On Establishment Of Protection System Of The Right To Know In China

The right to know means the public (which includes native citizen and foreigner staying in our country) possesses the right to obtain and know the information that the government controlled. The right to know is not only the natural meaning of popular sovereignty principle, but also the main tool, which maintains a dynamic balance of right and power in modern society .The right to know, as a basic human rights, is confirmed by international human rights law and by the constitution and law in many countries. Nevertheless, Chinese constitution has not clearly stipulated the right to know, law and statutes also lacks concrete protection for it. As a result, the right to know falls into predicament at present in our country. To establish protection system of the right to know is the inevitable requirement to guarantee human rights, the fundamental path to perfecting democratic politics, the important measure to suppress corruption, and the premise for people to trust government. At the same time, we can see the conditions which are favorable for establishing protection system of the right to know in our country now, there are as follows: the public right consciousness has raised continuously; the human rights business has been made a notable achievement; the lever of public education has greatly listed; and official practice of opening information has gained much improvement. Therefore, it is not only necessary but also possible for us to establish our protection system of the right to know. In order to establish the protection system of the right to know, we should firstly moderate the relations between the right to know and public interest, the relations between the right to know and personal privacy, and the relations between the right to know and busyness secret. In addition, we should establish a series of basic legal principles of protection. Though confirmed by constitution will provide the highest legal ground; the right to know which transforms from "due right"into "trust right"would not be completed without the concrete protection and remedy which general law provided.