表达自由的法律地位

Legal Status of Freedom of Expression

现代许多民主国家的宪法,都将言论自由作为一项重要的公民权利予以保护。在一些国际和地区人权条约中,也制定了细密的表达自由之人权标准。这些规定既是对一种普世价值的认同,也为制度建设,尤其是法律制度建设指明了方向。本文依据中国现行宪法和其他法律与表达自由有关的规定,阐明了表达自由在中国现有法律体系中的地位。在人权入宪且中国政府已经签署了《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》的情况下,文章还介绍了表达自由的人权标准。

As a fundamental civil right, freedom of expression is widely protected by many countries constitutional laws. It is also recognized and protected by many human rights regulations; thus it should be employed as standards to guide our institutionalized construction, especially legal system construction. Based on the relevant provisions of freedom of expression according to the Chinese legal system, the paper tries to give a clear picture of the legal status of freedom of expression and gives some instruction about the human rights standard with regard to freedom of expression since human rights have been written into the Constitution and the Chinese government signed International Convention on Civil Rights and Political Rights.