Grands colloques - Les Cours constitutionnelles, garantie de la qualité démocratique des sociétés ? - 59

LES COURS CONSTITUTIONNELLES

the Constitution, immediately after the provisions relating to the basic
structure of the Republic, is Part II, encompassing Articles 6 to 35, which
constitute a comprehensive charter of rights and liberties, traditionally
recognized, globally, as fundamental. This is modelled on the European
Convention on Human Rights. The Convention itself was incorporated
into the Cyprus legal order in 1962 and under Article 169.3 has superior
force to any municipal laws. It must be noted, however, that as recognized
by the case law of the Supreme Court, Part II of the Constitution is more
detailed and gives wider protection in this area of the Law. Furthermore,
the Constitution is, of course, superior to the said ratifying law and hence
to the European Convention. However, the decisions of the European
Court of Human Rights constitute a useful source of guidance for the
interpretation of the said constitutional provisions.
Of primary importance, in Part II of the Constitution, justifying its
ranking as the first provision in the charter, is "the right to life and corporal
integrity", Article 7. Its intrinsic value constitutes a condition sine qua non
for the existence and enjoyment of all the other fundamental rights and
liberties. Under the said Article, the State is obliged to abstain from any
act which illegally or unjustifiably leads to the deprivation of human life.
This obligation was extended further by the gradual abolition of capital
punishment, for all offences, in times of peace.
Thereafter, in logical sequence, follow the rights for the protection of
human dignity in its various forms. First is the provision in Article 8,
that "no person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading
punishment or treatment". Of equal importance are the rights in Article 10,
to the effect that "no person shall be held in slavery or servitude» or «shall
be required to perform forced or compulsory labour". These rights guarantee some of the most fundamental values of a democratic society. Their
violation has been connected with some of the most abominable crimes,
including trafficking in persons, which is on the rise in modern times.
Hence, no derogations may be made where these rights are concerned. No
less important and certainly of the same calibre are the provisions guarantying the protection of the rights to liberty and security, Article 11, of
freedom of movement, Articles 13 and 14, to respect of private and family
life, Article 15, of the inviolability of one's dwelling, Article 16, and of
correspondence and communications, Article 17.
The development of societies, in general, brought with it demands for
securing better living and working conditions for the benefit of their people
and also of securing the right to be able to express these demands freely.
Provisions which are recognized as guarantying socioeconomic rights and
liberties also find their place in Part II. They have taken cognizance of the
above said demands, providing for the protection of freedom of thought,

Grands colloques - Les Cours constitutionnelles, garantie de la qualité démocratique des sociétés ?

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