constituteproject.org • Source of constitutional authority • Motives for writing constitution • Reference to country's history • Rights of children guaranteed • Right to culture • International human rights treaties • Regional group(s) PDF generated: 18 Apr 2016, 15:25 Preamble The sovereign people of Mali, strong from their traditions of heroic struggle, pledge to remain faithful to the ideals of the victims of repression and the fallen martyrs of the battlefield for the rise of a state of law and pluralist democracy, • affirm their volition to preserve and reinforce the democratic gains of the Revolution of March 26, 1991, • solemnly undertake to defend the republican and secular form of the state, • proclaim their determination to defend the rights of women and children as well as the cultural and linguistic diversity of the national community, • reaffirm their determination to maintain and consolidate the national unity, • undertake to assure the improvement of the quality of life, the protection of the environment and the cultural patrimony, • subscribe to the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man of December 10, 1948and to the African Charter of the Rights of Man and People of June 27, 1981, • reaffirm their attachment to the realization of African Unity, to the promotion of peace, regional and international cooperation, to the peaceful resolution of differences between states in deference to justice, equality, liberty and the sovereignty of the people. TITLE I: THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE HUMAN PERSON Article 1 • Inalienable rights The human person shall be sacred and inviolable. • Right to life Every individual shall have the right to the life, to the liberty, to the security and to the integrity of his person. • General guarantee of equality • Equality regardless of gender • Equality regardless of skin color • Equality regardless of social status • Equality regardless of political party • Equality regardless of race • Equality regardless of language • Equality regardless of religion Article 2 Every Malian shall be born and remain free and equal in rights and obligations. All discrimination founded on social origin, color, language, race, sex, religion and political opinion shall be prohibited. Article 3 • Prohibition of cruel treatment • Prohibition of torture No one shall be submitted to torture, nor to inhuman, cruel, degrading or humiliating treatment or brutality (especially from one under who's protection one falls). Every individual, every agent of the state who by his actions is culpable of such acts, whether of his own initiative, or by instruction, shall be punished in conformity with the law. • Freedom of expression • Freedom of religion • Freedom of opinion/thought/conscience Article 4 Every person shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, cult, opinion, expression and creation within the law. Mali 1992 Page 3