Constitution

Paraguay 1992 Constitution (reviewed 2011)

Table of Contents

Chapter III. Of the Equality

Article 46. Of the Equality of Persons

All the inhabitants of the Republic are equal in dignity and rights. No discriminations are admitted. The State will remove the obstacles and prevent the factors that maintain or propitiate them.

The protections established concerning unjust inequalities will not be considered as discriminatory factors, but as egalitarian [factors].

Article 47. Of the Guarantees of Equality

The State will guarantee to all inhabitants of the Republic:

  1. Equality in access to justice, for which effect it will level [allanará] the obstacles that would prevent it;
  2. Equality before the laws;
  3. Equality in access to the non-elective public functions, without any requirement other than suitability [for the job], and
  4. Equal opportunities in the participation of the benefits of nature, of the material assets, and of the culture.

Article 48. Of the Equality of Rights of Men and Women

Men and women have equal civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights. The State will promote the conditions and will create the adequate mechanisms for, making equality real and effective, by leveling [allanando] the obstacles that prevent or hinder its exercise and facilitating the participation of women in all areas [ámbitos] of the national life.

Chapter IV. Of the Rights of the Family

Article 49. Of the Protection of the Family

The family is the foundation of society. Its complete [integral] protection will be promoted and guaranteed. It includes the stable union of a man and a woman, the children, and the community formed with anyone of their progenitors and their descendants.

Article 50. Of the Right to Constitute [a] Family

All persons have the right to constitute [a] family, in whose formation and development the man and the woman will have the same rights and obligations.

Article 51. Of the Matrimony and of the Effects of the Unions of Fact

The law will establish the formalities to celebrate matrimony between a man and a woman, the requirements to contract it, the causes for separation, for dissolution and their effects, as well as the regime of administration of assets and other rights and obligations between spouses.

The unions of fact between a man and a woman, without legal impediments to contract matrimony, that meet the conditions of stability and singularity, produce similar effects to a matrimony, within the conditions established by the law.

Article 52. Of the Union in Matrimony

The union in matrimony of a man and a woman is one of the fundamental components in the formation of a family.

Article 53. Of Children

The parents have the right and the obligation to assist, to feed, to educate, and to shelter [amparar] their minor children.

The law will punish them in the case of non-fulfillment of their duties of providing food [asistencia alimentaria].

Adult [mayores de edad] children are obligated to give assistance to their parents in the case of necessity.

The laws will regulate the assistance that should be given to the large family [familia de prole numerosa] and to women who head families.

All children are equal before the law. It will make possible the investigation of paternity. Any qualification concerning the filial relationship in the personal documents is prohibited.

Article 54. Of the Protection of the Child

The family, the society, and the State have the obligation of guaranteeing the child his harmonious and complete [integral] development, as well as the full exercise of his rights, protecting him against abandonment, undernourishment, violence, abuse, trafficking, and exploitation.

Any person may demand of the competent authority the fulfillment of such guarantees and the sanction for the offenders [infractores].

In case of conflict, the rights of a child have prevailing character.

Article 55. Of Maternity and Paternity

Responsible maternity and paternity will be protected by the State, which will promote the creation of [the] necessary institutions to these ends.

Article 56. Of Youth

The conditions for an active participation of youth in the political, social, economic, and cultural development of the country shall be promoted.

Article 57. Of the Senior Citizens [Tercera Edad]

All senior persons have the right to a complete [integral] protection.

The family, the society, and the public powers will promote their well-being through social services that see to [fulfilling] their needs for food, health, housing, culture, and leisure.

Article 58. Of the Rights of Exceptional People

For exceptional persons, the care of their health, of their education, of their recreation and of their professional training for a complete [integral] social integration is guaranteed.

The State will organize a policy for the prevention, the treatment, the rehabilitation and integration of the physically, psychologically and sensorially disabled, to whom it will give the specialized care they require.

To enjoy the rights that this Constitution grants to all the inhabitants of the Republic, with equal opportunity, in order to compensate their disadvantages, will be recognized to them.

Article 59. Of the Family Asset

The family asset is recognized as an institution of social interest whose regime will be determined by the law. It will be constituted by the family housing [vivienda] or the estate [fundo], and by its furniture and elements of work, which will be non-seizable [inembargables].

Article 60. Of the Protection against Violence

The State shall promote policies having the purpose of avoiding violence in the family environment and other destructive causes of its solidarity.

Article 61. Of Family Planning and of Maternal-Child Health [Care]

The State recognizes the right of persons to freely and responsibly decide the number and the frequency of the birth of their children, as well as to receive, in coordination with the pertinent organs[,] education, scientific orientation, and adequate services in the matter.

Special plans of reproductive health and maternal-child health [care] for people of scarce resources will be established.