TITLE I. OF THE FREEDOMS, OF THE RIGHTS, AND OF THE DUTIES
CHAPTER I. OF THE FREEDOMS AND OF THE RIGHTS
Article 1
The State of Cote d’Ivoire recognizes the freedoms, the fundamental rights and duties provided in this Constitution and commits itself to take the legislative or regulatory measures to assure its effective application.
Article 2
The human person is sacred.
All human beings are born free and equal before the law. They enjoy the inalienable rights which are the right to life, to liberty, to the full realization of their personality and to the respect of their dignity. The rights of the human person are inviolable. The public authorities have the obligation to assure the respect, the protection and the promotion of them. Any punishment leading to the deprivation of human life is forbidden.
Article 3
Slavery, forced labor, inhuman and cruel, degrading and humiliating treatment, physical or moral torture, physical violence and mutilation and all forms of debasement of the human being, are forbidden and punished by the law.
Article 4
The domicile is inviolable. Infringements or restrictions can only be determined by the law.
Article 5
The family constitutes the basic unit of the society. The State assures its protection.
Article 6
The State assures the protection of children, the aged and the handicapped.
Article 7
Every human being has the right to the development and to the full realization of his personality in the material, intellectual and spiritual dimensions. The State assures to all citizens equal access to health, to education, to culture, to information, to professional formation and to employment. The State has the duty to safeguard and to promote the national values of civilization as well as the cultural traditions not contrary to the law and to good morals.
Article 8
The State and the Public Collectivities have the duty to see to the development of youth. They create the conditions favorable to its civic and moral education and assure it protection against moral exploitation and abandonment.
Article 9
The freedom of thought and expression, notably the freedom of conscience, of religious or philosophical opinion are guaranteed to all, under reserve of respect of the law, the rights of others, of the national security and of the public order.
Article 10
Each has the right to express and to freely disseminate their ideas. All propaganda having for its object or for its effect to make one social group prevail over another, or to encourage racial or religious hatred is forbidden.
Article 11
The freedoms of assembly and demonstration are guaranteed by the law.
Article 12
No Ivorian can be forced into exile. Any person persecuted for reason of his political, religious, or philosophical convictions, or of his ethnic identity can benefit from the right of asylum in the territory of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, under the condition of conforming to the laws of the Republic.
Article 13
The Political Parties and Groups form themselves and exercise their activities freely within the condition of respecting the laws of the Republic, the principles of national sovereignty and of democracy. They are equal in rights and subject to the same obligations. Political Parties or Groups created on regional, confessional, tribal, ethnic or racial bases, are forbidden.
Article 14
The Political Parties and Groups concur in the formation of the will of the people and in the expression of suffrage.
Article 15
The right of property is guaranteed to all. No one can be deprived of his property if it is not for a reason of public utility and under the condition of a just and previous indemnization.
Article 16
The right of every citizen to free enterprise is guaranteed within the limits provided by the law.
Article 17
Any person has the right to freely chose his profession or his employment. Access to public or private employment is equal for all. Any discrimination in the access to or exercise of employment, based on sex, or on political, religious or philosophical opinions, is prohibited.
Article 18
The syndical right and the right to strike are recognized to workers of the public and private sectors who exercise them within the limits determined by the law.
Article 19
The right to a healthy environment is recognized to all.
Article 20
Every person has the right to a free and equal access to Justice.
Article 21
No one can be prosecuted, arrested, detained or charged, except by virtue of a law previously promulgated to the acts of which he is accused.
Article 22
No one can be arbitrarily detained.
Any accused is presumed innocent until his culpability has been established following a procedure offering to him the guaranties indispensable to his defense.
CHAPTER II. OF THE DUTIES
Article 23
Every person living in the national territory is held to respect the Constitution, the laws and the regulations of the Republic.
Article 24
The defense of the Nation and of the territorial integrity is a duty for every Ivorian. It is assured exclusively by the forces of defense and of national security within the conditions determined by the law.
Article 25
The public assets are inviolable. Every person is held to respect them and to protect them.
Article 26
Every citizen, invested with a public mandate or entrusted with a public employment or with a mission of public service, has the duty to accomplish it with conscience, loyalty and probity.
Article 27
The duty of acquitting oneself of one’s fiscal obligations, in conformity with the law, is imposed on all.
Article 28
The protection of the environment and the promotion of the quality of life are a duty for the community and for each physical or moral person.
