The Spirian Covenant on Civil Guarantees is a fundamental charter passed by the Spirian Parliament in 1974 that attempted to codify established constitutionally entrenched civil rights and civil liberties. In response to international movements to guarantee in writing fundamental human rights, the authors of the Covenant broke with the unwritten tradition of parliamentarianism and adopted a written code. The following is the complete text of the covenant.

Spirian Covenant on Civil Guarantees

Preamble

The Spirian Parliament, affirming that the Spirian Nation is founded upon principles that recognize the inherent dignity, equality and inalienable rights of all citizens and that those rights are the foundation of freedom, justice and peace, and being desirous of enshrining these principles and the human rights and fundamental freedoms derived from them, in a Covenant on Civil Guarantees which shall reflect the respect of the parliament for its constitutional authority and which shall ensure the protection of these rights and freedoms in Spirius:

Therefore the parliament, enacts as follows:

Guarantee 1

All Spirians are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Guarantee 2

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Guarantee 3

Everyone has the right to recognition as a person before the law. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Bill of Guarantees and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Guarantee 4

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the justice system for acts violating the fundamental rights granted them by the constitution or by law.

Guarantee 5

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Guarantee 6

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of their rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against them.

Guarantee 7

Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which they have had all the guarantees necessary for their defence.

Guarantee 8

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under the law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Guarantee 9

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Guarantee 10

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Guarantee 11

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon their honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Guarantee 12

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of Spirius as well as the right to leave and return.

Guarantee 13

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy, in Spirus, asylum from persecution. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of this Covenant.

Guarantee 14

Persons of full age, without any limitation, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending partners.

Guarantee 15

Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of their property.

Guarantee 16

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change their religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Guarantee 17

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Guarantee 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Guarantee 19

Everyone has the right to take part in the Government of Spirius, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Guarantee 20

Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in Spirius.

Guarantee 21

The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of the parliament; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures not less than once every five years.

Guarantee 22

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and of their family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control.

Guarantee 23

Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

Guarantee 24

Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of Spirius, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which they are the author.

Guarantee 25

In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.