The Congress shall issue a labor statute. The appropriate law shall take into account at least the following minimal fundamental principles:

Equality of opportunity for workers; minimum essential and flexible remuneration proportional to the amount and quality of work; stability in employment; irrevocability of minimum benefits established in labor regulations; options to negotiate about and reconcile uncertain and arguable rights; a situation more favorable to the worker in case of doubt in the application and interpretation of the formal bases of the law; the primacy of facts over established formalities in issues of labor relations; guarantees to social security, training, instruction, and necessary rest; special protection of women, mothers, and minor-age workers.

The State guarantees the right of suitable payment and the periodic adjustment of legal retirement benefits.

International labor agreements duly ratified are part of domestic legislation.

Statute, contracts, agreements, and labor settlements may not infringe on the freedom, human dignity, or rights of workers.

Education is an individual right and a public service that has a social function. Through education individuals seek access to knowledge, science, technology, and the other benefits and values of knowledge.

Education shall train the Colombian when it comes to respect for human rights, peace, and democracy, and in the practice of work and recreation for cultural, scientific, and technological improvement and for the protection of the environment. The state, society, and the family are responsible for education, which shall be mandatory between the ages of five and fifteen years and which shall minimally include one year of preschool instruction and nine years of basic instruction.

Education shall be free of charge in the State institutions, without prejudice to those who can afford to defray the costs.

It is the responsibility of the State to perform the final inspection and supervision of education in order to oversee its quality, for fulfilling its purposes, and for the improved moral, intellectual, and physical training of those being educated; to guarantee an adequate supply of the service, and to guarantee for minors the conditions necessary for their access to and retention in the educational system.

The nation and the territorial entities shall participate in the management, financing, and administration of state educational services within the limits provided for in the Constitution and statute.

Individuals may create educational institutions. An Act shall establish the conditions for their creation and management.

The educational community shall participate in managing educational institutions.

Education shall be in the care of individuals of recognized ethical and pedagogical fitness. An Act guarantees the professionalization and dignity of the teaching profession.

Parents have the right to select the type of education for their minor children. In state institutions, no individual may be obliged to receive religious instruction.

The members of ethnic groups shall have the right to education that respects and develops their cultural identity.

The eradication of illiteracy and the education of individuals with physical or mental limitations or with exceptional capabilities are special obligations of the State.

The rights mentioned in Articles 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37 and 40 are applicable immediately.

The quality of being Colombian enhances all members of the national community. Everyone has the duty to exalt and dignify it. The exercise of the rights and liberties recognized in this Constitution implies responsibilities.

Every individual is obliged to obey the Constitution and the laws.

The following are duties of the individual and of the citizen:

To respect others’ rights and not to abuse one’s own;
To strive in accordance with the principle of social solidarity, responding with humanitarian actions in the face of situations that endanger the life or the health of individuals;
To respect and support the democratic authorities legitimately constituted to maintain national independence and integrity;
To defend and propagate human rights as the foundation of peaceful coexistence;
To participate in the country’s political, civic, and community life;
To strive toward achieving and maintaining peace;
To collaborate toward the good functioning of the administration of justice;
To protect the country’s cultural and natural resources and to keep watch that a healthy environment is being preserved;
To contribute to the financing of the State’s expenditures and investments within the principles of justice and equity.

The following are Colombian nationals:

By birth:
Colombian natives, upon one of two conditions: that the father or the mother have been Colombian natives or nationals or that, being children of aliens, either parent was domiciled in the Republic at the time of birth; and,

The children of a Colombian father or mother born abroad who have later established their domicile in the Colombian territory or registered in a consular office of the Republic.

By adoption:
Aliens who solicit and obtain a naturalization card, in accordance with the applicable statute, which shall establish the cases in which Colombian nationality is lost through adoption;

People born in Latin America or the Caribbean who are domiciled in Colombia and who, with the government’s authorization and in accordance with the relevant statute and the principle of reciprocity, request that they be registered as Colombians in the municipality where they reside; and,

Members of the indigenous peoples straddling border areas, in application of the principle of reciprocity according to public international treaties.

No Colombian by birth may be stripped of his/her nationality. Colombian nationality is not lost by virtue of acquiring another nationality. Nationals by adoption shall not be obligated to renounce their nationality of origin or adoption.

Whoever has renounced his/her Colombian nationality may recover it in accordance with the applicable statute.

Aliens in Colombia shall enjoy the same civil rights as Colombian citizens. Nevertheless, for reasons of public order, an Act may impose special conditions on or nullify the exercise of specific civil rights by aliens.

Similarly, aliens shall enjoy, in the territory of the Republic, guarantees granted to citizens, except for the limitations established by the Constitution or statute.

Political rights are reserved to citizens, but an Act may grant to aliens resident in Colombia the right to vote in elections and in popular consultations at the municipal or district level.

The essential goals of the State are to serve the community, promote the general prosperity, and guarantee the effectiveness of the principles, rights, and duties stipulated by the Constitution; to facilitate participation by everyone in the decisions that affect them and in the economic, political, administrative, and cultural life of the nation; to defend national independence, maintain territorial integrity, and ensure peaceful coexistence and enforcement of a just order.

The authorities of the Republic are established in order to protect all individuals residing in Colombia, in their life, honour, property, beliefs, and other rights and freedoms, and in order to ensure the fulfilment of the social duties of the State and individuals.

The Ministers and directors of administrative departments are the heads of public administration within their respective remit. Under the direction of the President of the Republic, it is their responsibility to formulate policies pertaining to their portfolio, direct the administrative operations, and execute the relevant statutes.

The ministers, in relation with the Congress, are spokesmen of the government, present government bills to the Houses, respond to the requests that the Houses make to them, and take part in debates directly or through deputy ministers.

The ministers and directors of administrative departments shall present to the Congress, within the first 15 days of each legislative term, a report on the state of affairs assigned to their ministry or administrative department and on the reforms that they consider appropriate.

The Houses may request the assistance of the ministers, the permanent committees, the deputy ministers, directors of administrative departments, the manager of the Bank of the Republic, the presidents, directors, or managers of the decentralized entities at the national level, and that of other functionaries of the executive branch of government.

Se garantiza el derecho de toda persona para acceder a la administración de justicia. La ley indicará en qué casos podrá hacerlo sin la representación de abogado.