6.
ARTICLE 19 and The Hong Kong Journalists Association
CHINA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
6.1
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CHINA
Freedom of expression and other "Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens" in China are set out in Chapter Two of the 1982 Constitution. Article 35 states that
Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration.
The "enjoyment" of such individual rights and freedoms, however, is limited by the collective or social duties each and every citizen must perform under the constitution and law.1 Under Article 51, the exercise by citizens of their rights and freedoms "may not infringe upon the interests of the state, of society and of the collective". Nor must citizens, as a matter of fundamental duty under Article 54, "commit acts detrimental to the security, honour and interests of the motherland".
The preamble to the constitution includes the "Four Basic Principles" guiding the People's Republic, "keeping to the socialist road, upholding the people's democratic dictatorship, insisting on the leadership of
of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought": any violation of these principles as a result of the exercise of constitutional rights and freedoms would be unconstitutional and unlawful.2 Today, it is certainly questionable whether the first and last of these four principles carry any substance alongside the march of China's economic reforms.
China's constitution lays down the rights and duties of citizens in very broad terms, leaving their interpretation and amplification to a system of ordinary law. Ordinary law consists of codes and statutes enacted by the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, or by its Standing Committee, as well as administrative rules and regulations made by the State Council and various provincial bodies. As far as civil liberties are concerned, ordinary laws have a tendency to limit constitutional rights and freedoms or even curtail them altogether.3
1 Albert H Y Chen, "Human Rights in China", in Raymond Wacks (ed.), Human Rights in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1992), at 190. The 1982 Constitution of the PRC is the fourth and latest constitution to be adopted since the People's Republic came into being in 1949.
Id.
Id. at 191. Chen notes that some recent amendments to ordinary law have aimed to strengthen certain constitutional rights, notably in the area of arrest and detention. Since the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), during which there were "institutionalised and systematic violations of human rights" against people branded as "class enemies", China's legal system has itself been undergoing reform, albeit slow and limited. Slogans such as "rule the country by law" seek to emphasize a greater legalism, Chen argues. For indiscriminate violations of this kind, the human rights situation in China has improved.
66
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.