Sao Tome and Principe is an island country in Africa located on the shores of the Gulf of Guinea. The population of this country is approx 2,20,000 with 964 square kilometers area. 81% are Christian, 13% are not religious, and 3% beleive in Folk religions. The official language is Portuguese, with several other recognized languages in use.
Learning is a guaranteed right, just as the freedom to teach is protected. Within criminal trials, evidence obtained via torture, duress, breaches of bodily or moral integrity, or unauthorized interference in private life, the home, correspondence, or communications is inadmissible. Court rulings must be founded on case specifics and in accordance with the law.
These are positive aspects. Now let's discuss the negative aspects.
Sao Tome, and Principe are two main islands. Sao Tome and Principe is one of the smallest countries in the world, and while Sao Tome does not have a separate autonomy, Principe does have its own autonomy. Sao Tome has an area of 854 square kilometers, while Principe has an area of 142 square kilometers.
Admirable Articles of Sao Tome and Principe's Constitution
Article 26. Family, Marriage and Relationships
● All have the right to form a family and to enter into matrimony in conditions of full equality.
● The law regulates the requirements and effects of marriage and of its dissolution, by death or divorce, independent from the form in which it was celebrated.
● Spouses have equal rights with respect to civil or political competency and to the maintenance and education of their children.
● Children born out of wedlock cannot, for that reason, be the object of any discrimination.
● Parents have the right and duty of educating and maintaining their children.
Article 27. Freedom of conscience, religion and worship
● Freedom of conscience, religion and worship is inviolable.
● No one may be persecuted, deprived of right or exempted from civic obligations or duties because of his convictions or practice of religion.
● No one may be questioned by any authority about his convictions or religious practices except for the collection of statistical data not individually identifiable nor be prejudiced for refusing to answer.
● Religious confessions are free in worship, in education and in their organization.
Article 31. The right to learn and the freedom to teach
● The right to learn and the freedom to teach are guaranteed.
● The State may not reserve for itself the right to plan education and culture according to any philosophical, political, ideological or religious policies.
Article 38. Limits of sentences and of security measures (Part of it)
● There may be no punishments nor security measures which deprive or restrict liberty which are of a perpetual, unlimited duration or undefined nature.
Article 40. Guarantees of criminal procedure
● Criminal procedure will assure all the defense guarantees.
● Every accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, being tried in the shortest time compatible with defense guarantees.
● The accused has the right to choose defense counsel and to be assisted by him in all the acts of the trial, the law specifying the instances and the aspects in which that assistance is obligatory.
● Every instruction is within the competence of a Magistrate, who may, within the terms of the law, delegate to other entities the practice of instructional acts which do not directly affect fundamental rights.
● Criminal procedure has an accusatory structure with the hearing of the trial and the instructional acts subordinated to the principle of cross-examination.
● All evidence obtained through torture, coercion or offense to the physical or moral integrity of the person, abusive intromission into private life, in the home, in correspondence or in telecommunications are null.
● No case may be removed from the court whose competence has been established in prior law.
Article 43. Rights of workers
All the workers have rights:
● To recompense for work, according to quantity, nature and quality, observing the principal of equal salary for equal work, so as to guarantee a deserved living;
● To labor-union freedom, as a means of promoting their unity, defending their legitimate rights and protecting their interests;
● To the organization of work in socially dignifying conditions, in order to facilitate personal accomplishment;
● To being able to perform work in hygienic and safe conditions;
● To a maximum limit to the work day, to weekly rest and to periodic paid holidays;
● To strike, under terms to be regulated by law, taking into account the interests of the workers and of the National economy.
Article 44. Social Security
● The State guarantees to every citizen, through the social security system, the right to protection in illness, handicap, widowhood, orphanhood and other instances prescribed in the law;
● The organization of the system of social security of the State does not prejudice the existence of private institutions, with the implementation in mind of the objectives of Social Security.
Article 46. Intellectual property
The State protects the inherent rights to intellectual property, including the rights of the author.
Article 122. Decisions of the courts
● The decisions of the courts are founded upon the cases and in the terms prescribed in the law.
● The decisions of the courts are obligatory for all public and private entities and prevail over those of any other authorities.
Article 123. Hearing of the courts
The hearings of the courts are public except when the court itself decides to the contrary, in well-founded decision, in order to safeguard the dignity of the individuals and of the public moral or to guarantee their normal operation.
Facts of Sao Tome and Principe's Constitution
Article 88. Definition and Composition
● The Council of State is the political body that advises the President of the Republic.
● The Council of State is presided over by the President of the Republic and is made up of the following members:
● The President of the National Assembly;
● The Prime Minister;
● The President of the Constitutional Court;
● The Attorney-General of the Republic;
● The President of the Regional Government of Príncipe;
● Former Presidents of the Republic who have not been removed from office;
● Three citizens of recognized suitability and merit, appointed by the President of the Republic for the period corresponding to the duration of its mandate;
● Three citizens elected by the National Assembly, in accordance with the principle of proportional representation, for the period corresponding to the term of the legislature.
Article 137. Autonomous Region of Príncipe
● The Island of Príncipe and the islets that surround it constitute an Autonomous Region, with political and administrative statutes of their own, taking their specific nature into account.
● The Regional Assembly and the Regional Government are bodies of the Autonomous Region of Príncipe.
