Political Constitution of Colombia (1991)

The right to life is inviolate. There shall be no death penalty.

No one shall be subjected to forced sequestration, torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

All individuals are born free and equal before the law, shall receive equal protection and treatment from the authorities, and shall enjoy the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities without any discrimination on account of gender, race, national or family origin, language, religion, political opinion, or philosophy.

The State shall promote the conditions so that equality may be real and effective and shall adopt measures in favor of groups that are discriminated against or marginalized.

The State shall especially protect those individuals who on account of their economic, physical, or mental condition are in obviously vulnerable circumstances and shall sanction the abuses or ill-treatment perpetrated against them.

Every individual has the right to have his/her legal identity recognized.

All individuals have the right to personal and family privacy and to their good reputation, and the State has to respect them and to make others respect them. Similarly, individuals have the right to know, update, and rectify information collected about them in data banks and in the records of public and private entities.

Freedom and the other guarantees approved in the Constitution shall be respected in the collection, processing, and circulation of data.

Correspondence and other forms of private communication may not be violated. They may only be intercepted or recorded on the basis of a court order in cases and following the formalities established by statute.

For tax or legal purposes and for cases of inspection, the oversight and intervention of the State may demand making available accounting records and other private documents within the limits provided by statute.

All individuals are entitled to the unrestricted development of their identity without limitations other than those imposed by the rights of others and the legal order.

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

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

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.

Every individual is guaranteed the freedom to express and diffuse his/her thoughts and opinions, to transmit and receive information that is true and impartial, and to establish mass communications media.

The latter are free and have social responsibility. The right to make corrections under conditions of equity is guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.

The right to dignity is guaranteed. An Act shall provide the manner in which it shall be upheld.

Peace is a right and a duty of which compliance is mandatory.

Every individual has the right to present respectful petitions to the authorities on account of general or private interest and to secure prompt resolution of same. The legislative body shall be able to regulate its exercise by private organizations in order to guarantee fundamental rights.

Any Colombian citizen, except for the limitations established by statute, has the right to move about freely across the national territory, to enter and exit the country, and to remain and reside in Colombia.

Work is a right and a social obligation and enjoys, in all its forms, the special protection of the State. Every individual is entitled to a job under dignified and equitable conditions.

Every individual is free to choose a profession or occupation. An Act may mandate certificates of competence. The competent authorities shall inspect and oversee the exercise of the professions. Occupations, the arts, and work that does not require academic training are to be freely exercised, except for those which involve social risk.

Legally recognized professions may be organized into professional associations. The internal structure and operation of the latter shall be democratic. An Act may assign public functions to them and establish appropriate controls.

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

Every individual is free. No one may be importuned in his/her person or family, sent to jail or arrested, nor may his/her home be searched except on the basis of a written order from a competent judicial authority, subject to the legal procedures and for reasons previously defined by statute.

A person in preventive detention shall be placed at the disposition of a competent judge within the subsequent 36 hours so that the latter may make an appropriate determination within the limits established by statute.

In no case may there be detention, a prison term, or arrest for debts, nor sanctions or security measures that are not prescribed.

Due process shall be applied in all cases of legal and administrative measures.

No one may be judged except in accordance with previously written laws which shall provide the basis of each decision before a competent judge or tribunal following all appropriate forms.

In criminal law, permissive or favorable law, even when ex post facto, shall be applied in preference to restrictive or unfavorable alternatives.

Every individual is presumed innocent until he/she is proved to be legally guilty. Whoever is accused is entitled to defense and the assistance of counsel picked by the accused or assigned automatically during the investigation and trial; to an appropriate public trial without unreasonable delay; to present evidence and to refute evidence alleged against the accused; to challenge the condemnatory sentence; and not to be placed in double jeopardy for the same act.

Evidence obtained in violation of due process is null and void by right.

Whoever is deprived of his/her freedom and believes to be so illegally is entitled to invoke habeas corpus before any legal authority, at any time, on his/her own or through a third party. Habeas corpus must be complied with within 36 hours.

Any judicial sentence may be appealed or adjudicated, but for exceptions provided by statute.

When the accused is the sole appellant, the higher court may not impose a heavier penalty.

The accused who is caught in the act of committing an offense (flagrante delicto) may be apprehended and taken before a judge by any individual. Should he/she be subject to hot pursuit by the agents of law and order and take refuge in his/her own home, the law-enforcement agents may enter the domicile to apprehend the accused. Should the accused be caught in someone else’s home, a request from the resident shall be sought beforehand.

No one may be forced to testify against himself/herself or his/her spouse, permanent companion, or kin to the fourth level of consanguinity, the second level of affinity [by marriage] or the first civil level.

Extradition may be requested, granted or offered in accordance with public international treaties and, in their absence, with the relevant statute.

The extradition of Colombians by birth shall also be granted for crimes committed abroad which are considered as such by the Colombian penal legislation. An Act shall regulate the matter.

Extradition shall not be granted for political crimes.

Extradition shall not be granted for acts committed prior to the promulgation of the present provision.