国际法中的语言权利及其演变

On the Linguistic Rights in the International Laws and its Evolvement

国际联盟时期,语言权利作为少数民族的一项权利被确立下来;二战后,个人的语言自由作为"平等与非歧视原则"的一部分被写入《联合国宪章》和《世界人权宣言》;上世纪60年代以来,语言权利的研究和保护实践被归于"少数人权利"问题之列。现有的世界性法律文书对语言权利,尤其是对其主体缺乏明确的界定。语言权利的集体性已成为学术共识。视语言为人类共同财富的全球伦理观念也在逐步形成。国际法对语言多样性的保护面临着从个人权利主体向多元主体的过渡。

The linguistic right as one category of the human rights has been recognized since the era of the League of Nations. After the World War II , individual linguistic freedom was included in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as part of ＂the principle of equal rights and non-discrimination＂. Since the last 1960s, it has been classified as part of Minority＇ s rights. The existing international laws have not yet been clear about the stakeholders of such rights; nevertheless the notion of collective linguistic right has become public knowledge in academic society and regarded as common asset of human being as one of the advancing global ethics. The protection of linguistic diversity by international laws is facing a transition of the subjects from individuals to multiple ones, especially the collective rights -holders.