constituteproject.org • Source of constitutional authority • Motives for writing constitution • God or other deities PDF generated: 18 Apr 2016, 16:56 Preamble We, the people of Equatorial Guinea, conscious of our responsibility before God and history; Driven by the will to safeguard our independence, organize and consolidate our national unity; Desirous of upholding the authentic African spirit of the positive tradition of family and communal organization, adapting it to new social and judicial structures consistent with modern life; Conscious that the charismatic authority of the traditional family is the foundation of the Equatoguinean Society; • International human rights treaties Firmly supported by the principles of social justice and solemnly reaffirmed by the rights and liberties of men defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of October 10, 1948; • International human rights treaties The African Charter of Rights of Man and of Peoples of June 26, 1981; Adopt the following Fundamental Law of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. First Title: Fundamental Principles of the State Article 1 • Type of government envisioned   1.   2.   3. • Claim of universal suffrage Equatorial Guinea is a sovereign, independent, republican, social and democratic State, in which the supreme values are unity, peace, justice, freedom and equality. Political pluralism is recognized. Its official name is: Republic of Equatorial Guinea (República de Guinea Ecuatorial). Article 2 Sovereignty belongs to the people, who exercise it by way of universal suffrage. From it emanate the public powers that are exercised in the conditions determined by this Fundamental Law and other laws. No fraction of the people or individual shall attribute itself the exercise of National Sovereignty. Article 3   1. The territory of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is comprised of the continental area known as Río Muni and the Bioko, Annobón, Corisco, Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico, Mbañe, Conga, Leva, Cocotero islands and adjacent islets, the fluvial waters, the maritime zone, the continental shelf determined by the Law and the air space that covers them.   • Ownership of natural resources 2. Equatorial Guinea 1991 (rev. 2012) Over its territory the State fully exercises its sovereignty and can explore and exploit in an exclusive manner all resources and mineral wealth and hydrocarbons. Page 4