我国对国际人权条约的司法适用研究

Judicial Application of International Human Rights Treaties in China

中国宪法未对国际条约在国内法律体系中的地位做出规定,国内法院在司法实践中可否适用国际人权条约的问题一直有争议。学界主流意见认为法院不能直接适用人权条约,而近年来司法实践已经出现多起法院主动适用国际人权条约的案例。这与国际人权条约固有的内向性特征、人权条约的具体要求以及中国现行法律制度的空间不无关系。从履行人权条约义务角度看,应充分肯定适用人权条约的既有实践。同时也应看到,相关实践尚处于起步阶段,存在认识不统一、适用不规范等问题。故需从顶层设计角度为法院的实践提供规范依据,使国际人权条约发挥应有效力。

Since the Chinese Constitution does not stipulate the status of international treaties in the domestic legal system,the question of whether the domestic court can apply international human rights treaties has been obscure.China’s official statement and academic opinions generally believe that the domestic court couldn’t resort to the human rights treaties.In recent years,however,several cases have come out involving direct reference to human rights treaties by the court.The following factors contribute together to the direct reference:the inward-looking nature of international human rights treaties,specific requirements of human rights treaties,and the possible institutional room in China’s current legal system.Take the view of fulfilling international human rights obligations,the practice of judicial application should be fully affirmed.Nevertheless,it should also be noted that relevant practice is still in its infancy,there are some problems such as inconsistent understanding and non-standard application.From the perspective of top-level design,it is necessary to provide a normative basis for the practice of the court,so as to make the international human rights treaties play their due role.