This document compiles the constitutional provisions from Iraq, Rwanda, Nepal, South Africa, Kenya, Afghanistan, and Uganda that address the rights of women.

This paper provides sample provisions on gender issues often addressed in constitutions. These include: economic empowerment, women’s health care, and gender equality in political representation and governance. 

This guidance note provides an overview of some of the key considerations which UN Women country offices should keep in mind when providing support for the creation or reform of national constitutions. It addresses questions of process, such as the participation of women in constitution-making; of governance structures, such the impact of constitutional choices about electoral systems and decentralized power; and of substantive content, such as gender equality and non-discrimination guarantees and the constitutional interaction between gender equality and religious or customary laws.

This report examines the implications of territorially concentrated divided communities (minorities or otherwise) on constitution making through three inquiries: &nbsp(1) what factors will inform the mobilization of territorially-based interests (2) how might these interests impact the design of the constitution making process and (3) how might they impact the content of the constitution itself. &nbspThe report is extremely useful in analyzing the politics and dynamics of constitutional negotiation in territorially-based divided societies.

This paper discusses the nature of different minorities that may be politically important, and then considers different approaches to dealing with the constitutional recognition of minorities, the protection of their basic human rights and the entrenchment of specific minority rights, as well as the participation of minorities in government.

This paper is aimed at assisting persons engaged in nation-building, particularly in post-conflict states. Specifically it is meant to provide insight and examples into the ways and means of recognizing and accommodating multiple national groups living in a specific country. The paper highlights the ways in which ethnic diversity may present itself and the possibility of various groups not being geographically concentrated.

This paper discusses the role of constitutions and opportunities provided by constitution-drafting in democratic consolidation with respect to the protection of religious minorities. The author takes the position that the constitution-drafting process is a rare opportunity for a detailed discussion between the state and its people, which can give rise to important give-and-takes that could result in both short-term conflict resolution and long-term stability of state institutions.

This paper appears as chapter 3 of International IDEA’s publication A Practical Guide to Constitution Building. This paper focuses on the development of a human rights culture, defined as a culture in which society values human rights to the extent that most, if not all, official decisions aim to maximize these rights. The paper discusses how this culture is shaped by the constitution-building stage, by type of process used to frame the constitution, and the nature or type of the constitution. Next, the paper addresses building a human rights culture in a conflict affected state.

This primer discusses the origin and spread of socio-economic rights, articulates reasons for and against including them in a constitution and considers the design options and contextual factors that constitution-makers must address when dealing with this issue. It seeks to guide constitution-makers through a range of constitutional choices, including: (1) Whether socio-economic rights should be incorporated into a constitution? (2) What form their incorporation should take, i.e. as justiciable rights or directive provisions?

This OHCHR handbook provides a basic introduction to international human rights. It is intended to assist those working outside the human rights secretariat in understanding the concept of human rights, the obligations of the OHCHR to promote and protect human rights, and how the UN discharges this obligation. The handbook provides overviews of international human rights standards and their development, UN organs, human rights mechanisms, UN strategies and action to promote human rigths, and OHCHR and partner activities.