Constitution of Colombia (1991)

The citizens constitution opening politics and protecting pluralism.

Overview

Declared by a constituent assembly elected after a student backed seventh ballot movement, the 1991 Constitution replaced the 1886 centralist charter. It recognized Colombia as a pluralistic social state under rule of law, created a Constitutional Court whose tutela remedy lets any person seek immediate rights protection, entrenched a broad rights catalogue including collective and environmental ones, and admitted indigenous territories as autonomous entities. It demobilized a constitutional assembly member from the M 19 guerrilla into politics. It transformed Colombian public law and is often called the citizens constitution for the participatory spirit of its birth.