Constitution of the Republic of Chad, 2023 (Fifth Republic), Privacy of correspondence and communications; freedom of expression and communication

Chad's current constitutional framework is the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, approved by referendum on 17 December 2023 and promulgated thereafter, which succeeded the 2018 Constitution following the transitional period. Its bill of rights continues the protections of the earlier text: the Constitution guarantees the right to privacy and provides that the secrecy of correspondence and of communications is guaranteed by law, and it guarantees freedom of expression and of communication (reported as Articles 17, 28 and 49; the precise numbering in the 2023 consolidated text should be verified by a reviewer). These guarantees provide the constitutional foundation for the protection of private communications and online expression in Chad and form the backdrop to Ordinance No. 007/PCMT/2022 on cybercrime and cyberdefence and to Law No. 007/PR/2015 on the protection of personal data. The provisions are not digital-specific: they protect 'correspondence' and 'communications' in general terms, without express reference to the internet, electronic communications or personal-data processing, and there is no developed constitutional case law applying them to the digital environment. This entry is recorded in line with the Library's established practice of capturing the constitutional privacy-and-expression layer for each jurisdiction; the absence of digital-specific language is flagged for the reviewer. The practical force of these guarantees is materially qualified by Chad's documented record of internet and social-media restrictions, including a social-media shutdown that lasted around sixteen months in 2018-2019. Original language: French / Arabic. Drafting note: the consolidated official text of the 2023 Constitution and its article numbering should be verified against the Journal Officiel.

1. 1Guarantees the right to privacy and the secrecy of correspondence and communications (reported Articles 17 and 49; numbering to be verified)
2. 2Guarantees freedom of expression and of communication (reported Article 28)
3. 3Constitutional backdrop to Ordinance 007/PCMT/2022 (cybercrime) and Law 007/PR/2015 (data protection)
4. 4Not digital-specific; included per the Library's cross-jurisdiction practice (flagged for reviewer)
5. 5Practical force qualified by Chad's ~16-month social-media shutdown (2018-2019)
6. 6Consolidated 2023 text and article numbering to be verified against the Journal Officiel