Topical Resources

Constitution-Making Web Links

Below are links by topical categories to resources primarily in English providing information on constitution-making processes and the role of public participation.

• General Resources
• National Constitutional Assemblies
• Non-Governmental Organizations and Constitutional Studies
• Selected Documents and Decisions

These links complement the following Institute Special Reports:
(1) Democratic Constitution Making, and (2) Iraq's Constitutional Process: Shaping a Vision for the Country's Future. These links also support the work of the Institute's Rule of Law Program and its project on Constitution-Making, Peacebuilding, and National Reconciliation. Related Congressional testimony from Program Director Neil Kritz looks at Constitution-Making Process: Lessons for Iraq.

General Resources

The sites below collect links to the texts of national constitutions as well as related documents, such as charters, amendments and analysis.

• Constitution Finder
  From the T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond, Virginia.
• Constitutions of the Americas
  Part of the Political Database of the Americas, this web site also contains comparative analyses and a bibliography.
• Constitutions, treaties and official declarations around the world
  From Keele University, part of Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources.
• ICL-International Constitutional Law
  The web site for International Constitutional Law at the University of Bern.
• National Constitutions
  From the Constitution Society, part of the section on Founding Documents.

National Constitutional Assemblies

Rwanda

• Legal and Constitutional Commission: Rwanda Republic
  In French, English and Kinyarwanda, the web site describes the mission and objectives of the commission, with news, public feedback, and links to an action plan and a 2003 draft of the Rwanda constitution.

South Africa

• Constitutional Assembly Database
  "A searchable database of submissions, reports and law during the government transition. The material on the database covers the period 1992 to end 1994."
  

Non-Governmental Organizations and Constitutional Studies

• Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
  The CDD web site highlights the work of the Centre through its publications, conferences, resources and projects, including Promoting Constitutionalism in Africa. Related papers are Constitution Making in Nigeria: Lessons for Making a People's Constitution and Constitutional Reform in Nigeria: Perspectives from Civil Society, produced by The Citizen's Forum for Constitutional Reform (CFCR), a "coalition of civil society organisations committed to a process-led and participatory approach to constitutional reform in Nigeria," and part of the CDD.
• Citizens' Constitutional Forum (CCF)
  "CCF is a non-partisan civil society organisation that has been working since 1992 to secure a democratic constitution and to strengthen institutions of accountability, human rights and multiculturalism in Fiji." Its web site has publications, the text of Fiji constitutions, and related links.
• Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
  The web site for CHRI has a section on Constitutionalism featuring material on best practices, a questionnaire, survey and additional related publications.
• Cunliffe Centre for the Study of Constitutionalism and National Identity, University of Sussex
  The web site for the Centre includes publications, information on seminars and conferences, and describes the aims and objectives of the Centre.

Selected Documents and Decisions

• Action Plan of the Legal and Constitutional Commission (Rwanda)
  Presented by the Commission on April 24, 2002, the document, "Towards a Constitution for Rwanda, Action Plan 2002-2003," is available as a PDF file, which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.
• African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
  Full text of the document, adopted June 27, 1981, OAU (Organization of African Unity) Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), and entered into force October 21, 1986. Posted on the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library web server.
• Asian Human Rights Charter
  Full text of the 1998 document, with a section on The Right to Democracy, Article 5.2, which describes a right to political participation. Posted on the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) web site.
• Bringing Equality Home: Implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): Constitutions
  One chapter of an online publication from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
• Canada Supreme Court: Reference re Secession of Quebec
  Decision of the Supreme Court of Canada made available online by LexUM, "a group of experts working at the legal information-processing laboratory of the Public Law Research Center at the University of Montreal."
• Communication No. 205/1986 Marshall v Canada
  From the Treaty Bodies Database on the web site of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Committee on Marshall v Canada. (CCPR/C/43/D/205/1986).
• The Constitution Act, 1982 (Canada)
  Posted on the Canadian Constitutional Documents web site, this document contains the text of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Part I, 1-34).
• Constitution of the United States
  From the School of Law at Emory University, the full text of the U.S. Constitution, with links to specific articles, including Article 5, describing the process for amendment. Also includes a search function, links to amendments never ratified and other U.S. founding documents.
• General Comment on Article 25 of the ICCPR
  From the Treaty Bodies Database on the web site of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), a statement by the United Nations Human Rights Committee on "the right to participate in public affairs, voting rights and the right of equal access to public service (Art. 25)" of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
  From the web site of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the full text of the document, "adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 2200A (XXI) of 16 December 1966, entry into force 23 March 1976, in accordance with Article 49."
• Inter-American Democratic Charter
  Full text of the document adopted by the OAS General Assembly at its special session held in Lima, Peru, on September 11, 2001. Posted on the web site of the Organization of American States (OAS).
• Owning the process: public participation in peacemaking
  This issue (no. 13) of Accord, published by Conciliation Resources and funded in part by a grant from the Institute, includes material on peace processes in South Africa, Guatemala and Mali, and has a section on South Africa's multi-party constitutional negotiation process.
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights Home Page
  From the web site of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the declaration, "adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948," is available in hundreds of languages and several file formats.
• Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action
  From the web site of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the full text of the document "adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993."

Updated: April 9, 2007

*PDF files require Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ to view.