Dominican Republic 2010 Constitution

TITLE II. OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, GUARANTEES AND DUTIES

CHAPTER I. OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

SECTION I. OF THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Article 37. Right to life

The right to life is inviolable from conception to death. The death penalty cannot be established, pronounced or applied, in any case.

Article 38. Human dignity

The State is founded on the respect for the dignity of the person and it is organized for the real and effective protection of the fundamental rights inherent to it. The dignity of the human being is sacred, innate and inviolable; its respect and protection constitute an essential responsibility of the public powers.

Article 39. Right to equality

Persons are born free and equal before the law, they receive the same protection and treatment from the institutions, authorities and other persons and enjoy the same rights, freedoms and opportunities, without any discrimination for reasons of gender, color, age, disability, nationality, family ties, language, religion, political or philosophical opinion, and social or personal condition. In consequence:

1. The Republic condemns all privilege and situation that tends to undermine the equality of the Dominicans [feminine] and the Dominicans [masculine], among whom there should be no differences other than those resulting from their talents or their virtues;
2. No entity of the Republic may concede titles of nobility or hereditary distinctions;
3. The State must promote the juridical and administrative conditions to make equality real and effective and adopt the measures to prevent and combat discrimination, marginalization, vulnerability and exclusion;
4. Women and men are equal before the law. Any act is prohibited whose purpose or effect diminishes or annuls the recognition, enjoyment or exercise in conditions of equality of the fundamental rights of women and men. The necessary measures to guarantee the eradication of inequality and gender discrimination, will be promoted;
5. The State must promote and guarantee a balanced participation of women and men in the candidatures for offices of popular election for the instances of supervision and decision in the public domain, in the administration of justice and in the organs of control of the State.

Article 40. Right to liberty and personal security

All persons have the right to liberty and personal security. Therefore:

1. No one shall be remitted to prison or restrained from their liberty without substantiated and written order by a competent judge, except in the case of flagrante delicto;
2. Any authority that executes measures deprivative of liberty is obliged to identify himself;
3. All persons, at the moment of their detention, will be informed of their rights;
4. All detained persons have the right to communicate immediately with their family, lawyer or someone of trust, who in turn have the right to be informed of the place where the detained person is held and the motives for the detention;
5. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be submitted to the competent judicial authority within forty-eight hours of their detention or released. The competent judicial authority shall notify the interested party, within the same time, with the decision dictated to that effect;
6. All persons deprived of their liberty, without cause or without the legal formalities or outside the cases set forth by the laws, shall be immediately released at their own request or of any person;
7. Every person must be released once complying with the imposed sentence or after a release order dictated by the competent authority;
8. No one can be subjected to measures of coercion unless by their own act;
9. The measures of coercion, which restrict personal freedom, have an exceptional character and their application must be proportional to the danger being safeguarded;
10. Physical constraint may not be established for debt that does not come from an infraction of the penal laws;
11. Any person having a detainee in their custody is obligated to present them as soon as the competent authority requires it;
12. The transfer of any detainee from a prison facility to another location without a written and substantiated order from a competent authority is strictly prohibited;
13. No one can be convicted or sanctioned for actions or omissions which when committed did not constitute a criminal or administrative infraction;
14. No one is criminally responsible for the action of another;
15. No one will be obligated to do what the law does not require or prevented from doing what the law does not prohibit. The law is equal for all: it can only order what is just and useful for the community and it cannot prohibit more than what is prejudicial to it;
16. The penalties of deprivation of liberty and the measures of security will be oriented towards the social rehabilitation and reintegration of the convicted person and may not involve forced labor;
17. In the exercise of the sanctioning power established by the laws, the Public Administration may not impose sanctions which imply in a direct or subsidiary form the deprivation of liberty.

Article 41. Prohibition of slavery

Slavery, servitude, and the trade and trafficking in persons, are prohibited in all of their forms.

Article 42. Right to personal integrity

Every person has the right of respect for their physical, psychic, and moral integrity and to live without violence. They have the protection of the State in the cases of threat, risk or violation thereof. In consequence:

1. No person can be subjected to penalties, torture or degrading procedures involving the loss or reduction of their health, or their physical or psychic integrity;
2. Inter-family and gender violence in all its forms is condemned. The State shall guarantee through the law the adoption of the necessary measures to prevent, sanction and eradicate violence against women;
3. No one shall be subjected, without prior consent, to experiments and procedures that do not meet internationally recognized scientific and bioethical norms. Neither to medical tests or procedures, except when danger to life is encountered.

Article 43. Right to the free development of personality

Every person has the right to the free development of their personality, without other limitations than those imposed by the juridical order and the rights of others.

Article 44. Right to intimacy and to personal honor

Every person has the right to intimacy. The respect and non-interference in the private, family, and home life and to the correspondence of the individual is guaranteed. The right to the honor, to the good name and to the reputation of the person is recognized. Any authority or individual who violates them is obligated to compensate or repair them in accordance with the law. Therefore:

1. The home, the domicile and any private premises of the person are inviolable, except in the cases that are ordered in accordance with the law, by competent judicial authority or in the case of flagrante delicto;
2. Every person has the right to access the information and the data concerning them or their assets that as found in official or private records, as well as to know the destination and the use made of them, with the limitations established by the law. The treatment of personal data and information or its assets must be conducted respecting the principles of quality, legality, loyalty, security and purpose. The person may solicit before the competent judicial authority the updating, opposition to treatment, rectification or destruction of such information that illegitimately affects their rights;
3. The inviolability of correspondence, documents or private messages in physical, digital, electronic or any other type of format, is recognized. They can only be possessed, intercepted or recorded, by order of a competent judicial authority, through legal procedures in the substantiation of issues handled by justice and preserving the secrecy of what is private, and that unrelated to the corresponding process. The secrecy of telegraphic, telephonic, cable, electronic, telematic or that established by other media, is inviolable, unless with an authorization granted by a judge or competent authority in accordance with the law;
4. The handling, use or treatment of data and information of official character collected by the authorities in charge of the prevention, prosecution and punishment of criminal acts, can only be treated or communicated to the public records, after the opening of a trial has intervened, in accordance with the law.

Article 45. Freedom of conscience and of beliefs

The State guarantees the freedom of conscience and of beliefs, subject to the public order and respect for good customs.

Article 46. Freedom of transit

Any person who is in the national territory has the right to transit, reside and exit from it freely, in accordance with the legal provisions.

1. No Dominican [masculine] or Dominican [feminine] shall be deprived of the right to enter the national territory. They also cannot be expelled or exiled from it, except in the cases of extradition pronounced by a competent judicial authority, conforming to the laws and the international treaties in force, concerning the matter;
2. Every person has the right to solicit asylum in the national territory, in case of persecution for political reasons. Those who are in conditions of asylum shall enjoy the protection that guarantees the full exercise of their rights, in accordance with the agreements, norms and international instruments subscribed to and ratified by the Dominican Republic. Terrorism, the crimes against humanity, administrative corruption and transnational offences are not considered political crimes.

Article 47. Freedom of association

Every person has the right to associate for lawful purposes, in accordance with the law.

Article 48. Freedom to assemble

Every person has the right to assemble, without prior permission, for lawful and peaceful purposes, in accordance with the law.

Article 49. Freedom of expression and information

Every person has the right to freely express their thoughts, ideas and opinions, through any media, without the establishment of prior censorship.

1. Every person has the right to information. This right shall include the freedom to search, to investigate, to receive and to impart information of all kinds, of public character, through any media, channel or path, in accordance with what the Constitution and the law determine;
2. All of the media of information have free access to official and private news sources that are of public interest, in accordance with the law;
3. The professional secret and the clause of conscience of the journalist are protected by the Constitution and the law;
4. Every person has the right to reply and to correction when feeling damaged by disseminated information. This right shall be exercised in accordance with the law;
5. The law guarantees the equal and plural access of all the social and political sectors to the media of communication that are property of the State.

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The enjoyment of these freedoms will be exercised respecting the right to honor, to intimacy, as well as the dignity and morale of persons, especially the protection of adolescents and of children, in accordance with the law and the public order.

SECTION II. OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS

Article 50. Freedom of business

The State recognizes and guarantees freedom of business, commerce and industry. All persons have the right to freely engage in the economic activity of their preference, without any limitations other than those specified in this Constitution and those that the laws establish.

1. Monopolies are not permitted, except in favor of the State. The creation and organization of these monopolies will be made by law. The State encourages and sees to the practice of free and fair competition and will adopt the measures that shall be necessary to prevent the harmful and restrictive effects of monopoly and of the abuse of a dominant position, establishing by law the exceptions for the cases of national security;
2. The State may dictate measures to regulate the economy and promote national plans of competitiveness and encourage the integral development of the country;
3. The State may grant concessions for the time and in the form specified by the law, when it concerns the exploitation of natural resources or the provision of public services, always assuring the existence of considerations or compensations that are suitable for the public interest and the environmental balance.

Article 51. Right to property

The State recognizes and guarantees the right to property. Property has a social function that implies obligations. Every person has the right to the pleasure, enjoyment and disposition of their assets.

1. No person can be deprived of their property, but for justified cause of public utility or of social interest, with prior the payment of its just value, determined by agreement between the parties or issued by a competent tribunal, in accordance with what is established in the law. In case of the declaration of a State of Emergency or of Defense, the indemnification might not be prior;
2. The State shall promote, in accordance with the law, the access to property, especially to titled real property;
3. The allocation of land to useful purposes and the gradual elimination of the large scale ownership of land is declared of social interest. It is a principal objective of the social policy of the State, to promote agrarian reform and the effective integration of the peasant farmer population within the national development process, through the stimulation and cooperation for the renewal of their methods of agricultural production and their technological training;
4. There will be no politically motivated confiscation of the assets of physical or juridical persons;
5. The assets of physical or juridical persons, national or foreign, can only be subject to confiscation or forfeiture, by means of a definitive sentence, if their origin is from illegal acts committed against the public patrimony, as well as those used or derived from activities of illicit trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances or those related to transnational organized crime and of any offense provided for in the penal laws;
6. The law will establish the regime of administration and disposal of seized and abandoned assets in criminal proceedings and in the trials of forfeiture of domain, specified in the juridical order.

Article 52. Right to intellectual property

The right of exclusive ownership of scientific, literary, and artistic works, as well as inventions and innovations, trade names, trade marks, distinctive logos and other productions of the human intellect by time, is recognized and protected, in the form and within the limitations the law establishes.

Article 53. Rights of the consumer

Every person has the right to enjoy quality goods and services, receiving objective, accurate and timely information concerning the contents and the characteristics of the products and services used or consumed, under the provisions and norms established by the law. The persons who are injured or harmed as a result, by goods and services of poor quality, have the right to be compensated or indemnified according to the law.

Article 54. Food safety

The State shall promote the research and transfer of technology for the production of food and raw materials of agricultural origin, in order to increase the productivity and guarantee food security.

Article 55. Rights of the family

The family is the foundation of the society and it is the basic space for the integral development of persons. It is constituted by natural or legal ties, by the free decision of a man and a woman to contract matrimony or by the responsible will to conform to it.

1. Every person has the right to constitute a family, in which formation and development the woman and the man enjoy equal rights and duties and owe to each other mutual understanding and reciprocal respect;
2. The State guarantees the protection of the family. The asset of the family is inalienable and unattachable, in accordance with the law;
3. The State shall promote and protect the family organization based on the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. The law will establish the requirements to contract it, the formalities for its celebration, its personal and patrimonial effects, the grounds for separation or of dissolution, the regime of assets and the rights and duties between the spouses;
4. Religious marriages will have civil effects within the limits that the law establishes, without prejudice to what is provided in the international treaties;
5. The singular and stable union between a man and a woman, free of matrimonial impediment, that form a home of fact, give rise to rights and duties in their personal and patrimonial relations, in accordance with the law;
6. Maternity, whatever the social condition or civil status of the woman, enjoys the protection of the public powers and creates a right to official assistance in case of need;
7. Every person has the right to the recognition of their personality, to their own name, to the surname of the father and of the mother and to know their identity;
8. All persons have the right from birth to be inscribed gratuitously in civil register or in the book of foreigners and to obtain the public documents that prove their identity, in accordance with the law;
9. All children are equal before the law, they have equal rights and duties and enjoy the same opportunities for social, spiritual and physical development. Any mention concerning the nature of the affiliation in the civil registers and in any document of identity, is prohibited;
10. The State promotes responsible paternity and maternity. The father and the mother, even after separation and divorce, have the shared and unrenounceable obligation to feed, to raise, to form, to educate, to maintain, to provide security to and to assist their sons and daughters. The law will establish the necessary and adequate measures to guarantee the effectiveness of these obligations;
11. The State recognizes housework as an economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and social well being, so for this reason it will be incorporated in the formulation and execution of public and social policies;
12. The State shall guarantee, by law, secure and effective policies for adoption;
13. The value of youths as strategic actors within the development of the Nation, is recognized. The State guarantees and promotes the effective exercise of their rights, through policies and programs that assure in permanent mode their participation in all spheres of national life and, in particular, their training and their access to their first job.

Article 56. Protection of underage persons

The family, the society and the State, shall prioritize the superior interests of the child [masculine], the child [feminine] and the adolescent; they will have the obligation to assist them and protect them to guarantee their harmonious and integral development and the full exercise of their fundamental rights, in accordance with this Constitution and the laws. In consequence:

1. The eradication of child labor and all forms of abuse or violence against underage persons, is declared of the highest national interest. The children [masculine], the children [feminine] and the adolescents will be protected by the State against all forms of neglect, kidnapping, state of vulnerability, abuse or physical, psychological, moral or sexual violence, commercial, labor, or economic exploitation and dangerous work;
2. The active participation and progress of children [masculine], children [feminine] and adolescents in family, community and social life, will be promoted.
3. The adolescents are active participants within the development process. The State, with the joint participation of the families and the society, will create opportunities to stimulate their productive transition into adulthood.

Article 57. Protection of persons of the third age

The family, the society and the State shall concur for the protection and the assistance of persons of the third age and will promote their integration into the working and community life. The State guarantees the services of integral social security and food subsidies in case of indigence.

Article 58. Protection of persons with disabilities

The State shall promote, protect and assure the enjoyment of all the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the persons with disabilities, in conditions of equality, as well as the full and autonomous exercise of their capacities. The State shall adopt the positive measures necessary to facilitate their family, community, social, labor, economic, cultural and political integration.

Article 59. Right to housing

Every person has the right to decent housing with the essential basic services. The State must establish the conditions necessary to make this right effective and to promote plans for housing and human settlements of social interest. The legal access to titled real property is a fundamental priority of the public policies that promote housing.

Article 60. Right to social security

Every person has the right to social security. The State shall stimulate the progressive development of social security to assure the universal access to adequate protection during illness, disability, unemployment and old age.

Article 61. Right to health

Every person has the right to an integral health. In consequence:

1. The State must see to the protection of the health of all persons, the access to potable water, the improvement of nutrition, of the health services, the hygienic conditions, the healthy environmental, as well as to procure the means for the prevention and treatment of all diseases, assuring the access to medicines of quality and providing medical and hospital assistance gratuitously to those who require it;
2. The State will guarantee, through legislation and public policies, the exercise of the economic and social rights of the people with lower incomes and, in consequence, will provide its protection and assistance to vulnerable groups and sectors; and, it will combat the social vices with the appropriate measures and with the help of the international conventions and organizations.

Article 62. Right to work

Work is a right, a duty and a social function that is exercised with the protection and assistance of the State. It is an essential purpose of the State to promote decent and gainful employment. The public powers will promote the dialogue and joint participation between workers, employers and the State. In consequence:

1. The State guarantees the equality and equity of women and men in the exercise of the right to work;
2. Nobody can prevent the work of others or obligate them to work against their will;
3. Among others, basic rights of the workers [masculine] and the workers [feminine], are: the syndical freedom, social security, collective negotiation, professional training, the respect for their physical and intellectual capacity, to their privacy and to their personal dignity;
4. The organization in unions is free and democratic, it must comply with their statutes and be compatible with the principles consecrated in this Constitution and the laws;
5. Any class of discrimination in the access to employment or during the rendering of a service is prohibited, except as provided by the law for the purposes of protecting the worker [masculine] or the worker [feminine];
6. To resolve labor and peaceful conflicts the right of workers to strike and of employers to the lock-out of private companies are recognized, provided that they are exercised in accordance with the law, which shall provide for the measures to guarantee the maintenance of the public services or of those of public utility;
7. The law shall provide for, as required by the general interest, the working hours, the days of rest and vacations, the minimum salaries and their forms of payment, the participation of nationals in all work, the participation of the workers [feminine and masculine] in the profits of the corporation and, in general, all the minimum measures that are considered necessary in favor of the workers, including special regulations for informal work, at home and any other modality of human labor. The State shall facilitate the means available to the workers [feminine and masculine] to acquire the tools and instruments indispensible for their work;
8. It is the obligation of every employer to guarantee to their workers conditions of safety, sanitation, and hygiene and an adequate work environment. The State shall adopt the measures to promote the creation of instances integrated by employers and workers for the achievement of these goals;
9. Every worker has the right to a just and sufficient salary that permits them to live with dignity and to cover the basic material, social and intellectual needs of themselves and their family. The payment of equal salary for work of equal value is guaranteed, without discrimination of gender or other kind and under identical conditions of capacity, efficiency and seniority;
10. The application of the labor norms concerning the nationalization of labor, is of high interest. The law shall determine the percentage of foreigners who can provide their services to a company as salaried workers.

Article 63. Right to education

Every person has the right to an integral education, of quality, permanent, in equality of conditions and opportunities, without other limitations than those derived from their aptitudes, vocation and aspirations. In consequence:

1. Education has as its objective the integral formation of the human being throughout his life and must be oriented towards the development of his creative potential and of his ethical values. It seeks the access to knowledge, to science, to technique and to the other assets and values of culture;
2. The family is responsible for the education of its members and has the right to choose the type of education of their minor children;
3. The State guarantees gratuitous public education and declares it obligatory in the initial, basic and intermediate levels. The offer for the initial level will be defined by the law. The higher education in the public system is financed by the State, guaranteeing a distribution of resources that is proportional to the educational offer of the regions, in accordance with what is established by the law;
4. The State shall see to the gratuity and the quality of the general education, the fulfillment of its purposes and the moral, intellectual and physical formation of the learner. It has the obligation to offer the number of lecture hours to assure the achievement of the educational objectives;
5. The State recognizes the exercise of the teaching profession as fundamental for the full development of education and of the Dominican Nation and, consequently, it is its obligation to strive for the professionalism, the stability and the dignifying of the teachers [masculine and feminine];
6. The eradication of illiteracy and the education of persons with special needs and with exceptional capacities, are obligations of the State;
7. The State must see to the quality of higher education and will finance public schools and universities, in accordance with what the law establishes.It will guarantee university autonomy and academic freedom;
8. The universities will choose their own policies and will be governed by their own statutes, in accordance with the law;
9. The State will define policies to promote and encourage research, science, technology and innovation that support sustainable development, human well being, competitiveness, institutional strengthening and the preservation of the environment. It will support private companies and institutions that invest for such purposes;
10. The investment of the State in education, science and technology shall be increased and sustained, in correspondence with the levels of macroeconomic performance of the country. The law will consign the minimum amounts and the corresponding percentages for such investment. In no case can a transfer be made of the funds consigned to finance the development of these areas;
11. The means of social, public and private communication, must contribute to formation of the citizenry. The State guarantees public services of radio, television and of networks of libraries and informatics, in order to permit the universal access to information. The educational centers shall incorporate the knowledge and application of new technologies and of their innovations, in accordance with the requirements that the law establishes;
12. The State guarantees the freedom of teaching, it recognizes the private initiative in the creation of institutions and services of education and stimulates the development of science and technology, in accordance with the law;
13. In order to make citizens [feminine] and citizens [masculine] conscious of their rights and duties, in all institutions of public and private education, the instruction in social and civic formation, the teaching of the Constitution, of the fundamental rights and guarantees, of the patriotic values and of the principles of peaceful coexistence, will be obligatory.

SECTION III. OF CULTURAL AND SPORTS RIGHTS

Article 64. Right to culture

Every person has the right to participate and act freely and without censorship in the cultural life of the Nation, with full access and enjoyment of the cultural assets and services, to the scientific advancements and to the artistic and literary production. The State shall protect the moral and material interests concerning the works of authors and inventors. In consequence:

1. It shall establish policies to promote and stimulate, within the national and international levels, the diverse scientific, artistic and popular manifestations and expressions of Dominican culture and it will encourage and support the efforts of persons, institutions and communities that develop or finance cultural plans and activities;
2. It shall guarantee the freedom of expression and artistic creation, as well as the access to culture in equal opportunities and will promote the cultural diversity, the cooperation and the exchange between nations;
3. It shall recognize the value of cultural identity, individual and collective, its importance to the integral and sustainable development, to economic growth, innovation and human well being, through the support and dissemination of scientific research and cultural production. It will protect the dignity and integrity of the cultural workers;
4. The cultural patrimony of the Nation, tangible and intangible, is under the protection of the State which will guarantee its protection, enrichment, conservation, restoration and valuation. The assets of the cultural patrimony of the Nation, whether state-owned or having been acquired by the State, are inalienable and unattachable and by such ownership, imprescriptible. The patrimonial assets in private hands and the underwater patrimonial assets will be equally protected against illegal export and plundering. The law shall regulate the acquisition thereof.

Article 65. Right to sports

Every person has the right to physical education, to sports and to recreation. It corresponds to the State, in collaboration with teaching centers and the sports organizations, to promote, encourage and support the practice and dissemination of these activities. Therefore:

1. The State assumes the activities of sports and recreation as public policy concerning education and health and guarantees physical education and school sports in all the levels of the educational system, in accordance with the law;
2. The law shall provide the resources, stimulation and incentives for the promotion of sports for all [masculine and feminine], as well as the integral care of athletes, the support for high competitiveness sports, and of programs and sports activities in the country and abroad.

SECTION IV. OF THE COLLECTIVE RIGHTS AND OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Article 66. Collective and diffuse rights

The State recognizes collective and diffuse rights and interests, which are exercised within the conditions and limitations established by the law. In consequence it protects:

1. The conservation of the ecological equilibrium, of the fauna and the flora:
2. The protection of the environment;
3. The preservation of the cultural, historical, urban, artistic, architectural and archaeological patrimony.

Article 67. Protection of the environment

The prevention of pollution, and the protection and maintaining of the environment for the benefit of the present and future generations, constitute duties of the State. In consequence:

1. Every person has the right, both individually and collectively, to the sustainable use and enjoyment of the natural resources; to live in a healthy, ecologically balanced and suitable environment for the development and preservation of the various forms of life, of the landscape and of nature;
2. The introduction, development, production, possession, commercialization, transport, storage and use of chemical, biological and nuclear and agrochemical weapons that are internationally forbidden, is prohibited, as well as of nuclear residues and toxic and hazardous wastes;
3. The State shall promote, in the public and private sectors, the use of alternative and clean technologies and energy;
4. In the contracts celebrated by the State or in the permits that it grants that involve the use and exploitation of the natural resources, the obligation to preserve the ecological equilibrium, the access to technology and its transfer, as well as the reestablishment of the environment to its natural state, if it is altered as a result, will be considered as included;
5. The public powers shall prevent and control the factors of environmental degradation, will impose the legal sanctions, and the objective responsibility for damages caused to the environment and to the natural resources and will require reparation of them. Likewise, they will cooperate with other nations in the protection of the ecosystems along the maritime and terrestrial frontier.

CHAPTER II. OF THE GUARANTEES AND OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

Article 68. Guarantees of the fundamental rights

The Constitution guarantees the effectiveness of the fundamental rights, through the mechanisms of guardianship and protection, which offer to the person the possibility to obtain the satisfaction of their rights, when opposed to those subjected, obligated or encumbered by them. The fundamental rights are binding on all the public powers, who must guarantee their effectiveness in the terms established by this Constitution and by the law.

Article 69. Effective judicial guardianship and due process

Every person, in the exercise of their legitimate rights and interests, has the right to obtain effective judicial guardianship, in respect of the due process that will be conformed with through the minimum guarantees that are established as follows:

1. The right to accessible, timely and gratuitous justice;
2. The right to be heard, within a reasonable time and by a competent, independent and impartial jurisdiction, previously established by the law;
3. The right to be presumed innocent and to be treated as such, while their culpability has not been declared by means of irrevocable sentence;
4. The right to a public, oral and adversarial trial, with full equality and respect for the right of defense;
5. No person can be tried two times for the same cause;
6. No one can by obligated to declare against oneself.
7. No person shall be tried except in accordance with the laws preexistent to the act which is imputed to them, before a competent judge or a tribunal and with observance of all of the formalities appropriate to each trial;
8. Any proof obtained in violation of the law is null.
9. Any sentence can be appealed in accordance with the law. The superior tribunal cannot aggravate the sanction imposed when only the convicted person appeals the sentence;
10. The norms of due process will be applied to all types of judicial and administrative acts.

Article 70. Habeas data

Every person has the right to a judicial action to know of the existence and to access the data corresponding to them that is found in registries or public or private data banks and, if case of falsehood or discrimination, to require its suspension, rectification, updating and confidentiality, in accordance with the law. The secrecy of the sources of journalistic information cannot be affected.

Article 71. Action of habeas corpus

Every person deprived of their freedom or threatened to be, in an illegal, arbitrary or unreasonable manner, has the right to an action of habeas corpus before a competent judge or tribunal, by themselves or by anyone acting in their name, in accordance with the law, to hear and decide, in a simple, effective, rapid and summary form, the legality of the deprivation of or threat to their freedom.

Article 72. Action of amparo

Every person has the right to an action of amparo to claim before the tribunals, by themselves or by anyone acting in their name, the immediate protection of their fundamental rights, that are not protected by habeas corpus, when they as a result are violated or threatened by the action or the omission of any public authority or by individuals, in order to make effective compliance with a law or administrative act, and to guarantee collective and diffuse rights and interests. In accordance with the law, the procedure is preferential, summary, oral, public, gratuitous, and not subject to formalities.

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The acts adopted during the States of Exception that violate protected rights or that unreasonably affect suspended rights are subject to the action of amparo.

Article 73. Nullity of the acts that subvert the constitutional order

The acts issued by usurped authority, and the actions or decisions of the public powers, institutions or persons that alter or subvert the constitutional order and any decision reached by requisition of armed force, are null of plain right.

CHAPTER III. OF THE PRINCIPLES OF APPLICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND GUARANTEES

Article 74. Principles of regulation and interpretation

The interpretation and regulation of the fundamental rights and guarantees, recognized in this Constitution, shall be governed by the following principles:

1. They have no limitative character and, as such, do not exclude other rights and guarantees of equal nature;
2. Only by law, in the cases permitted by this Constitution, can the exercise of the fundamental rights and guarantees be regulated, respecting their essential content and the principle of reasonableness;
3. The treaties, pacts and conventions concerning human rights, subscribed and ratified by the Dominican State, have constitutional hierarchy and are of direct and immediate application by the tribunals and other organs of the State;
4. The public powers interpret and apply the norms concerning the fundamental rights and their guarantees, in the most favorable sense for the person that is entitled thereto and, in case of conflict between the fundamental rights, they shall seek to harmonize the assets and interests protected by this Constitution.

CHAPTER IV. OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES

Article 75. Fundamental duties

The fundamental rights recognized in this Constitution determine the existence of an order of juridical and moral responsibility, which obligates the conduct of the man and the woman in society. In consequence, the following are declared as fundamental duties of persons:

1. To abide by and comply with the Constitution and the laws, and to respect and to obey the authorities established thereby;
2. To vote, as long as being in legal capacity to do so;
3. To render the civil and military services required by the Country for its defense and conservation, in accordance with what is established by the law;
4. To provide services for development, necessary for Dominicans [masculine] and Dominicans [feminine] aged between sixteen and twenty-one years of age. These services may be provided voluntarily by those over twenty-one years of age. The law will regulate these services;
5. To abstain from conducting any act prejudicial to the stability, independence or sovereignty of the Dominican Republic;
6. To pay taxes, in accordance with the law and in proportion to their contributory capacity, in order to finance public spending and investment. It is the fundamental duty of the State to guarantee the rationality of the public expenditure and the promotion of an efficient public administration;
7. To dedicate themselves to a decent job, of their choice, in order to provide a living for themselves and their family to achieve the improvement of their personality and contribute to the well being and progress of the society;
8. To attend the educational establishments of the Nation to receive, in accordance with what is established in this Constitution, the obligatory education;
9. To cooperate with the State immediately concerning assistance and social security, according to their possibilities;
10. To act according to the principle of social solidarity, responding with humanitarian actions in situations of public calamity or that endanger the life or health of persons;
11. To develop and disseminate the Dominican culture and to protect the natural resources of the country, guaranteeing the conservation of a clean and healthy environment;
12. To see to the strengthening and quality of the democracy, the respect of the public patrimony and the transparent exercise of the public function.