Recurso de amparo

In most legal systems of the Spanish-speaking world, the writ of amparo ("writ of protection"; also called recurso de amparo, "appeal for protection", or juicio de amparo, "judgement for protection") is a remedy for the protection of constitutional rights, found in certain jurisdictions.^[1] The amparo remedy or action is an effective and inexpensive instrument for the protection of individual rights.^[2]

Amparo, generally granted by a supreme or constitutional court, serves a dual protective purpose: it protects the citizen and their basic guarantees, and protects the constitution itself by ensuring that its principles are not violated by statutes or actions of the state that undermine the basic rights enshrined therein.^{[citation needed]} It resembles, in some respects, constitutional remedies such as the tutela available in Colombia, the writ of security (Mandado de Segurança) in Brazil and the constitutional complaint (Verfassungsbeschwerde) procedure found in Germany.

In many countries, an amparo action is intended to protect all rights that are not protected specifically by the constitution or by a special law with constitutional rank, such as the right to physical liberty, which may be protected instead by habeas corpus remedies. Thus, in the same way that habeas corpus guarantees physical freedom, and the "habeas data" protects the right of maintaining the integrity of one's personal information, the amparo protects other basic rights. It may therefore be invoked by any person who believes that any of his rights, implicitly or explicitly protected by the constitution, another law (or by applicable international treaties), is being violated.