Paraguay is a landlocked country in South America, bordering Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. The population of this country is approx 61,09,000 with 4,06,752 square kilometers area. Official languages are Spanish and Guaraní. Religiously 96% are Christian, and almost all of them are Catholic. Paraguay is one of the most immigrant-friendly countries in the world.
Paraguay's constitution is one of the best constitutions in the world. A journalist is not obliged to reveal the source of his information. Citizens of the state have the right to assemble unarmed; However, gatherings can be controlled if necessary to ensure the movement and rights of others. It is possible to investigate who is the real father. Monopolies and artificial increase or decrease in prices are prohibited. Criticism of the court verdict is allowed.
These are positive aspects. Now let's discuss the negative aspects.
There are 3 serious flaws in Paraguay's constitution. First, the existence of God is recognized. Second, only Catholicism is given state importance excluding other religions. Thirdly, there is the recognition of the so-called indigenous.
Admirable Articles of Paraguay's Constitution
Article 1. Of the Form of the State and of the Government
The Republic of Paraguay is forever free and independent. It constitutes itself as a social State of law, unitary, indivisible, and decentralized in the form established by this Constitution and the laws.
The Republic of Paraguay adopts for its government the representative, participative and pluralistic democracy, founded on the recognition of human dignity.
Article 8. Of Environmental Protection
The law will regulate the activities susceptible of producing environmental alteration. In the same way [asimismo], it may restrict or prohibit those that it qualifies as dangerous.
The manufacture, the assembly, the importation, the commercialization, the possession or the use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as the introduction of toxic waste into the country is prohibited. The law may extend this prohibition to other dangerous elements; in the same way, it may regulate the traffic of genetic resources and their technology, precaution in the national interests.
Ecological crime will be defined and sanctioned by the law. Any damage to the environment will result in [importará] the obligation to repair and to indemnify.
Article 9. Of the Freedom and of the Security of the Persons
All persons have the right to be protected in their freedom and in their security.
No one may be obligated to do what the law does not mandate nor be prevented from what it does not prohibit.
Article 14. Of the Non-retroactivity of the Law
No law may have a retroactive effect, unless it is more favorable to the accused or the convicted.
Article 15. Of the Prohibition of Making Justice by Oneself
No one may take the law into their own hands or claim their rights with violence. However, the right to legitimate defense is guaranteed.
Article 21. Of the Imprisonment of Persons
Persons deprived of their liberty will be imprisoned in adequate establishments, avoiding the mixture of sexes. Minors will not be imprisoned with older persons.
The imprisonment of the persons detained will take place in places different from those designated for those serving a sentence.
Article 29. Of the Freedom to Practice Journalism
The practice of journalism, in all its forms, is free and is not subject to prior authorization. The journalists of the mass media of social communication, fulfilling their functions, will not be obligated to act against the dictates of their conscience or to reveal their sources of information.
The columnists have the right to publish their signed opinions, uncensored, in the media for which they work. The head [dirección] [of the media] may exempt itself from any responsibility by stating its disagreement.
The right of the journalists to be the authors of the intellectual, artistic, or photographic product of their work is recognized, irrespective of their techniques, in accordance with the law.
Article 32. Of the Freedom of Assembly and of Manifestation
Persons have the right to meet and to manifest peacefully, without weapons and with licit ends, without the need of a permit, as well as the right not to be obligated to participate in such acts. The law may only regulate its exercise in places of public traffic, [and] at certain hours, preserving the rights of third parties and the public order established by the law.
Article 42. Of the Freedom of Association
All persons are free to associate or unionize themselves with licit ends[;] also no one is obligated to belong to a specific [determinado] association. The law will regulate the form of the colleges of professionals [colegiación profesional].
Secret associations and those of a paramilitary character are prohibited.
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 their minor children.
The law will punish them in the case of non-fulfillment of their duties of providing food.
Adult 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 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 55. Of Maternity and Paternity
Responsible maternity and paternity will be protected by the State, which will promote the creation of 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 72. Of the Control of Quality
The State will see to the control of the quality of the food, chemical, pharmaceutical, and biological products, throughout the stages of production, import, and commercialization.
Likewise it will facilitate the access of sectors with scarce resources to the medicines considered essential.
Article 98. Of the Right to Strike and to Lock-out
All the workers of the public and private sectors have the right to invoke the strike in the case of conflict of interests. The employers enjoy the right of lock-out in the same conditions.
The rights to strike and of lock-out do not extend to the members of the Armed Forces of the Nation, nor those of the police.
The law will regulate the exercise of these rights, so that they do not affect public services indispensable to the community.
Article 104. Of the Obligatory Declaration of Assets and Income
The functionaries and the public employees, including those of popular election, those of bi-national, autarchic, decentralized state entities and, in general, those who receive permanent remunerations from the State, will be obligated to provide sworn declaration of assets and income within fifteen days of entering into possession of their office, and in equal time period at the ceasing of the same.
Article 107. Of the Freedom of Competition (Part of it)
All persons have the right to dedicate themselves to the legal economic activity of their preference, within a regime of equal opportunities.
Competition at the market is guaranteed. The creation of monopolies and the artificial increase or decrease of prices that restrict free competition will not be permitted.
Article 169. Of Real Estate Tax
The totality of the tax revenues from real estate property in a direct form will correspond to the municipalities and to the departments. Its collection will be competence of the municipalities. Seventy percent of the collected by each municipality will remain as its property, fifteen percent in that of the respective department and the remaining fifteen percent will be distributed among the municipalities of less resources, in accordance with the law.
Article 256. Of the Form of the Trials
The trials can be oral and public, in the form and in the measure that the law determines.
All judicial sentences must be founded on this Constitution and on the law. Criticism of the decisions is permitted.
The labor process will be oral and will be based on the principles of immediacy, economy, and concentration.
Article 272. Of the Judicial Police
The law may create a judicial police, dependent of the Judicial Power, in order to collaborate directly with the Public Ministry.
Article 285. Of the Nature, of the Duties, and of the Attributions
A Central Bank of the State, with character of technical organ is established. It has the exclusivity of the emission of the currency, and in accordance with the objectives of the economic policy of the National Government, it participates with the other technical organs of the State, in the formulation of the monetary, credit and exchange policies, being responsible for their execution and development, and preserving monetary stability.
Facts of Paraguay's Constitution
Preamble
The Paraguayan People, through their legitimate representatives meeting in Constituent National Convention, invoking God, recognizing human dignity in order to assure liberty, equality and justice; reaffirming the principles of republican, representative, participative and pluralistic democracy, ratifying the national sovereignty and independence, and integrating the international community, sanctions and promulgates this Constitution.
Article 19. Of the Preventive Imprisonment
The preventive imprisonment will only be dictated when it would be indispensable for the proceedings of the trial. In no case will it be extended for a longer time than the established minimum sentence for the same crime, in accordance with the classification of the act, effected in the respective order.
Article 24. Of Religious and Ideological Freedom (Part of it)
The relations between the State and the Catholic Church are based on independence, cooperation, and autonomy.
Article 62. Of the Indigenous Peoples and the Ethnic Groups
This Constitution recognizes the existence of the indigenous peoples, defined as groups of culture prior to the formation and the organization of the Paraguayan State.
Article 63. Of the Ethnic Identity
The right of the indigenous peoples to preserve and to develop their ethnic identity in the respective habitat is recognized and guaranteed. They have the right, likewise, to freely apply their systems of political, social, economic, cultural, and religious organization, as well as the voluntarily subjection to their customary norms for the regulation of internal coexistence, as long as they do not infringe upon the fundamental rights established in this Constitution. Concerning conflicts of jurisdiction the indigenous customary right will be taken into account.
Article 64. Of the Property of the Community
The indigenous peoples have right to communal ownership of the land, in extension and quality sufficient for the preservation and the development of their particular forms of lifestyles. The State will provide them gratuitously with these lands, which will be non-seizable, indivisible, non-transferrable, imprescriptible, not susceptible to guarantee contractual obligations nor to be leased; likewise, they will be exempt from taxes.
The removal or transfer of from their habitat without their express consent is prohibited.
Article 65. Of the Right to Participate
The right to participate in the economic, social, political and cultural life of the country, is guaranteed to the Indigenous peoples in accordance with their customary uses, of the Constitution, and the national laws.
Article 66. Of the Education and Assistance
The State will respect the cultural particulars of the indigenous peoples, especially in that related to formal education. In addition, their defense against demographic regression, the depredation of their habitat, environmental contamination, economic exploitation, and cultural alienation, will be attended to.
Article 67. Of the Exoneration
The members of the indigenous peoples are exonerated from providing social, civil or military services, as well as from the public responsibilities established by the law.
Article 82. Of the Recognition of the Catholic Church
The predominant role [protagonismo] of the
Catholic Church in the historical and cultural formation of the Nation
is recognized.
