Suriname 1987 Constitution (reviewed 1992)

CHAPTER V. BASIC RIGHTS, INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Article 8

1. All who are within the territory of Suriname shall have an equal claim to protection of person and property.
2. No one shall be discriminated against on the grounds of birth, sex, race, language, religious origin, education, political beliefs, economic position or any other status.

Article 9

1. Everyone has a right to physical, mental and moral integrity.
2. No one may be submitted to torture, degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment.

Article 10

Everyone shall have, in case of infringement of one’s rights and freedoms, a claim to an honest and public treatment of his complaint within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial judge.

Article 11

No person may be kept against his will from the judge whom the law assigns to him.

Article 12

1. Everyone has the right to legal assistance before the courts
2. The law shall provide regulations with regard to legal aid for the financially weak.

Article 13

Loss of civil rights or the general forfeiture of all the property of an offender may not be imposed as a penalty or as a consequence of a penalty for any crime.

Article 14

Everyone has a right to life. This right shall be protected by the law.

Article 15

No one shall be obliged to do forced or compulsory labor.

Article 16

1. Everyone has the right to personal liberty and safety.
2. No one will be deprived of his freedom, other than on grounds and according to proceedings determined by law.
3. Everyone who is deprived of his freedom has a right to a treatment in accordance with human dignity.

Article 17

1. Everyone has a right to respect of his privacy, his family life, his home and his honor and good name.
2. No dwelling may be entered against the occupant’s will except by order of an authority which has the power to give that order by virtue of law and subject to the conditions prescribed by the law.
3. The confidentiality of correspondence, telephone and telegraph is inviolable except in the cases described by law.

Article 18

Everyone has the right of freedom of religion and philosophy of life.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to make public his thoughts or feelings and to express his opinion through the printed press or other means of communication, subject to the responsibility of all as set forth in the law.

Article 20

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful association and assembly, taking into consideration the rules to be determined by law for the protection of public order, safety, health and morality.

Article 21

1. The right to demonstrate peacefully is recognized.
2. The use of that right can, for the protection of public order, safety, health and morality, be submitted to limitation through the law.

Article 22

1. Everyone has the right to submit written petitions to the competent authority.
2. The law regulates the procedure for handling them.

Article 23

In case of war, danger of war, state of siege or state of emergency or for reasons of state security, public order and good morals, the rights mentioned in the Constitution may be submitted to limitations by law, which will be in force during a certain time, depending on the circumstances, in compliance with the international rules applicable in respect thereof.