PREAMBLE
Determined to consolidate the achievements of the Republic and of our national independence proclaimed respectively on 18 December 1958 and on 3 August 1960, as well as those of the National Sovereign Conference that brought together all the forces vives of the nation from 29 July to 3 November 1991;
Resolved to build a legally constituted state, a united, dignified, peaceful, industrious and prosperous nation;
Anxious to safeguard our cultural identity;
We, the Sovereign People of Niger:
- Affirm our unwavering aspiration to build a state based on law and a united and prosperous nation;
- Proclaim our allegiance to the principles of pluralistic democracy and to human rights as they are defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights of 1981, and as they are guaranteed by this Constitution;
- Affirm our allegiance to African unity and our commitment to do everything within our power to realise regional and sub-regional integration;
- Express our desire to cooperate in a spirit of friendship and equality with all peoples with a passion for peace, justice and freedom;
- Solemnly adopt the present Constitution as supreme law of the state, to which we swear loyalty, faithfulness and respect.
Article 1
The state of Niger shall be an independent and sovereign Republic. Any attack on the republican form of the state shall be considered a crime of high treason, punishable by law.
Article 3
All communities comprising the nation of Niger shall enjoy the freedom of using their own languages in respect to each other. These languages shall have equal status as national languages. The law shall determine methods of promoting and of formalising the national language. The official language shall be French.
Article 4
The Republic of Niger shall be one and indivisible, democratic and social. Its fundamental principles shall be:
- “Government of the people, by the people and for the peopleâ€;
- Separation of the state and religion.
Article 5
National sovereignty shall belong to the people. National sovereignty shall not be exercised by any fraction of the people nor by any individual. In the exercise of national sovereignty, all efforts which foster personal power, regionalism, ethnocentricity, clannishness, nepotism, feudalism, illegal aggrandisement, favouritism, corruption and the trading of influence shall be forbidden and punishable by law.
Article 6
The people shall exercise their sovereignty through elected representatives and through referendum.
Article 7
Suffrage is direct or indirect. It is universal, free, equal, and secret.
Article 8
The Republic of Niger shall be a state founded on law. Equality shall be assured to everyone under the law without distinctions as to sex or social, ethnic or religious background. All beliefs shall be respected and protected. No religion or belief shall claim political power or interfere in affairs of the state. The dispensation of any divisive propaganda of a regional, racist or ethnic character, and any display of racial, ethnic, political or religious discrimination shall be punishable by law. While within the territory of the Republic, foreigners shall benefit from the same rights and liberties as citizens of Niger, according to conditions determined by law.
Article 9
Within the framework of freedom of association recognised and guaranteed by the present Constitution, political parties, alliances of political parties, unions and other associations may be formed and may participate in activities freely as long as they act in accordance with the principles of national sovereignty and of democracy, and according to the laws of the Republic. Parties and alliances of political parties shall have the right of expression through voting. The same prerogatives shall be accorded every citizen of Niger enjoying full civil and political rights and fulfilling the conditions of eligibility as provided for by the law. Political parties of an ethnic, regional, or religious character shall be forbidden. The creation of any party with the purpose of promoting an ethnic group, a region or a religion shall be at the risk of judicial proceedings.
