What Constitution Reform Commission says on fundamental rights, freedom

The Constitution Reform Commission has proposed several recommendations to review and strengthen the constitutional provisions related to fundamental rights and freedom.

The commission made the recommendation in its part of the report published today (8 February).

The proposed reforms aim to consolidate the existing fundamental rights provisions scattered across the second and third parts of the Constitution into a unified "Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedom" that would be enforceable in courts.

This consolidation would bridge the gap between economic, social, cultural rights and civil and political rights, the report says.

The commission suggests incorporating new rights such as the rights to food, education, healthcare, housing, internet access, information, voting, and participation in governance, privacy, consumer protection, child rights, development, science, and the rights of future generations.

It also proposes to expand the limited list of prohibited grounds of discrimination, ensure protection against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances to safeguard the right to life, include the right to bail, and abolish preventive detention provisions.

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Instead of imposing separate limitations on each fundamental right, the commission suggests adopting a general limitation clause and incorporating the principles of proportionality and balancing to minimize the risk of rights violations.

For rights that require substantial resources and time for realisation (such as education, health, food, and housing), the commission proposes a commitment to progressive realisation, based on the availability of resources. This would ensure government accountability and gradual implementation of these rights.