On The Legal Protection Of Cultural Rights

With China’s economic development, legal system is being perfected. However,thereare still many deficiencies although a more comprehensive regulations on protectionof citizen’s basic rights in the Consititution and the laws have been made. The mostdeficiency is lack of protection of citizen’s culture rights. On the one hand, as one ofhuman rights, protection of cultural rights is less than that of political and economicrights in quantity,position or something else. On the other hand, with the rapidgrowth of GDP, it has become a prominent feature in currant society that the materiallife and spiritual life are extremely unbalanced. In order to enrich people’s spiritual lifeand improve the quality of life, the party and government pay more and more attentionto culture development,and put it in a higher position in the meetings of the Party. As atool of governing the country, the law should provide effective security for citizen’sculture rights to prevent the legal rights from unlawful infringrment,and sovle thesocial problem caused by lack of spiritual life.It is also helpful to realize the value ofhappiness in the law.This paper will give a systematic inquiry about legal protection of culturerights.Firstly, to define culture rights. Summarizing the connotation of cultural rightsand the significance of legal assurance from the scholars’ different definitions of theculture rights both at home and abroad, and to define its essence as a human rights.Secondly, to analyze four aspects of the problems which existed in legal protection ofcultural rights at present. Including the weakness in the constitutional protection ofcultural right, the backward of cultural legislation, the government’s intervening toomuch power, and the lack of reliable measure of right. And to find out the reasonshidden behind the five aspects of problems, including the shortage of theoreticalresearch,the influence of the traditional ideas and political factors, neglect of rightconsciousness and the diversity and complexity of culture itself. Finally, according tothe present situation about the legal protection of cultural rights, it should be protectedcitizen’s cultural rights efficiently in six aspects like determining its essence in theConsititution, formulating the cultural law comprehensively,clarifying the responsbilityof government cultural service, making the tax preferential policy, establishing thejusticiability in judical mechanism, enjoying the international rights and carrying outthe international obligations etc.