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Constitutions Constitutions Constitutions Constitutions Constitutions WORLD Constitutional Rights DatabaseThe WORLD Policy Analysis Center aims to create quantitatively comparable measures for all countries’ approaches to ensuring equality and non-discrimination for different groups. An analysis of constitutional rights around the globe is foundational to this effort.Why Constitutions?Governments establish human rights through national and sub-national legislation, targeted programs and policies, and national constitutions. Among these tools, constitutions fulfill several unique and important functions:

Constitutions are fundamental building blocks of a nation’s government and laws. As such, they can play an important role in establishing values and rights.

Constitutions are particularly difficult to repeal or amend. Their commitments remain relatively stable and permanent even as different political parties assume power.

Constitutions are typically the highest laws of a country, which means that they can be used to shape formal legislation and policies.

Constitutions often contain mechanisms for the legal enforcement of citizens’ rights. In countries around the world, such provisions have been used successfully to combat discrimination and hold governments accountable to their commitments.

Constitutions often outline broad rights that require complementary legislation or policies to be fully effective. For example, legislation that guarantees free secondary school helps realize the constitutional right to education. Nevertheless, constitutions’ critical role in formally establishing countries’ fundamental values makes them an important unit of analysis on their own.

Approach to Rights AnalysisWORLD’s analysis was designed with two goals in mind:

to evaluate the extent to which constitutions guarantee equal rights across a wide range of human domains; and

to understand the evolution of economic, social, and equal rights over time.

Beyond their normative importance, equal rights are embedded within numerous international agreements, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. Additionally, within the past few decades, the global community has aimed to strengthen the individual rights of members of historically marginalized groups through a series of widely ratified treaties specifically focused on these populations.Constitutional Rights CodedFor each right mentioned in a constitution we captured the specific right protected, the level of protection, the social group to which it applies, and the relevant article number(s). Based on 37 international conventions and on fundamental equity principles, a framework of relevant rights was developed in the following categories:

Equality and non-discrimination (equality before the law, prohibition of discrimination, formal equality or equality of opportunities, enjoyment of rights)

Education (free, compulsory; primary through university)

Health (public health, preventive health services, medical care)

Family (entering and exiting marriage, same-sex marriage, equal rights within marriage)

Labor (right to organize, free association, equal pay, non-discrimination, decent work)

Civil and political rights (movement, religion, expression, association, political participation)

Income security (unemployment, illness or injury, parental, old age, disability, families)

Disability (equal rights, accessibility, educational support, reasonable accommodation in employment, right to liberty)

Religion (right to believe and not believe, separation of religion and state, protection of rights of others)

Social GroupsFor each of these areas, WORLD has performed a comprehensive analysis of constitutional protections of rights and non-discrimination across 12 social groups:

Age

Citizenship

Sex/Gender

Race/Ethnicity

Religion

Language

Social Position

National Origin

Sexual Orientation

Gender Identity

Physical Disability

Intellectual Disability or Mental Health Condition

Categorizing Levels of ProtectionIn order to evaluate the level of protection afforded under constitutions we recorded the quality of the language used to describe rights. Guaranteed RightsConstitutional articles that unambiguously protected a right or phrased its implementation as a duty or obligation of the state were coded as guaranteed rights. We also coded a guarantee when constitutions declared violations of particular rights to be prohibited or illegal.Aspirational ProtectionsRights phrased in non-authoritative language or described as state objectives were categorized as aspirational protections. Examples of this occurred when the enforcement of a right was limited by the state’s resources or the constitution specified that the right could not be claimed in court. If the constitution only granted a right in its preamble, and did not specify that the preamble was an integral part of the constitution, we also coded protection as aspirational, since preambles are typically non-justiciable.Progressive RealizationWe separately captured constitutional provisions that explicitly described a right as subject to progressive realization or that stated that a right would be realized within a certain time period.Restrictions or Denials of RightsWe also reviewed constitutions for any clauses that explicitly restricted or denied rights to a particular group or groups. These included, for example, denials of the rights of same-sex couples to marry, statements restricting rights on the basis of citizenship, and any disqualifications for elected office.Rights with ExceptionsWhen a constitution granted a right, but allowed for possible restrictions to that right on the basis of an individual’s membership in some identifiable group in specific circumstances, we categorized the relevant provisions as rights with exceptions.Affirmative ProtectionsFinally, we captured cases in which constitutions permitted, promoted, or mandated positive measures to advance equality in general or in family, economic, social, or political life. Identifying Constitutional-level DocumentsThe following procedure was used to identify both the main constitutional texts and all amendments as of May 2017:

Constitutions were located in their original versions from official government sources when these were available.

When government-provided versions were unavailable, Constitution Finder, a database of sources for constitutions maintained by the University of Richmond, was used to identify other potential sources.

Hein Online’s World Constitutions Illustrated and Constitutions of the Countries of the World Online 2007 (Flanz and Blaustein 1971-present, Oxford University Press) were used to locate any missing current or past constitutions or incomplete constitutions (i.e., amendments, missing sections, etc.), and also to verify that the most updated versions were located.

If any constitution explicitly designated other sources of law as having constitutional status, these additional laws were identified and coded as well. This was the only case in which laws that were not included directly in the constitutional text were coded in this phase of the project. For those countries with federal systems, only federal constitutions were considered and not those of the provincial, state, or local jurisdictions. Given the scope of the project, we were unable to include case law relevant to the constitutional rights identified in each of the UN member countries. Case law can be vast, frequently changing, and, for some countries, not regularly translated into UN languages. This is an important limitation because case law can play an important role in clarifying the extent to which a right is granted and to whom. Although constitutional protections are more constant than case law, this database should not be interpreted as a full representation of the protections and restrictions on rights in any specific country but rather only as a reflection of what is explicitly written in constitutions.While the vast majority of countries have codified written constitutions, there are a few countries that either have no written codified constitution or that have a series of laws that function similarly to a constitution, rather than a single text (these include the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel). In these cases, we identified those documents or laws that are considered to be constitutional either by the country itself or by the legal community.For a more complete view on how constitutions can help support and protect equal rights, you can download a free copy of our 2020 book Advancing Equality: How Constitutional Rights Can Make a Difference Worldwide at AdvanceEquality.org.For more information about WORLD’s approach to building globally comparative databases on policies affecting human health, development, well-being, and equity, please visit our Methodology page.