National Constitutional provisions – Colombia

The Constitution of Colombia, 1991 through to 2005

EDUCATION

Art. 27. The State guarantees the freedom of teaching at the primary and secondary level, apprenticeship, research, and professorship.

Art. 41. In all educational institutions, public or private, the study of the Constitution and civics will be mandatory. In this way, democratic practices will be promoted through the teaching of principles and the value of the citizens' participation will be promoted. The state will publicize the Constitution.

Art.44. The following are basic rights of children: (…), instruction and culture.

The rights of children have priority over the rights of others.

Art.45. The adolescent is entitled to protection and integral development.

The State and society guarantee the active participation of adolescents in public and private organs that are responsible for the protection, education, and progress of the youth.

Art. 53. (…) The appropriate law will take into account at least the following minimal fundamental principles: (…) guarantees of social security, training, instruction, and adequate rest time, special protection of women, mothers, and minor-age workers.

Art. 64. It is the duty of the state to promote the gradual access of agricultural workers to (…) services involving education, (…) with the purpose of improving the incomes and quality of life of the peasants.

Art. 67. Education is an individual right and a public service that has a social function. (…)

The State, society, and the family are responsible for education, which will be mandatory between the ages of five and 15 years and which will minimally include one year of preschool instruction and nine years of basic instruction.

Education will be free of charge in the state institutions, without prejudices to those who can afford to defray the costs.

It is the responsibility of the State to perform the final inspection and supervision of education in order to oversee its quality, for fulfilling its purposes and for the improved moral, intellectual and physical training of those being educated, to guarantee an adequate supply of the service, and to guarantee for minors the conditions necessary for their access to and retention in the educational system.

The nation and the territorial entities will participate in the management, financing, and administration of the state educational services within the limits provided in the Constitution and the law.

Art.68. Individuals may create educational institutions.

The educational community will participate in the management of the educational institutions.

Education will be in the care of individuals of recognized ethical and pedagogical principles. The law guarantees the professionalism and dignity of the teaching profession.

Parents have the right to select the type of education for their minor children. In state institutions, no individual may be obligated to receive religious instruction.

The members of ethnic groups will have the right to schooling that respects and develops their cultural identity.

The eradication of illiteracy and the education of individuals with physical or mental limitations or with exceptional capabilities are special obligations of the State.

Art.69. The autonomy of universities is guaranteed. The universities will be able to administer and govern themselves through their own bylaws, in accordance with the law.

Art. 366. The general welfare and improvement of the population quality of life are social purposes of the state.

A basic objective of the state's activity will be to address unsatisfied (…) educational needs.

For this purpose, public social expenditures will have priority over any other allocation in the plans and budgets of the nation.

EQUALITY

Article 5. The state recognizes, without any discrimination whatsoever, the primacy of the inalienable rights of the individual and protects the family as the basic institution of society.

Article 13. All individuals are born free and equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection and treatment by the authorities, and to enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities without discrimination on the basis of gender, race, national or family origin, language, religion, political opinion, or philosophy.

The state will promote the conditions necessary in order that equality may be real and effective will adopt measures in favour of groups which are discriminated against or marginalized.

Article 17. Slavery, servitude, and the slave trade in all forms are prohibited.

GENDER

Article 13. (…) The state will especially protect those individuals who on account of their economic, physical, or mental condition are in obviously vulnerable circumstances and will sanction any abuse or ill-treatment perpetrated against them.

Article 40. (…) The authorities will guarantee the adequate and effective participation of women in the decision making ranks of the public administration.

Article 42. (…) The children born of a matrimony or outside it, adopted or conceived naturally or with scientific assistance, have equal rights and duties. The law will regulate responsibility to the offspring.

Article 43. Women and men have equal rights and opportunities. Women cannot be subjected to any type of discrimination. (…). The state will support the female head of household in a special way.

Article 44. (…) [the children] will be protected against all forms of abandonment, physical or moral violence, imprisonment, sale, sexual abuse, work or economic exploitation, and dangerous work

Article 46. The state, the society, and the family will all participate in protecting and assisting senior citizens and will promote their integration into active and community life.

The state will guarantee them services of social security and food subsidies in cases of indigence.

Article 47. The state will promote a policy of planning, rehabilitation, and social integration for those who are physically, emotionally, or psychologically handicapped and will provide the specialized attention that they need.

Article 53. (…)The appropriate law will take into account at least the following minimal fundamental principles:  Equality of opportunity for workers; (…) guarantees of social security, training, instruction, and adequate rest time, special protection of women, mothers, and minor-age workers.

Article 54. (…) The state must (…) guarantee to the handicapped the right to employment appropriate to their physical condition.

CITIZENSHIP

Article 14. Every individual has the right to be legally recognized as a person.

Article 44. The following are basic rights of children: (…)their name and citizenship.

Article 100. Aliens in Colombia will enjoy the same civil rights as Colombian citizens. Notwithstanding, for reasons of public order, the law may impose special conditions on or nullify the exercise of specific civil rights by aliens.

Similarly, aliens will enjoy, in the territory of the Republic, guarantees granted to citizens, except for the limitations established by the Constitution or the law.

LANGUAGE and ETHNIC MINORITIES

Article 7. The state recognizes and protects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Colombian nation.

Article 10. Spanish is the official language of Colombia. The languages and dialects of ethnic groups are also official in their territories. The education provided in communities with their own linguistic traditions will be bilingual.

Article 89. (…) the law will determine the other resources, actions, and procedures necessary so that the individual rights of groups or collectivities may be legally protected against deeds of commission or omission by the public authorities.

Provisional Article 55. Within the two years following the entry into effect of the present Constitution, Congress will issue (…)a law which will recognize the right to collective property of the Black communities which occupy uncultivated lands in the rural zones adjoining the rivers of the Pacific Basin, in accordance with their traditional cultivation practices. (…)

Article 171. There will be an additional two senators elected in a special national electoral district for indigenous (Indian) communities.

Article 246. The authorities of the indigenous (Indian) peoples may exercise their jurisdictional functions within their territorial jurisdiction in accordance with their own laws and procedures provided these are not contrary to the Constitution (…)

Article 330. (…) the indigenous (Indian) territories will be governed by councils formed and regulated according to the customs of their communities and will exercise the following functions: (…)

2. Design the policies, plans, and programs of economic and social development within their territory, in accordance with the National Development Plan.

3. Promote public investments in their territories and supervise their appropriate implementation.

RELIGION

Article 18. Freedom of conscience is guaranteed. No one will be importuned on account of his/her convictions or beliefs or compelled to reveal them or obliged to act against his/her conscience.

Article 19. Freedom of religion is guaranteed. Every individual has the right to freely profess his/her religion and to disseminate it individually or collectively. All religious faiths and churches are equally free before the law.

PARENTS / GUARDIANS ROLE

Article 44. The following are basic rights of children: to have a family and not be separated from it, care and love (…)

The family, society, and the state have the obligation to assist and protect children in order to guarantee their harmonious and complete development and the full exercise of their rights.

EDUACATION FINANCING

ARTICULO 356. (…)Se crea el Sistema General de Participaciones de los Departamentos, Distritos y Municipios.

Los recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones (…) se destinarán a la financiación de los servicios a su cargo, dándole prioridad al servicio de salud y los servicios de educación preescolar, primaria, secundaria y media, garantizando la prestación de los servicios y la ampliación de cobertura.

La ley reglamentará los criterios de distribución del Sistema General de Participaciones (…) incorporando principios sobre distribución que tengan en cuenta los siguientes criterios:  Para educación y salud: población atendida y por atender, reparto entre población urbana y rural, eficiencia administrativa y fiscal, y equidad; El monto de recursos que se asigne para los sectores de salud y educación, no podrá ser inferior al que se transfería a la expedición del presente acto legislativo a cada uno de estos sectores.

ARTICULO 359. No habrá rentas nacionales de destinación específica. Se exceptúan:

4. El 25% de los recursos del impuesto del valor agregado IVA que se recaude a nivel nacional, se destinarán única y exclusivamente al fortalecimiento de los planes y programas de inversión social en un 13% para los municipios con menos de 25.000 habitantes, un 4% para todos los corregimientos, un 4% para los resguardos indígenas y un 4% para los estratos uno (1), dos (2) y tres (3) de los Distritos y Municipios del país.

Estos recursos destinados según el numeral anterior, se distribuirán en los siguientes sectores así:

Para educación básica primaria, educación en técnicas agropecuarias y de pesca, reforestación de especies autóctonas, técnicas en tratamientos de ríos, lagunas y ciénagas.

Para desarrollo de planes de vivienda, salud y educación para la población desplazada por la violencia.

Para fortalecer el fondo pensional de los jubilados de las Universidades Públicas, el cual será inembargable.

Para la protección y la asistencia de las personas de la tercera edad, y para la atención especializada que requieran los disminuidos físicos, sensoriales y síquicos.

HUMAN RIGHTS PROVISIONS

Article 44. (…)They [the children] will also enjoy other rights upheld in the Constitution, the laws, and international treaties ratified by Colombia.

Article 93. International treaties and agreements ratified by the Congress that recognize human rights and that prohibit their limitation in states of emergency have priority domestically.

El Estado Colombiano puede reconocer la jurisdicción de la Corte Penal Internacional en los términos previstos en el Estatuto de Roma adoptado el 17 de julio de 1998 por la Conferencia de Plenipotenciarios de las Naciones Unidas y, consecuentemente, ratificar este tratado de conformidad con el procedimiento establecido en esta Constitución.