| REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Republic of the Congo Republique du Congo Joined United Nations: 20 September 1960 Human Rights as assured by their constitution Updated 12/01/10 |
Title II Fundamental Rights and Liberties
Article 10 [Right to Life, General Liberty]
(1) The human person is sacred and has the right to life.
(2) The State shall have the absolute obligation to respect and protect him. Every citizen shall have the right to the free development and
the full flowering of his person in his psychological, intellectual, spiritual, material, and social dimensions in respect of the rights of others,
public order, and good mores.
Article 11 [Equality, Gender Equality, Liability]
(1) The State shall assure the equality of all citizens before the law, without discrimination of origin, social or material situation, racial,
ethnic and regional origin, sex, instruction, language, attitude vis-avis religion and philosophy, or place of residence. It shall respect all the
rights and liberties within limits compatible with public order and good mores.
(2) The State shall have the duty to strive for the elimination of any form of discrimination with regard to women and to assure the
protection of their rights in all domains of private and public life such as stipulated in the international Declarations and Conventions
ratified by the Congo.
(3) Any act which accords privileges to nationals or limits their rights by reason of the considerations targeted in Paragraph (1) shall be
punished by the penalties provided for by law.
Article 12 [Personal Liberty, Presumption of Innocence]
The liberty of the human person is inviolable. One shall be accused, arrested, or detained only in the cases determined by law and
according to the forms which it prescribes. Every accused shall be presumed innocent until his guilt shall be established at the end of a
procedure offering him the guaranties of a defense.
Article 13 [Detention]
No one shall be incarcerated except in the cases provided by law.
Article 14 [No Exceptional Jurisdiction]
Under reserve of the provisions provided by the present Constitution and for a scrupulous respect for the human person, every
exceptional use of judicial power shall be banished.
Article 15 [Nulla Poena Sine Lege]
The law shall only establish penalties strictly and evidently necessary, and one shall only be punished in virtue of a law established and
promulgated anterior to the infraction and equally applied.
Article 16 [No Torture, Liability]
Any act of torture, any cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment shall be prohibited. Anyone found guilty of the acts enunciated in the
present article, shall be punished according to the law.
Article 17 [Right to Resistance]
Any citizen may oppose the execution of an order received when it touches the rights and liberties contained in the present Constitution.
Article 18 [Petition, Appeal]
Each citizen shall have the right to introduce a written demand to the appropriate organ of the State.
Article 19 [Recourse to the Courts]
Any citizen subjected to a prejudice by an act of the administration shall have the right to judicial recourse.
Article 20 [Recognition of Juridical Personality]
Each citizen shall have the right in any place to the recognition of his juridical personality.
Article 21 [Citizenship]
Every Congolese shall have the right to Congolese citizenship. Neither it nor his right to change nationality shall be arbitrarily taken from
him.
Article 22 [Movement]
(1) Every citizen shall possess the right to freely circulate on the national territory.
(2) He shall only be hindered by road blocks in conditions determined by law.
(3) Every citizen shall have the right to freely choose his place of residence. He shall have the right to freely leave the national territory, if
he is not the object of judicial proceedings, and to return thereto.
Article 23 [Searches]
Searches, in all forms, shall be authorized only in conditions determined by law.
Article 24 [Home]
The home is inviolable. Searches shall only be ordered in the forms and conditions prescribed by law.
Article 25 [Association, Political Parties]
Each citizen shall have the right to create a party, syndicate, associations, or to adhere to them.
Article 26 [Religion, Civic Duties]
(1) Freedom of belief and conscience and the freedom of either a religious or philosophical profession are inviolable.
(2) The free exercise of religious sects shall be guaranteed within the limits compatible with public order and good mores.
(3) No one shall be relieved from fulfilling a civic duty because of religious opinion.
Article 27 [Expression, Media, Information]
(1) Every citizen shall have the right to freely express and diffuse his opinion by speech, by writing, and by image.
(2) Freedom of the press and freedom of information shall be guaranteed.
(3) Censure shall be prohibited.
(4) Access to sources of information shall be free.
(5) Every citizen shall have the right to information and communication. Activities relative to these domains shall be exercised in total
independence in respect of the law.
Article 28 [Secrecy of Communication]
Secrecy of letters, correspondence, telecommunications, or any other form of communication shall not be violated except in the
case prescribed by law.
Article 29 [Assembly]
(1) All citizens shall have the right to peacefully assemble, without previous authorization or declaration.
(2) Peaceful assemblies and manifestations in the public shall be regulated.
(3) Freedom to have a parade shall be guaranteed.
(4) The law shall determine the conditions of its use.
Article 30 [Property]
(1) Property and the right to succession shall be guaranteed. Transfer and expropriation shall only be allowed under the condition of a just
and prior indemnification.
(2) In case of contestation, the proprietor shall be responsible for seating the competent tribunals.
Article 31 [Work, Labor Equality, No Forced Labor, No Slavery]
(1) Work is a sacred right and duty. The State shall guarantee the freedom to work. Every citizen shall have the right to be compensated
according to his work and his capacity. For the same work, a woman shall have the right to the same salary as a man.
(2) Any discrimination based on race, sex, physical state, regional and ethnic origin, ideology, religion, or philosophy shall be prohibited.
(3) Except for the agents of the Public Force, Congolese citizens shall possess the freedom to unionize and to strike. No one shall be
submitted to forced labor, except in the case of a liberty-depriving sentence pronounced by a tribunal. No one shall be reduced to slavery.
Article 32 [Enterprise]
Every person shall have the right to enterprise in the economic sectors of his choice in respect of the laws and regulations.
Article 33 [Rest, Leisure, Paid Vacation, Holidays]
Every person shall have the right to rest and leisure notably to a legal limitation to the duration of work and periodic paid vacations as well
as remuneration for holidays.
Article 34 [Health, Aged, Handicapped]
(1) The State is the guarantor of public health. Every citizen shall have the right to a level of life sufficient to assure his health, his
well-being and that of his family, notably food, clothing, shelter, medical care as well as necessary social services.
(2) The right to create private socio-sanitation establishments shall be guaranteed. Socio-sanitation establishments shall be submitted to the
approval of the state and regulated by law.
(3) Aged or handicapped persons shall have the right to specific measures of protection coinciding with their physical and moral needs.
Article 35 [Culture]
(1) Citizens shall possess a right to culture and to the respect of their cultural identity. All the communities composing the Congolese
Nation shall possess the freedom to use their languages and their own culture without prejudicing those of others.
(2) The State shall have the duty to safeguard and promote the national values of civilization, such spiritual materials as well as cultural
traditions.
Article 36 [Intellectual Freedom and Property]
The freedom of intellectual, artistic, scientific, and
technological creation shall be guaranteed to each citizen. Intellectual property shall be protected by law. The sequestration, seizure,
confiscation, interdiction, and destruction of all or part of any publication, entry, or any other manner of information and communication
shall only be performed in virtue of a judicial decision.
Article 37 [Education]
(1) Every person shall have the right to education. All instruction shall be placed under the surveillance and control of the State. The State
shall strive for equal access to education and professional instruction.
(2) Public instruction shall be free. Fundamental instruction shall be obligatory.
(3) Scholarship shall be obligatory until the age of sixteen years.
(4) The right to create private schools shall be guaranteed. Private school shall be submitted to the approval of the State and regulated by
law.
Article 38 [Family]
(1) The State shall have the obligation to assist the family in its mission as guardian of the morality and traditional values recognized by the
community.
(2) The State shall have the duty to assure the protection of the Rights of the mother and infant as stipulated in the International
Declarations and Conventions.
Article 39 [Marriage]
(1) Marriage and the family shall be under the protection of the State. The law shall fix the juridical conditions of marriage and the family.
(2) Legal marriage shall only be contracted before the organs of the State. It shall only be concluded with the free and clear consent of the
future spouses.
Article 40 [Children, Parents, Child Equality]
(1) Parents shall have rights and responsibilities regarding their children. Children shall have rights and duties toward their parents.
(2) Children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall have the same rights.
Article 41 [Child Education, Child Support]
(1) Children shall only be separated from their family, which shall be responsible for their education, in virtue of the law.
(2) The mother and the child shall have the right to aid and assistance of the State.
Article 42 [Child Protection, Child Nationality]
(1) Every child, without a single discrimination based on race, color, sex, language, religion, national, social or ethnic origin, fortune or
birth, shall have the right, on the part of his family, society, and the State to measures of protection which stem from his condition as a
minor.
(2) Every child shall be declared to the Civil State after his birth within a time period fixed by law and have a name.
(3) Every child shall have the right to acquire a nationality.
Article 43 [No Child Exploitation or Labor]
(1) The State shall protect all children and adolescents from economic and social exploitation.
(2) Child labor of those under 16 years shall be prohibited.
Article 44 [Youth Employment]
The act of employing those under 18 years of age in those
occupations of a nature compromising their morality or their health putting their lives in danger or hindering their normal development
shall be sanctioned by law.
Article 45 [Parental Liabilities]
The law shall sanction insufficiencies of parents in the matter of education and the protection of their children.
Article 46 [Environment]
Each citizen shall have the right to a healthy, satisfactory, and enduring environment and the duty to defend it. The State shall strive for
the protection and the conservation of the environment.
Article 47 [Waste Management, Pollution Compensation]
(1) Storing, manipulating, incinerating, and discharging toxic, polluting or radio-active wastes originating in factories and other industrial
or artisan units installed on the national territory shall be regulated by law.
(2) All pollution resulting from an economic activity shall give compensation for the benefit of the populations of the exploited zones.
(3) The law shall determine the nature of compensatory measures and the forms of their execution.
Article 48 [Polluting Liabilities]
(1) The transport, importation, storage, concealment, dumping, in the continental waters and maritime space under the national
jurisdiction and including the exclusive economic zone, and dispersal in the airspace, of toxic, polluting, or radioactive wastes or any other
dangerous product of a foreign origin shall constitute a crime punishable by law.
(2) Any accord relative to these domains shall be prohibited.
Article 49 [War Crimes]
War crimes, political crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide shall be imprescriptible.
Article 50 [Minority Rights]
The State shall guarantee the rights of minorities.
Article 51 [Asylum, Immigration]
(1) The State shall accord the right of asylum on his territory to foreign exiles persecuted by reason of their action in favor of democracy,
the fight for national liberation, or the fight against racism and apartheid, the freedom of scientific and cultural work, and for the defense
of Human Rights and the Rights of Peoples conforming to laws and regulations in force.
(2) Immigration shall be submitted to the law.
Article 52 [Rights of Foreigners]
Foreigners shall possess on the territory of the Republic of the Congo, the same rights and liberties as Congolese citizens except those
enumerated in Articles 5, 6, 7, and 25, and conforming to laws and regulations in force. At all times, their right to form apolitical
associations and to adhere to them shall be recognized.
Article 53 [Right to Peace]
The Congolese people shall have the right to peace.
Article 54 [Right to Resources]
The Congolese People shall have the inalienable imprescriptible right to possess their riches and natural resources.
Article 55 [Right to Development]
The Congolese People shall have the right to economic, cultural, and social development.
Title III Duties
Article 56 [General Provisions]
(1) Every individual shall have duties toward the family and the society, toward the State and other legally recognized units, and toward
the international community.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and in the possession of his liberties, every individual shall only be submitted to limitations established by
law with a view to assure the recognition and the respect of the Rights and Liberties of others and the goal of satisfying just exigencies of
moral, public order, and the general well-being in a democratic society.
Article 57 [Tolerance]
Every individual shall have the duty to respect and consider his equals without any discrimination, and to maintain with them relations
which permit promotion, safeguard, and reinforcement of respect and reciprocal tolerance.
Article 58 [Family, National Solidarity]
Every individual shall have the duty:
- to preserve harmonious development of the family and to work in favor of its cohesion and its respect, to respect at all times his
parents, to nourish and to assist them in case of necessity; and
- to preserve, at all times, the social and national solidarity and reinforce it particularly when it is menaced.
Article 59 [National Security]
(1) Every individual shall have the duty to preserve the peace and reinforce the national independence and territorial integrity of the
Fatherland and in a general manner, to contribute to the defense of the country, under conditions fixed by law.
(2) Treason, espionage for the profit of a foreign power, aiding the enemy in time of war, as well as all threats to the security of the State
shall be reprimanded in conformity with the laws of the Republic.
Article 60 [Taxation, Duty to Work]
Every individual shall be expected to work in measure with his capacities and his possibilities and to pay his due contribution fixed by law
for the safeguard of the fundamental interests of Society.
Article 61 [Property]
Every citizen shall have the duty, by his work and his conduct, to respect private property, to protect public property, and the interests of
the national unit.
Article 62 [Public Good]
(1) The public good is sacred and inviolable. All citizens shall have the duty to assure its maintenance and preservation.
(2) The law shall reprimand any act of sabotage, corruption, abuse of a public function, misdirection, dilapidation, and dissipation.
Article 63 [Public Office]
Citizens charged with a public function or elected to a public function shall have the duty to accomplish it conscientiously and without
discrimination.
Article 64 [Culture, Society, African Unity]
Every individual shall have the duty:
- to strive, in his relations with the society, for the preservation and reinforcement of cultural values in a spirit of tolerance, dialogue, and
in concert and in a general fashion, to contribute to the promotion of the moral health of the Society, to preserve and reinforce the national
unity and cohesiveness when they are menaced; and
- to contribute to the best of his abilities, at all times and at all levels to the promotion and the realization of african unity.
Article 65 [Environment]
(1) Every individual shall have the duty to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and the preservation of his natural milieu as
well as to the protection of the environment.
(2) Also, he shall have the duty not to negatively effect his environment nor the well-being of his neighbors.
Article 66 [Constitution, Law, Regulations]
Every citizen shall have the duty to conform himself to the Constitution, the laws, and the regulations of the Republic and to discharge his
obligations toward the State and the Society.
Article 10 [Right to Life, General Liberty]
(1) The human person is sacred and has the right to life.
(2) The State shall have the absolute obligation to respect and protect him. Every citizen shall have the right to the free development and
the full flowering of his person in his psychological, intellectual, spiritual, material, and social dimensions in respect of the rights of others,
public order, and good mores.
Article 11 [Equality, Gender Equality, Liability]
(1) The State shall assure the equality of all citizens before the law, without discrimination of origin, social or material situation, racial,
ethnic and regional origin, sex, instruction, language, attitude vis-avis religion and philosophy, or place of residence. It shall respect all the
rights and liberties within limits compatible with public order and good mores.
(2) The State shall have the duty to strive for the elimination of any form of discrimination with regard to women and to assure the
protection of their rights in all domains of private and public life such as stipulated in the international Declarations and Conventions
ratified by the Congo.
(3) Any act which accords privileges to nationals or limits their rights by reason of the considerations targeted in Paragraph (1) shall be
punished by the penalties provided for by law.
Article 12 [Personal Liberty, Presumption of Innocence]
The liberty of the human person is inviolable. One shall be accused, arrested, or detained only in the cases determined by law and
according to the forms which it prescribes. Every accused shall be presumed innocent until his guilt shall be established at the end of a
procedure offering him the guaranties of a defense.
Article 13 [Detention]
No one shall be incarcerated except in the cases provided by law.
Article 14 [No Exceptional Jurisdiction]
Under reserve of the provisions provided by the present Constitution and for a scrupulous respect for the human person, every
exceptional use of judicial power shall be banished.
Article 15 [Nulla Poena Sine Lege]
The law shall only establish penalties strictly and evidently necessary, and one shall only be punished in virtue of a law established and
promulgated anterior to the infraction and equally applied.
Article 16 [No Torture, Liability]
Any act of torture, any cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment shall be prohibited. Anyone found guilty of the acts enunciated in the
present article, shall be punished according to the law.
Article 17 [Right to Resistance]
Any citizen may oppose the execution of an order received when it touches the rights and liberties contained in the present Constitution.
Article 18 [Petition, Appeal]
Each citizen shall have the right to introduce a written demand to the appropriate organ of the State.
Article 19 [Recourse to the Courts]
Any citizen subjected to a prejudice by an act of the administration shall have the right to judicial recourse.
Article 20 [Recognition of Juridical Personality]
Each citizen shall have the right in any place to the recognition of his juridical personality.
Article 21 [Citizenship]
Every Congolese shall have the right to Congolese citizenship. Neither it nor his right to change nationality shall be arbitrarily taken from
him.
Article 22 [Movement]
(1) Every citizen shall possess the right to freely circulate on the national territory.
(2) He shall only be hindered by road blocks in conditions determined by law.
(3) Every citizen shall have the right to freely choose his place of residence. He shall have the right to freely leave the national territory, if
he is not the object of judicial proceedings, and to return thereto.
Article 23 [Searches]
Searches, in all forms, shall be authorized only in conditions determined by law.
Article 24 [Home]
The home is inviolable. Searches shall only be ordered in the forms and conditions prescribed by law.
Article 25 [Association, Political Parties]
Each citizen shall have the right to create a party, syndicate, associations, or to adhere to them.
Article 26 [Religion, Civic Duties]
(1) Freedom of belief and conscience and the freedom of either a religious or philosophical profession are inviolable.
(2) The free exercise of religious sects shall be guaranteed within the limits compatible with public order and good mores.
(3) No one shall be relieved from fulfilling a civic duty because of religious opinion.
Article 27 [Expression, Media, Information]
(1) Every citizen shall have the right to freely express and diffuse his opinion by speech, by writing, and by image.
(2) Freedom of the press and freedom of information shall be guaranteed.
(3) Censure shall be prohibited.
(4) Access to sources of information shall be free.
(5) Every citizen shall have the right to information and communication. Activities relative to these domains shall be exercised in total
independence in respect of the law.
Article 28 [Secrecy of Communication]
Secrecy of letters, correspondence, telecommunications, or any other form of communication shall not be violated except in the
case prescribed by law.
Article 29 [Assembly]
(1) All citizens shall have the right to peacefully assemble, without previous authorization or declaration.
(2) Peaceful assemblies and manifestations in the public shall be regulated.
(3) Freedom to have a parade shall be guaranteed.
(4) The law shall determine the conditions of its use.
Article 30 [Property]
(1) Property and the right to succession shall be guaranteed. Transfer and expropriation shall only be allowed under the condition of a just
and prior indemnification.
(2) In case of contestation, the proprietor shall be responsible for seating the competent tribunals.
Article 31 [Work, Labor Equality, No Forced Labor, No Slavery]
(1) Work is a sacred right and duty. The State shall guarantee the freedom to work. Every citizen shall have the right to be compensated
according to his work and his capacity. For the same work, a woman shall have the right to the same salary as a man.
(2) Any discrimination based on race, sex, physical state, regional and ethnic origin, ideology, religion, or philosophy shall be prohibited.
(3) Except for the agents of the Public Force, Congolese citizens shall possess the freedom to unionize and to strike. No one shall be
submitted to forced labor, except in the case of a liberty-depriving sentence pronounced by a tribunal. No one shall be reduced to slavery.
Article 32 [Enterprise]
Every person shall have the right to enterprise in the economic sectors of his choice in respect of the laws and regulations.
Article 33 [Rest, Leisure, Paid Vacation, Holidays]
Every person shall have the right to rest and leisure notably to a legal limitation to the duration of work and periodic paid vacations as well
as remuneration for holidays.
Article 34 [Health, Aged, Handicapped]
(1) The State is the guarantor of public health. Every citizen shall have the right to a level of life sufficient to assure his health, his
well-being and that of his family, notably food, clothing, shelter, medical care as well as necessary social services.
(2) The right to create private socio-sanitation establishments shall be guaranteed. Socio-sanitation establishments shall be submitted to the
approval of the state and regulated by law.
(3) Aged or handicapped persons shall have the right to specific measures of protection coinciding with their physical and moral needs.
Article 35 [Culture]
(1) Citizens shall possess a right to culture and to the respect of their cultural identity. All the communities composing the Congolese
Nation shall possess the freedom to use their languages and their own culture without prejudicing those of others.
(2) The State shall have the duty to safeguard and promote the national values of civilization, such spiritual materials as well as cultural
traditions.
Article 36 [Intellectual Freedom and Property]
The freedom of intellectual, artistic, scientific, and
technological creation shall be guaranteed to each citizen. Intellectual property shall be protected by law. The sequestration, seizure,
confiscation, interdiction, and destruction of all or part of any publication, entry, or any other manner of information and communication
shall only be performed in virtue of a judicial decision.
Article 37 [Education]
(1) Every person shall have the right to education. All instruction shall be placed under the surveillance and control of the State. The State
shall strive for equal access to education and professional instruction.
(2) Public instruction shall be free. Fundamental instruction shall be obligatory.
(3) Scholarship shall be obligatory until the age of sixteen years.
(4) The right to create private schools shall be guaranteed. Private school shall be submitted to the approval of the State and regulated by
law.
Article 38 [Family]
(1) The State shall have the obligation to assist the family in its mission as guardian of the morality and traditional values recognized by the
community.
(2) The State shall have the duty to assure the protection of the Rights of the mother and infant as stipulated in the International
Declarations and Conventions.
Article 39 [Marriage]
(1) Marriage and the family shall be under the protection of the State. The law shall fix the juridical conditions of marriage and the family.
(2) Legal marriage shall only be contracted before the organs of the State. It shall only be concluded with the free and clear consent of the
future spouses.
Article 40 [Children, Parents, Child Equality]
(1) Parents shall have rights and responsibilities regarding their children. Children shall have rights and duties toward their parents.
(2) Children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall have the same rights.
Article 41 [Child Education, Child Support]
(1) Children shall only be separated from their family, which shall be responsible for their education, in virtue of the law.
(2) The mother and the child shall have the right to aid and assistance of the State.
Article 42 [Child Protection, Child Nationality]
(1) Every child, without a single discrimination based on race, color, sex, language, religion, national, social or ethnic origin, fortune or
birth, shall have the right, on the part of his family, society, and the State to measures of protection which stem from his condition as a
minor.
(2) Every child shall be declared to the Civil State after his birth within a time period fixed by law and have a name.
(3) Every child shall have the right to acquire a nationality.
Article 43 [No Child Exploitation or Labor]
(1) The State shall protect all children and adolescents from economic and social exploitation.
(2) Child labor of those under 16 years shall be prohibited.
Article 44 [Youth Employment]
The act of employing those under 18 years of age in those
occupations of a nature compromising their morality or their health putting their lives in danger or hindering their normal development
shall be sanctioned by law.
Article 45 [Parental Liabilities]
The law shall sanction insufficiencies of parents in the matter of education and the protection of their children.
Article 46 [Environment]
Each citizen shall have the right to a healthy, satisfactory, and enduring environment and the duty to defend it. The State shall strive for
the protection and the conservation of the environment.
Article 47 [Waste Management, Pollution Compensation]
(1) Storing, manipulating, incinerating, and discharging toxic, polluting or radio-active wastes originating in factories and other industrial
or artisan units installed on the national territory shall be regulated by law.
(2) All pollution resulting from an economic activity shall give compensation for the benefit of the populations of the exploited zones.
(3) The law shall determine the nature of compensatory measures and the forms of their execution.
Article 48 [Polluting Liabilities]
(1) The transport, importation, storage, concealment, dumping, in the continental waters and maritime space under the national
jurisdiction and including the exclusive economic zone, and dispersal in the airspace, of toxic, polluting, or radioactive wastes or any other
dangerous product of a foreign origin shall constitute a crime punishable by law.
(2) Any accord relative to these domains shall be prohibited.
Article 49 [War Crimes]
War crimes, political crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide shall be imprescriptible.
Article 50 [Minority Rights]
The State shall guarantee the rights of minorities.
Article 51 [Asylum, Immigration]
(1) The State shall accord the right of asylum on his territory to foreign exiles persecuted by reason of their action in favor of democracy,
the fight for national liberation, or the fight against racism and apartheid, the freedom of scientific and cultural work, and for the defense
of Human Rights and the Rights of Peoples conforming to laws and regulations in force.
(2) Immigration shall be submitted to the law.
Article 52 [Rights of Foreigners]
Foreigners shall possess on the territory of the Republic of the Congo, the same rights and liberties as Congolese citizens except those
enumerated in Articles 5, 6, 7, and 25, and conforming to laws and regulations in force. At all times, their right to form apolitical
associations and to adhere to them shall be recognized.
Article 53 [Right to Peace]
The Congolese people shall have the right to peace.
Article 54 [Right to Resources]
The Congolese People shall have the inalienable imprescriptible right to possess their riches and natural resources.
Article 55 [Right to Development]
The Congolese People shall have the right to economic, cultural, and social development.
Title III Duties
Article 56 [General Provisions]
(1) Every individual shall have duties toward the family and the society, toward the State and other legally recognized units, and toward
the international community.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and in the possession of his liberties, every individual shall only be submitted to limitations established by
law with a view to assure the recognition and the respect of the Rights and Liberties of others and the goal of satisfying just exigencies of
moral, public order, and the general well-being in a democratic society.
Article 57 [Tolerance]
Every individual shall have the duty to respect and consider his equals without any discrimination, and to maintain with them relations
which permit promotion, safeguard, and reinforcement of respect and reciprocal tolerance.
Article 58 [Family, National Solidarity]
Every individual shall have the duty:
- to preserve harmonious development of the family and to work in favor of its cohesion and its respect, to respect at all times his
parents, to nourish and to assist them in case of necessity; and
- to preserve, at all times, the social and national solidarity and reinforce it particularly when it is menaced.
Article 59 [National Security]
(1) Every individual shall have the duty to preserve the peace and reinforce the national independence and territorial integrity of the
Fatherland and in a general manner, to contribute to the defense of the country, under conditions fixed by law.
(2) Treason, espionage for the profit of a foreign power, aiding the enemy in time of war, as well as all threats to the security of the State
shall be reprimanded in conformity with the laws of the Republic.
Article 60 [Taxation, Duty to Work]
Every individual shall be expected to work in measure with his capacities and his possibilities and to pay his due contribution fixed by law
for the safeguard of the fundamental interests of Society.
Article 61 [Property]
Every citizen shall have the duty, by his work and his conduct, to respect private property, to protect public property, and the interests of
the national unit.
Article 62 [Public Good]
(1) The public good is sacred and inviolable. All citizens shall have the duty to assure its maintenance and preservation.
(2) The law shall reprimand any act of sabotage, corruption, abuse of a public function, misdirection, dilapidation, and dissipation.
Article 63 [Public Office]
Citizens charged with a public function or elected to a public function shall have the duty to accomplish it conscientiously and without
discrimination.
Article 64 [Culture, Society, African Unity]
Every individual shall have the duty:
- to strive, in his relations with the society, for the preservation and reinforcement of cultural values in a spirit of tolerance, dialogue, and
in concert and in a general fashion, to contribute to the promotion of the moral health of the Society, to preserve and reinforce the national
unity and cohesiveness when they are menaced; and
- to contribute to the best of his abilities, at all times and at all levels to the promotion and the realization of african unity.
Article 65 [Environment]
(1) Every individual shall have the duty to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and the preservation of his natural milieu as
well as to the protection of the environment.
(2) Also, he shall have the duty not to negatively effect his environment nor the well-being of his neighbors.
Article 66 [Constitution, Law, Regulations]
Every citizen shall have the duty to conform himself to the Constitution, the laws, and the regulations of the Republic and to discharge his
obligations toward the State and the Society.
The Bambuti, ancient hunter-gatherers, were the earliest inhabitants linked to Stone Age
pygmies that slowly yielded to the Bantu people, the main tribe known as the Kongo. The
M'banza-Kongo kingdom dominated the region. Portuguese explorers were the first
Europeans to encounter the Kongo in 1482-1483, quickly Christianizing the region. After
1510 relationship between the Portuguese and Kongo Kingdoms deteriorated as the region
was invaded by slave traders for the Brazil plantations. Revolts and decline of the
Portuguese Empire led to a brutal occupation by the Spanish in 1580-1640. Portugal
reclaimed possession, rendering Kongo into a vassal state by 1884. Belgium and France
contested for control of the Congo, the French asserting administration of the north bank on
1 August 1886 and named the Colony of French Congo on 30 April 1891. Independence
movements began in the early 20th century with independence and the promulgation of its
first constitution achieved on 28 November 1958 with the establishment of the Republic of
Congo. The present constitution was adopted on 15 March 1992. Human rights are
enumerated beginning with Title II (Fundamental Rights and Liberties), conforms with the
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Republic of the Congo is a signatory
and are detailed below. For a full English translation of Republic of the Congo's
Constitution, click here.
pygmies that slowly yielded to the Bantu people, the main tribe known as the Kongo. The
M'banza-Kongo kingdom dominated the region. Portuguese explorers were the first
Europeans to encounter the Kongo in 1482-1483, quickly Christianizing the region. After
1510 relationship between the Portuguese and Kongo Kingdoms deteriorated as the region
was invaded by slave traders for the Brazil plantations. Revolts and decline of the
Portuguese Empire led to a brutal occupation by the Spanish in 1580-1640. Portugal
reclaimed possession, rendering Kongo into a vassal state by 1884. Belgium and France
contested for control of the Congo, the French asserting administration of the north bank on
1 August 1886 and named the Colony of French Congo on 30 April 1891. Independence
movements began in the early 20th century with independence and the promulgation of its
first constitution achieved on 28 November 1958 with the establishment of the Republic of
Congo. The present constitution was adopted on 15 March 1992. Human rights are
enumerated beginning with Title II (Fundamental Rights and Liberties), conforms with the
1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which Republic of the Congo is a signatory
and are detailed below. For a full English translation of Republic of the Congo's
Constitution, click here.