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$Unique_ID{bob00470} $Pretitle{} $Title{Romania Title II: Fundamental Rights, Liberties and Duties of the Citizens} $Subtitle{} $Author{Romanian Embassy, Washington DC} $Affiliation{Romanian Embassy, Washington DC} $Subject{law right public citizens state rights accordance established upon order} $Date{1990} $Log{} Title: Romania Book: Theses For the Draft Constitution of Romania Author: Romanian Embassy, Washington DC Affiliation: Romanian Embassy, Washington DC Date: 1990 Title II: Fundamental Rights, Liberties and Duties of the Citizens CHAPTER I: General provisions 1. All the citizens have the rights granted to them by the Constitution, and the duties laid down in it. The law can make dispositions only for the future. 2. All the citizens are equal before the law and justice, without any privileges and irrespective of race, ethnical origin, language, religion, sex, opinion or political allegiance, wealth or social origin. 3. Romanian citizens residing in other countries shall enjoy the protection of the State for the exercise of their rights and shall be bound to perform their duties with the exception of those incompatible with their absence. 4. Alien and stateless persons in Romania have all the rights and the duties set forth in the Constitution and the laws, with the exception of those belonging exclusively to the Romanian citizens. 5. Constitutional dispositions concerning the rights and liberties of the citizens shall be interpreted and applied in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international treaties and agreements ratified by Romania. 6. Fundamental rights and liberties, as well as the guarantee thereof may be restricted only in instances explicitely set forth in the Constitution or in a state of siege or state of emergency, and only by law. The law must mandatorily specify the right and the article in the Constitution referred to by the restraint of practise without infringement upon the very existence of this right. 7. Every person has the right to appeal in justice for the defence of his rights and liberties. No-one may be withdrawn, against his will, from the competence of his lawful judge. No penalty may be established or applied but on the grounds and in accordance with the provisions of the law. 8. A Romanian citizen may not be expelled from Romania. Extradition shall be disposed only in compliance with an international convention, and on the basis of the principle of reciprocity. Romanian citizens, aliens, and stateless persons may not be extradited for political reasons, if these comply with the Constitutional order in Romania. Likewise, they may not be extradited on request of a state where they could be sentenced to death. These provisions also apply to the expulsion of aliens and stateless persons. Paragraph 2 does not apply to persons guilty of acts of terrorism or genocide. Expulsion and extradition may be decided upon only by the Court of Justice, on the request of the relevant state organ. CHAPTER II: FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES 1. Human right to life is absolute and inviolable. Capital punishment is forbidden in time of peace. 2. The right to personal security and individual liberty is guaranteed. The liberty and physical integrity of the individual are inviolable. No one shall be subjected to torture and to any inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment. The indictment, detention or imprisonment of a person, are allowed only in cases explicitly established by law and under strict observance of the legal procedure established to this purpose. Preventive detention may last no longer than 24 hours. A person can be arrested only under a legal warrant issued by a Judge, and kept in provisional imprisonment only for a period of maximum 30 days, unless the Court exceptionally approves to extend this period. The person arrested, or detained, shall be promptly notified, in the language he is conversant with, of the grounds for his arrest or detention and in shortest time of the charges against him, as well as of his right to be assisted by a lawyer at his own choice. The person arrested or detained shall be mandatorily released before the expiry of the term, if the grounds for his arrest or detention ceased to exist. The person arrested may present his complaint about the legality of his detention to the Judge, who is compelled to make a pronouncement within 24 hours, by a motivated ordinance. During the trial, the defendant or the person under preventive detention may apply for his provisional release under judiciary control or on bail. Until the pronouncement of the sentence, the person shall be held innocent. The victim of an illegal detention or arrest has the right to reparations of any moral or material damage suffered. The Court shall decide upon such matters. The right to defence is inviolable. No one may be prevented to benefit of the assistance of a chosen lawyer, during any stage of the trial proceedings. Any law suit or trial proceedings shall be carried on in Romanian. Everyone wishing to defend himself in his mother language has the right to an interpreter. For criminal trials, the provision of an interpreter shall be free of charge. 3. The right to free movement is protected. Every citizen is guaranteed the right to move about and freely chose his domicile or place of residence anywhere within the national territory, to travel abroad or emigrate, and to return to his country. The right under paragraph 1 may be restricted by law or on the grounds of a law, only on account of the necessity to cope with a situation endangering the Constitutional order, to prevent the risks of an epidemic, the consequences of a natural disaster or other extremely serious calamity, as well as to protect the under-aged against desertion or for the combat of an offence or for the execution of a criminal court sentence. 4. Any natural person has the right to dispose of himself, if by this he causes no infringement upon the order of the law, the rights and liberties of other people, as well as upon public morals. 5. The public authorities shall protect the right to personal and family privacy. 6. The home is inviolable. No one may enter or stay at the home or place of residence of a person without his consent. Derogations of the provisions under para. 1 may be accepted by law: a) for the execution of a court sentence; b) to remove any danger threatening the life, physical integrity or assets of a person; c) to defend the security of the State or public order; d) to prevent the spread of an epidemic; e) in any other cases which require defence against a common danger. Searches may be ordered solely by a judge or any other competent organ of the State, and may be carried on only under the terms laid down by the law. Searches shall be prohibited at night time, except in cases of flagrante delicto. 7. The secrecy of communications of any kind - postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications - is inviolable. The violation of this secrecy, by opening, photocopying, destruction, withhold or intentional delay in delivery of the mail shall be sanctioned in accordance with the law. The inviolability of the secrecy of communications may be restricted by law only to prevent a danger concerning the security of the State or as required by the proceedings of a criminal investigation. 8. Freedom of thought and opinion, freedom of religious beliefs are total, and shall not be restricted by any means. No one shall be discriminated against or persecuted on account of his opinions and beliefs; everyone has the right to express them in public, in so far as they are not contrary to the constitutional order. Religious confessions are free. Their organisation and functioning shall be in accordance with their own statutes. They cannot be contrary to public order, security of the State and public morality. The Church is independent from the State, which is pledged to support the activity of the religious confessions, as prescribed by law. Parents or legal tutors have the right to provide for the minor's moral and religious education, the responsibility of which devolves upon them. The exercise of the freedom of conscience shall be permitted only in a climate of tolerance and mutual respect. 9. Freedom of expression and dissemination of thought, science and arts - by speech, in writing or in pictures, by sounds or through any other media - are inviolable. Any censorship thereof shall be prohibited. The freedom of expression shall not be prejudicial to the honour, privacy and the right to self-image of a person. The liability for the content of a creation made public is incumbent as follows, upon the author, the editor or the director, as well as upon the owner of the printing house or the producer of the artistic performance - provided the former cannot be identified. Any defamation of the country and the nation, instigation to war, national, racial, class or religious hatred, incitement to discrimination, public violence, national, ethnical and language exclusivism or separatism, as well as any indecent, obscene and immoral conduct shall be prohibited and punished by law. 10. The press is free, and shall not be censored in any way, nor obstructed in its publication and free communication of ideas and opinions. The freedom of the press also implies the freedom to set up periodicals, in accordance with the provisions of the law. No publication shall be suspended or interdicted, unless it has broken the Constitutional order. The competent authority for the decision of suspension or interdiction of the publication lies with the Constitutional Council. The provisions of the article above shall apply accordingly. The law may compel the periodical press to make public its financing sources. 11. General compulsory education shall be established by law. High schools and vocational schools as well as higher education, shall be accessible to all citizens, in accordance with their abilities. Education of all grades shall be conducted in Romanian. Any person belonging to a national minority shall be guaranteed the right to learn his mother language or to be educated in this languages, under the terms of the law, so as to enable its use - if possible and necessary - in the relations with the public authority, in accordance with the legislation in force. Education shall be free of charge except for the cases established by law. The institutions of education, including the private establishments, shall conduct their activity only according to the provisions of the law. The Universitary autonomy is guaranteed. The State shall provide assistance by scholarships, to be granted by competitive examination only. The State shall also provide facilities for the institutions belonging to its own educational network. The special training for the handicapped persons shall enjoy adequate protection, provided under the terms of the law. The State shall guarantee the freedom of religious education, in accordance with the specific requirements of each religious confession. In the State schools, religious education is optional. 12. Free access to information of any kind is guaranteed, under the terms of the law. Mass-media belonging to the State, except those pertaining to the Government, are independent of Public Administration. The State may not censor the activity of the mass media of political parties, of social bodies or private persons. Radio, TV and other audio-visual media of information must contribute to their social and cultural mission. The right to information shall infringe neither upon the protection of youth and childhood, nor upon the honour of the citizens. 13. The right to vote and to be elected is guaranteed. The voting shall be universal, equal, direct, secret and freely expressed. All Romanian citizens who have attained the age of 18 until the day of the elections shall have the right to vote. Mentally disabled or alienated laid under an interdiction, as well as convicts sentenced by a final court decision to be deprived of the electoral rights, cannot vote. The right to be elected belongs to all Romanian citizens with the right to vote, domiciled in Romania, with the exception of those who may not join a political party, in accordance with the provisions of the law. Eligibility to the Assembly of Deputies, local councils, or to a mayorhood is granted to candidates over 23 years of age, attained until the day of the elections. Eligibility to the Senate or to the Presidency of Romania is granted to candidates over 35 years of age, attained until the day of the elections. The electoral law regulates the condition for the nomination of candidates, for the organization and helding of elections, as well as for establishing the electoral results. 14. Meetings of any kind, reunions, assemblies and demonstration marches are free. They may be held only in so far they are peaceful and without arms. The meetings and demonstrations in squares, public ways and other places in the open, may be restricted by law, for reasons regarding public order. 15. Romanian citizens have the right to freely associate, in accordance with the laws regulating exercise of this right, to form political parties, trade unions or any other form of association. The very exercise of the right to association does not imply in itself the right to create a juridical person. The setting up of juridical person shall be established solely by law. Forming of the political parties is free. The parties which by their aims or activity militate against political pluralism, the Constitutional order or the integrity or independence of the State, as well as those founded exclusively on ethnical, religious or language criteria are non-constitutional. Only the Constitutional Council has the competence to decide upon this matter. Alternative to paragraph 3: To eliminate the ground for non-constitutionalism regarding " the parties founded exclusively on ethnical, religious or language criteria". Active members of the Armed Forces, magistrates, diplomats, policemen, the staff of the State-owned Radio-TV, other civil servants established by an organic law may not become members of a political party. 16. Citizens are guaranteed the freedom to chose their profession and working place. The minimum wage, the social assistance for unemployment, the measures of protection, labour safety and hygiene, as well as the specific regulations with regard to the labour protection of women and the youth, shall be established by law. The exercise of a profession shall also be regulated by law or on the grounds of a law. Maximum working day is 8 hours, except for the case there are other engagements established in private conventions. Forced labour is prohibited. The term "forced labour" does not include: a) any work normally required of an individual under detention, or while released on parole; b) any services of military character or, in the case of the individuals refusing to pay the military service, any other service instead of the compulsory military one; c) any services required from citizens in the case of natural disasters or any other public danger; d) any work or service as a normal civic obligation established by law. 17. All workers have the right to paid weekends, leisure time at the end of each working-day and a paid annual leave. The mandatory duration of the weekend and the annual leave, as well as the limitation of a working-day under hard or extremely hard working conditions shall be established in accordance with the provisions of the law. 18. Citizens have the right to pensions, social assistance, medical care in health establishments of the State, paid leaves for maternity, aids for the deceased, and other measures of social protection, in accordance with the law. 19. The handicapped shall enjoy special protection. The State shall provide for a national preventive policy, as well as for a treatment for the rehabilitation and social integration of the disabled, without any infringement upon the rights and duties of their parents or tutors. 20. The workers, in a number established by law, who carry out their activity in the same unit, sub-unit or compartment, or those who exercise the same profession, or work, have the right to strike in order to protect their professional interests, with an economic and social content. The conditions for the employers' recourse to a strike, for its suspension and termination, as well as the branches and fields of economic-social activities where strikes are prohibited shall be regulated by law. The organization by trade unions of strikes aiming at political objects shall be strictly prohibited. 21. Property of any kind and inheritance rights, as well as the claims upon the State, shall be guaranteed. The content and limitation of these rights shall be established by law. No one may be deprived of his property, except on justified grounds of public utility against proper and fair compensation paid in advance, and agreed upon with the owner, or, as the case be, through order of the justice. Expropriations for public utility refer to the projects for the ways of communication, street alignment and widening, constructions and public energy network, building of dams and water-flow regulation, public sanitation, national defence and military objectives, as well as other exigencies of public interest related to the general direct requirements of the State and of the Public Administration. The procedure of expropriation shall be established by law. For such projects declared of general interest, the public authorities are entitled to use the basement of any real estate, with the obligation to pay compensation to its owner for the damages caused to the soil, to the plantations and to the constructions. The compensation shall be determined by mutual agreement with the owner, or, in case no agreement can be reached, by the order of justice. The right to property pledges to the respect of duties with regard to environmental protection, good neighbourhood, payment of taxes and the performance of any other duties incumbent upon the owner, in accordance with the law or the custom. No law may establish the measure of confiscation for any lawfully acquired estate. The proof of the illicit acquirement of the estate is incumbent upon the public authority. 22. The State shall take the necessary measures, by its policy of national economic development and social protection of the citizens, to ensure that the best conditions are created for a decent living, in accordance with the contribution of each citizen to the social-economic progress of the country. The law shall establish measures to ensure a healthy, balanced environment; the development of towns within the framework of modern town-planning; the healthy development of children; the reduction of sucklings' and infantile mortality; the profilaxy and treatment of diseases; the combat of epidemic diseases. Income taxes shall be established only by law and must ensure a fair distribution of taxes. 23. Children and youth shall enjoy the protection of law, to ensure adequate living conditions and education. Any form of discrimination as well as the economic and social explotation of children and youngsters shall be prohibited. Children and youngsters shall not be employed for jobs injurious to their health and morality or endangering their life or normal development. The employment of a child or youngster under the age of 14 for hired labour shall be prohibited. The law guarantees the right to education and information of the youth, as well as the free development of their associations. 24. Family is founded on the freely consented marriage of the spouses, their full equality, as well as the right and duty of the parents to provide the upbringing, education and instruction of their children. The conditions for contracting a marriage and dissolution there of shall be established by law. Religious wedding is optional and may only be deleberated after the civil marriage. The State shall assist the family by public allowances for children, aids for mothers with many children or for the care of sick or disabled children, and other forms of social protection estabilished by law. Children born outside wedlock are equal before the law with those born within wedlock. 25. Any person who considers himself wronged in his lawful rights by an administrative act, or by any unjustified refuse of an administrative authority to resolve his request with regard to this right, may appeal to the competent court of justice for the annulment of the act, recognition of his right and reparation for the damage caused to him. As unjustified refuse to resolve a request with regard to a lawful right shall also be considered the default of making known the result to the petitioner within 30 days from the date of entry, unless a different term is prescribed by law. Exceptions from the exercise of this right, and the specific conditions for the solution of the application of a prejudiced person shall be determined by law. 26. Citizens have the right to apply in writing to the public authorities by signed petitions. A petition may be formulated only in the name of the person who signed. Legally constituted organizations have the right to make petitions on behalf of the collectivity they represent. The exercise of the right of petition is tax-exempt. 27. Aliens or stateless persons pursued for their political beliefs may enjoy the right of asylum in Romania, except for the cases when granting this right would be contradictory to the Constitutional order of the country. Persons granted the right of asylum may not be extradited or expelled. The right of asylum may be withdrawn at any time. CHAPTER III: FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES 1. Faithfulness towards the country is sacred. The Constitution and the laws of the country are inviolable. Citizens charged with public functions, as well as the military, have the duty to faithfully fulfil the obligations they are bound to: and, to this purpose, to take the oath as requested by law. 2. Citizens have the right and duty to defend Romania. The military service for all Romanian male-citizens aged 20 is compulsory. To satisfy the compulsory military service, citizens may be summoned up to the age of 35 years. The law shall determine the military obligations, regulate the exemption from compulsory military service, as well as the duties of civilians in the event of great risk, catastrophe or natural calamity. 3. All citizens shall contribute to the public expenditure of the State, by taxes and duties in accordance with the law. Any other conscriptions to this effect shall be prohibited, except as determined by law and under exceptional circumstances only. 4. As holders of the Constitutional rights and liberties, citizens shall exercise them in good faith. CHAPTER IV: DEFENDER OF THE PEOPLE 1. To protect the rights and liberties of the citizens, the Senate shall appoint, for the duration of their term of office, one or several Defenders of the people, in accordance with the provisions of the law. Any citizens who considers himself wronged in his legitimate rights or interests, by acts or deeds of the administrative authorities, shall have the right to petition to the Defender of the people. The Defender of the people, without having the power of decision, shall notify the competent authority thereof, making the necessary recommendations for the elimination and prevention of any acts or deeds of injustice. 3. The activity of the Defender of the people is independent of the appeal and settlement of contentious claims in Administration, provided by law. The Defender of the people shall carry this activity with the assistance of one of the Senate's commissions, under the control of the Senate. 4. The Defender of the people shall annually report on his activity to the Parliament, and recommend legislative measures or of any other kind within the power of the Parliament, in order to defend the rights and liberties of the citizens.