An Exercise in Constitution Writing: Article 26

There exists a social movement in Honduras led by the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP) that proposes the establishment of a National Constitutent Assembly to review and rewrite the Constitution of Honduras. Part of Honduran society supports this idea, and part does not. It is an extremely divisive issue, particularly becaue it is unclear what the alternative to the current Constitution, approved in 1982, would be... and whether it would make things better or worse in Honduras. Honduras Weekly believes that the first step in any thoughtful discussion about the Constitution is to understand what is contained in this document. We have begun the process of translating the Constitution into English for our readers who do not have command of the Spanish language. There are English-language translations of the Constitution online, but we're hoping to improve on these. Of the document's 378 articles, we have translated 26 of them thus far.

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION

Decree Number N° 131
January 11, 1982

PREAMBLE

We, Representatives elected through the voluntary sovereignty of the Honduran people, reunited in a National Constitution Assembly, invoking God’s protection and the example of our forefathers, with our faith in the restoration of the Central American union and faithfully interpreting the hopes of the people who bestowed upon us their mandate, decree and sanction the present Constitution so that it shall strengthen and perpetuate a nation of laws that shall ensure a political, economic and social society that is just and shall strengthen the nation and favor conditions for the full realization of man as a human being, under justice, liberty, security, stability, pluralism, peace, representative democracy and the common good.

Title I: ABOUT THE NATION

Article 1. Honduras is a nation of laws, sovereign, constituted as a free republic, democratic and independent to ensure that its inhabitants enjoy justice, liberty, culture and economic and social wellbeing.

Article 2. Sovereignty belongs to the People from whom emanate all of the Power of the State that is exercised through representation.

The sovereignty of the People can also be exercised in a direct manner through Plebiscite or Referendum.

The supplanting of the Popular Sovereignty and the usurping of the constituted power are recognized as crimes of Treason to the Homeland. Liability in these cases does not expire by statute of limitations and may be presented ex officio or through a petition by any citizen.
* Modified by Decree 295/1993

No one is obliged to obey a usurper government or those who assume public functions or employment by force of arms or use methods or procedures that break with or fail to recognize what this Constitution and the laws establish. The acts ratified by such authorities are null. The people have the right to resort to insurrection in defense of the constitutional order.

Article 4. The form of government is republican, democratic and representative. It is exercised by three powers: Legislative, Executive and Judicial, complementary and independent and without being subordinate to each other.

Alternacy in the office of the President of the Republic is mandatory.

Violation of this rule of law constitutes a crime of treason against the Homeland.

Article 5. The government shall stand on the principle of participatory democracy from which national integration is derived, which involves the participation of all political sectors in the carrying out of public administration in order to ensure and strengthen the progress of Honduras based on political stability and national conciliation.

In order to strengthen and make the participatory democracy function, the referendum and the plebiscite shall be instituted as mechanisms for consulting citizens on matters of fundamental importance to national life.

A special law approved by two-thirds of all the representatives in the National Congress shall determine the procedures, requirements and other aspects necessary to implement popular consultations. A referendum on any Common Law or constitutional rule of law or its approved reform shalll be held for ratification or disapproval by the citizenry.

A plebiscite shall be convened by soliciting from citizens a decision regarding constitutional, legislative or administrative matters, about which the Constituted Powers have not previously decided.

Through initiative undertaken by at least ten (10) Representatives of the National Congress, the President of the Republic by resolution of the Council of Secretaries of State or by six percent (6%) of the citizens registered under the National Electoral Census and qualified to vote by virtue of their signatures and finger prints verified by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the National Congress shall recognize and discuss said petitions, and if it approves them by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members; shall approve a Decree that shall determine the breadth of the consultation and order the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to convene, organize and direct the consultations to the citizens as noted in the previous paragraphs.

Voting in citizen consultations is mandatory. The objective of a referendum or plebiscite shall not be to reform Article 374 of this Constitution.

Neither can these consultations be used for matters related to payment issues, public credit, amnesties, national currency, budgets, international treaties and conventions and social conquests.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is responsible for informing the National Congress of the results of said consultations within a period of no more than ten (10) days. Finalizing the results of citizen consultations shall be mandatory.

a) If at least fifty one percent (51%) of the citizens registered in the National Electoral Census at the time the consultation takes place; and

b) If the vote in the affirmative achieves the majority of the valid votes.

If the result of the vote is not affirmative, there cannot be a consultation about the same issues during the next term of the Government of the Republic. The National Congress shall enact laws that result as a consequence of the consultation by way of constitutional procedures under current law. Use of the presidential veto shall not follow in the case of consultations by way of a referendum or plebiscite. Consequently, the President of the Republic shall order the approved laws to be formally announced to the public.

* Modified by Decree 242/2003 and Ratified by Decree 177/2004

Article 6. The official language of Honduras is Spanish. The Nation will protect its purity and expand its instruction.

Article 7. The national symbols are: The Flag, the Coat of Arms and the National Anthem.

Laws shall establish their characteristics and regulate their use.

Article 8. The cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, together, constitute the capital of the Republic.

Chapter II
Territory

Article 9. The territory of Honduras lies in between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the republics of: Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Its boundaries with these republics are:

1. With the Republic of Guatemala, as set by the arbitration ruling issued in Washington, DC, United States of America, on January 23, 1933.

2. With the Republic of Nicaragua, as established by the Joint Commission Honduran-Nicaraguan Boundaries between 1900 and 1901, according to the descriptions of the first section of the dividing line that as specified in the second act of June 12, 1900 and in those that follow, up to Portillo de Teotecacinte and from there up to the Atlantic Ocean according to the judicial resolution dictated His Majesty the King of Spain, Alfonso XIII, on December 23, 1906, declared valid by the International Court of Justice on November 18, 1960.

3. With the Republic of El Salvador, as established in Articles sixteen and seventeen of the the General Peace Treaty, signed in Lima, Peru on October 30, 1980. Documents pertaining to the treaty were exchanged in Tegucigalpa, Central District, Honduras on December 10, 1980. In the applicable articles of the referenced Treaty lie the sections delineating the boundaries.

Article 10. Appurtenant to Honduras are the territories located on the mainland within its territorial boundaries, interior waters and the islands, islets and keys in the Gulf of Fonseca that historically, geographically and juridically belong to it, as is the case with the Bay Islands, the Cisne Islands (Swan Islands) known also as Santanilla or Santillana, Virillos, Seal or foca (or Becerro), Caratrasca, Cajones or Hobbies, Mayores Cabo Falso, Cocorocuma, Palo de Compeche, Los Bajos Pichones, Media Luna, Gorda and the Bancos Salmedina, providence, De Coral, Cabo Falsco, Rosalinda and Serranilla, and the rest located in the Atlantic that historically, geographically and juridically belong to it.

The Gulf of Fonesca may fall under special rules of jurisdiction.

Article 11. Also appurtenant to the nation of Honduras:

1. Territorial waters, which extend out twelve nautical miles from the point of lowest tide along the length of the coast;

2. The zone adjacent to its territorial waters, which extends up twenty-four nautical miles, beginning from the baseline from which the width of the territorial waters is measured;

3. The exclusive economic zone, which extends up to a distance of two-hundred nautical miles, beginning from the baseline from which the width of the territorial waters is measured;

4. The continental shelf, which consists of the ocean bed and sub-floor of underwater zones, which extend beyond its territorial waters the full length of the natural extension of its territory up to the outside border of the continental rim, or up to a distance of two-hundred nautical miles from the baseline, from which is measured the width of the territorial waters in cases in which the outside border of the continental rim does not extend out to that distance; and

5. As pertaining to the Pacific Ocean, the previous measurements shall begin from the abutment line of the mouth of the Gulf of Fonseca at high tide.

Article 12. The Nation exerts sovereignty and jurisdiction over the airspace and sub-floor of its continental territory and islands, territorial waters, adjacent zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

This declaration of sovereignty recognizes legitimate similar rights of Nations based on the principle of reciprocity and, consistent with international law, does not affect the rights of nations to navigate freely nor the application of treaties and conventions ratified by the Republic.

Article 13. In those Cases that refer to the previous articles, the sovereignty of the Nation is inalienable and self-evident.

Article 14. Foreign nations may only acquire within the territory of the Republic, on a reciprocal basis, that real estate necessary to house their diplomatic representatives, without prejudice to what is established by international treaties.

Chapter III
Treaties

Article 15. Honduras supports the principles and practices of international law that promote human solidarity, respect of self-determination by peoples, non-intervention, and the strengthening of universal peace and democracy.

Honduras proclaims as ineludible the validity and obligatory execution of international arbitral and judicial awards

Article 16. All international treaties shall be approved by the Congress prior to ratification by the Executive Power.

Once they are in effect, international treaties entered into by Honduras with other nations shall form part of the domestic law.

Article 17. Whenever an international treaty affects a constitutional provision, it shall be approved through the same procedure used to reform the Constitution prior to ratification by the Executive Power.

(Article modified by Decree 243/2003)

Article 18. In case of a conflict between the treaty or convention and the Law, the former shall prevail.

Article 19. No authority shall enter into or ratify treaties or grant concessions that compromise the territorial integrity, the sovereignty, or the independence of the Republic.

Whomever does so shall be tried for the crime of treason to the Nation. Responsibility in such a case is imprescriptible.

Article 20. Any treaty or convention entered into by the Executive Power related to national territory shall require the approval of Congress by a vote of no less than three-fourths of the total number of its members.

Article 21. In matters of exclusive competence to it, the Executive Power may enter into, ratify, or adhere to international conventions with foreign states or international organizations without requiring previous approval from Congress, whom it must immediately inform.

Title II: NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP

Chapter I
Hondurans

Article 22. Honduran nationality is acquired through birth or naturalization.

Article 23. The following are Honduran by birth:

1. Those born within national territory, with the exception of the children of foreign diplomatic representatives.

2. Those born abroad to a father and mother of Honduran birth.
*Number interpreted by Decree 13/2001

3. Those born aboard Honduran military ships or aircraft, and those born on merchant vessels in territorial waters of Honduras; and

4. The infant child of unknown parents found within Honduran territory.

Article 24. The following are Honduran by naturalization:

1. Those Central Americans by birth who have resided in the country for one year;

2. Those Spaniards and Ibero-Americans by birth who have resided in the country of two consecutive years;

3. All other foreigners who have resided in the country for more than three consecutive years;

4. Those who obtain naturalization papers decreed by the National Congress for extaordinary services rendered to Honduras;

5. Those immigrants who are part of select groups brought by the government for scientific, agricultural or industrial purposes, who after one year of residing in the country fulfill the requirements of the Law; and

6. A foreign person married to an Honduran by birth.

In cases referred to in numbers 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, the applicant must previously renounce his nationality and express his desire to obtain Honduran nationality before the competent authority.

Where there exists a dual nationality treaty, the Honduran who opts for foreign nationality shall not lose his Honduran nationality.

Under the same circumstances, the foreigner shall not be required to renounce his nationality of origin.

Article 25. While residing in Honduras, no Honduran by birth may invoke a nationality other than Honduran.

Article 26. No naturalized Honduran may undertake in his country of origin official functions representing Honduras.