations: 20 September 1960 Human Rights as assured by their constitution Updated 22 July 2012 |
Fundamental principles and rights
(Translated from French by Google Translate)
ARTICLE ONE
The Gabonese Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable and imprescriptible rights of the man, who bind obligatorily the
authorities.
Each citizen is entitled to the free development of his personality in the respect of the rights of others and the law and order. No one can
be humiliated, maltreated or be tortured, even when it is in a state of arrest or imprisonment.
- The freedom of conscience, thought, opinion, expression, communication, the free practice of the religion are guaranteed to all, subject
to the respect of the law and order.
- The freedom of going and coming inside the territory from the Gabonese Republic, to leave there and to return there is guaranteed to all
the citizens Gabonese subject to the respect of the law and order.
- The rights of defense, within the framework of a lawsuit, are guaranteed to all; the custody should not exceed the time envisaged by the
law.
- The secrecy of the correspondence, of the postal communications, telegraphic, telephone and telematics is inviolable. It can be ordered
of restriction on this inviolability only pursuant to the law, for reasons of law and order and safety of the State.
- The limits of the use of data processing to safeguard the man, the personal and family intimacy of the people and the full exercise of
their laws are fixed by the law.
- Each citizen has the duty to work and the right to obtain an employment. No one cannot be injured in its work because of its origins, its
sex, its race, its opinions.
- The State, according to possibilities', guarantees to all, in particular to the child, the mother, to the handicapped people, to the old
workers and to the old people, the protection of health, the social security, a preserved personal environment, the rest and the leisures.
- Any Gabonese citizen remaining or residing abroad profits from protection and the assistance from the State, under the conditions fixed
by the national laws or the international agreements.
- Any person, as well only as in community, is entitled to the property. No one cannot be private of its property, if it is not when public
need, legally noted, requires it, and under the condition of a just and preliminary compensation; however, committed real expropriations
due to public utility, for insufficiency or absence of development, and aiming at the registered properties, are controls by the law.
- Very Gabonese A right to freely fix its residence or its residence in an unspecified place of the own territory and to carry on all the
activities there, subject to the respect of the law and order and law.
- The residence is inviolable. It can be ordered of searching only by the judge or the authorities indicated by the law. The searchings can
be carried out only in the forms prescribed by this one. Measurements attacking the inviolability of the residence or restricting it can be
taken only to avoid the collective dangers or to protect the law and order from imminent threats, in particular to combat the risks of
epidemics or to protect from the people in danger.
- The right to form political associations, parties or formations, trade unions, companies, establishments of social interest as of the
religious communities is guaranteed to all under the conditions fixed by the law; the religious communities regulate and manage their
business in an independent way, subject respecting the principles of national sovereignty, the law and order and to preserve the moral and
mental integrity of the individual. Political associations, parties or formations, trade unions, companies, establishments of social interest as
well as the religious communities whose activities are against the laws or with the good agreement of the groups or ethnic sets, can be
prohibited according to terms' of the law.
-Any act of racial, ethnic or religious discrimination, just as any regionalistic propaganda being able to attack safety interior or external of
the State or to the integrity of the Republic are punished by the law.
- The family is the natural basic cell of the company, the marriage is the legitimate support. They are placed under the particular
protection of the State. - The State has the duty to organize a census general of the population every ten years.
- The care given to the children and their education constitutes, for the parents, a natural right and a duty which they exert under the
monitoring and with the public bodies and State aid. The parents have the right, within the framework of compulsory education, to decide
to moral and religious education their children. The children have with respect to the State, the same rights with regard to as well the
assistance as their physical, intellectual and moral development.
- The protection of youth against the exploitation and the moral, intellectual and physical abandonment is an obligation for the State and
the public bodies.
- The State guarantees the legal access of the child and the adult to the instruction, the vocational training and the culture.
- The State has the duty to organize the state education on the principle of religious neutrality and, according to possibilities', on the basis
of exemption from payment. The collation of the ranks remains the prerogative of the State; however, the freedom of teaching is
guaranteed to all. Any person can open an establishment pre-school, primary, secondary, higher or a university, under the conditions fixed
by the law. The law fixes the conditions of participation of the State and the public bodies at the financial expenses of the private
establishments of teaching recognized of public utility. In the publicly-owned establishments of teaching, the religious instruction can be
exempted to the pupils at the request of the parents, under the conditions prescribed by the rules. The law fixes the operating conditions
of the educational establishments deprived by taking account of their specificity.
- The Nation proclaims the solidarity and the equality of all in front of the public offices; each one must take part in proportion of its
resources with the financing of the public expenditure. The Nation proclaims, moreover, the solidarity of all in front of the loads which
result from the natural disasters and national.
- Each citizen has the duty to defend the fatherland and the obligation to protect and respect the Constitution, the laws and the payments
of the Republic.
- The defense of the Nation and the safeguard of the law and order are primarily assured by the forces defense and safety main roads.
Consequently, no person, no grouping of people, can constitute in private militia or groupings paramilitary; the forces of defense and
safety main roads are with the service of the State. In times of peace, the Gabonese armed forces can take part in economic work of
development and social of the Nation.
- No one cannot be arbitrarily held. No one cannot be kept at sight or be placed under committal order if it presents sufficient guarantees
of representation, subject to the needs for safety and procedure. Very prevented is supposed innocent until the establishment of its
culpability following a regular lawsuit offering of the guarantees essential to its defense. The judicial power, guard of the personal
freedom, ensures the respect of these principles, within the time allowed by the law.
(Translated from French by Google Translate)
ARTICLE ONE
The Gabonese Republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable and imprescriptible rights of the man, who bind obligatorily the
authorities.
Each citizen is entitled to the free development of his personality in the respect of the rights of others and the law and order. No one can
be humiliated, maltreated or be tortured, even when it is in a state of arrest or imprisonment.
- The freedom of conscience, thought, opinion, expression, communication, the free practice of the religion are guaranteed to all, subject
to the respect of the law and order.
- The freedom of going and coming inside the territory from the Gabonese Republic, to leave there and to return there is guaranteed to all
the citizens Gabonese subject to the respect of the law and order.
- The rights of defense, within the framework of a lawsuit, are guaranteed to all; the custody should not exceed the time envisaged by the
law.
- The secrecy of the correspondence, of the postal communications, telegraphic, telephone and telematics is inviolable. It can be ordered
of restriction on this inviolability only pursuant to the law, for reasons of law and order and safety of the State.
- The limits of the use of data processing to safeguard the man, the personal and family intimacy of the people and the full exercise of
their laws are fixed by the law.
- Each citizen has the duty to work and the right to obtain an employment. No one cannot be injured in its work because of its origins, its
sex, its race, its opinions.
- The State, according to possibilities', guarantees to all, in particular to the child, the mother, to the handicapped people, to the old
workers and to the old people, the protection of health, the social security, a preserved personal environment, the rest and the leisures.
- Any Gabonese citizen remaining or residing abroad profits from protection and the assistance from the State, under the conditions fixed
by the national laws or the international agreements.
- Any person, as well only as in community, is entitled to the property. No one cannot be private of its property, if it is not when public
need, legally noted, requires it, and under the condition of a just and preliminary compensation; however, committed real expropriations
due to public utility, for insufficiency or absence of development, and aiming at the registered properties, are controls by the law.
- Very Gabonese A right to freely fix its residence or its residence in an unspecified place of the own territory and to carry on all the
activities there, subject to the respect of the law and order and law.
- The residence is inviolable. It can be ordered of searching only by the judge or the authorities indicated by the law. The searchings can
be carried out only in the forms prescribed by this one. Measurements attacking the inviolability of the residence or restricting it can be
taken only to avoid the collective dangers or to protect the law and order from imminent threats, in particular to combat the risks of
epidemics or to protect from the people in danger.
- The right to form political associations, parties or formations, trade unions, companies, establishments of social interest as of the
religious communities is guaranteed to all under the conditions fixed by the law; the religious communities regulate and manage their
business in an independent way, subject respecting the principles of national sovereignty, the law and order and to preserve the moral and
mental integrity of the individual. Political associations, parties or formations, trade unions, companies, establishments of social interest as
well as the religious communities whose activities are against the laws or with the good agreement of the groups or ethnic sets, can be
prohibited according to terms' of the law.
-Any act of racial, ethnic or religious discrimination, just as any regionalistic propaganda being able to attack safety interior or external of
the State or to the integrity of the Republic are punished by the law.
- The family is the natural basic cell of the company, the marriage is the legitimate support. They are placed under the particular
protection of the State. - The State has the duty to organize a census general of the population every ten years.
- The care given to the children and their education constitutes, for the parents, a natural right and a duty which they exert under the
monitoring and with the public bodies and State aid. The parents have the right, within the framework of compulsory education, to decide
to moral and religious education their children. The children have with respect to the State, the same rights with regard to as well the
assistance as their physical, intellectual and moral development.
- The protection of youth against the exploitation and the moral, intellectual and physical abandonment is an obligation for the State and
the public bodies.
- The State guarantees the legal access of the child and the adult to the instruction, the vocational training and the culture.
- The State has the duty to organize the state education on the principle of religious neutrality and, according to possibilities', on the basis
of exemption from payment. The collation of the ranks remains the prerogative of the State; however, the freedom of teaching is
guaranteed to all. Any person can open an establishment pre-school, primary, secondary, higher or a university, under the conditions fixed
by the law. The law fixes the conditions of participation of the State and the public bodies at the financial expenses of the private
establishments of teaching recognized of public utility. In the publicly-owned establishments of teaching, the religious instruction can be
exempted to the pupils at the request of the parents, under the conditions prescribed by the rules. The law fixes the operating conditions
of the educational establishments deprived by taking account of their specificity.
- The Nation proclaims the solidarity and the equality of all in front of the public offices; each one must take part in proportion of its
resources with the financing of the public expenditure. The Nation proclaims, moreover, the solidarity of all in front of the loads which
result from the natural disasters and national.
- Each citizen has the duty to defend the fatherland and the obligation to protect and respect the Constitution, the laws and the payments
of the Republic.
- The defense of the Nation and the safeguard of the law and order are primarily assured by the forces defense and safety main roads.
Consequently, no person, no grouping of people, can constitute in private militia or groupings paramilitary; the forces of defense and
safety main roads are with the service of the State. In times of peace, the Gabonese armed forces can take part in economic work of
development and social of the Nation.
- No one cannot be arbitrarily held. No one cannot be kept at sight or be placed under committal order if it presents sufficient guarantees
of representation, subject to the needs for safety and procedure. Very prevented is supposed innocent until the establishment of its
culpability following a regular lawsuit offering of the guarantees essential to its defense. The judicial power, guard of the personal
freedom, ensures the respect of these principles, within the time allowed by the law.
On 17 August 1960 Gabon received its independence from France. On 26 March 1991, The
Constitution of the Gabonese republic was adopted by referendum in accordance with
standards set forth by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as is required for
admission consideration in the United Nations. On 18 March 1994, it was revised . The
following is the extract of those amendments specifically pertaining to human rights. For a
full English translation of Gabon's constitution, click here.
Constitution of the Gabonese republic was adopted by referendum in accordance with
standards set forth by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as is required for
admission consideration in the United Nations. On 18 March 1994, it was revised . The
following is the extract of those amendments specifically pertaining to human rights. For a
full English translation of Gabon's constitution, click here.