- 學位論文
論兒童陳述意見之權利：以兒童權利公約為核心
Comment on the Right of the Child to be Heard: On the Basis of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
摘要
人權保障為現代法治國家所不容忽視的重要課題，人權具有普世之價值，因此，談論到人權保障不能自外於國際人權的標準。國際人權體系，歷經不同的階段，由第一代公民與政治性權利，發展為經濟、社會性質權利，最終著重在同樣是人類，但是卻具有不同性質需要特別加以保護的類群性權利。本文所著重者，即為第三代的特殊性質人權，具體而言，本文最終的核心關懷為兒童權利的保障。 兒童也是人，理應享有基本人權的保障，但是，兒童未發展完全，不論是生理或者是心理都未臻成熟，如果賦予與成人完全相同的權利，可能反而使兒童負擔過重的責任，不利於兒童權利之維護，此為談論到兒童權利保護所無法迴避的兩難困境。即使如此，兒童身為人類社群中的重要組成，不能因此而放棄對於兒童的權利保障。對於兒童權利保障最完善的國際性法律文件即為兒童權利公約（Convention on the Rights of the Child），公約建構了完善的兒童權利譜系，並且揭櫫「兒童為權利之主體」的核心思想，此也為兒童權利公約與其他人權公約最大不同的特色。 本文除了贊同公約將兒童視為權利主體的觀點之外，本文更強調公約第 12條所規範的「兒童陳述意見之權利」（The right of the child to be heard)。兒童陳述意見之權利為公約所規範的權利當中，最能彰顯兒童身為權利主體之權利。兒童權利公約第 12 條分為兩項規範，第 1 項保障兒童對於影響其權益之事項有陳述意見的權利，此為實體性權利，基於該項規定，兒童因此擁有請求權，得主動要求陳述意見以參與影響其權益之相關事項；相對的，公約第 12 條第 2 項則為程序性規範，要求締約國必須在內國司法或行政程序當中，賦予兒童有陳述意見之機會，使兒童能夠藉由陳述意見以影響相關決策，保障其自身的實體利益。 兒童陳述意見之權利為兒童身為權利主體所不可或缺之重要權利，因此，本文強調應該適用兒童陳述意見之權利，以真正落實兒童權利保障。比起通說談論到兒童權利保障，僅是一味的強調兒童最佳利益保障，但卻往往陷於無客觀標準、眾說紛紜，且恣意解釋之泥淖之中，對於兒童權利保障之落實往往鮮少助益。基於此，本文將援引兒童權利公約第 12 號一般性意見，詳盡說明兒童陳述意見之權利，並且舉出具體適用的實例，作為實踐兒童陳述意見之權利的參考。最後，本文將回歸內國法律，探討兒童陳述意見之權利在我國可能的落實方式，並舉出可能的法源，檢視內國的司法及行政程序中有無對於兒童陳述意見權利之保障，亦提出改進的方向，以供兒童權利保障之未來政策參酌。
並列摘要
The protection of human rights is a significant issue of the modern country. When it comes to human rights, we cannot overlook the standards of the international human rights because of the universal value of it. The systems of the international human rights change from time to time. First of all, the first generation of the international human rights is the civil and political rights, and then developed to the economic and social rights. Ultimately the emphasis of the international human rights become the group and collective rights, which means some people have the special mutual nature and in need of particular protection. This thesis will focus on the third generation of human rights, to be more precisely, the protection of the children's rights. Children are human beings so that children should be entitled to the protection of fundamental human rights. Since children are not fully developed, children may be hurt when they own the same rights as adults and exercise their rights. This is the dilemma of the rights of the children. Nevertheless, we could not give up the protection of children’s rights because of children are the most important component of the human society. There are many international legal document consist of the rights of the children, and the most comprehensive one is the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child), which constitutes the perfect pedigree of the children’s rights as well as enshrines the concept that "Children are the subjects of rights ".Compared with other conventions, the concept of "Children are the subjects of rights " is also the most different characteristics of the CRC. This thesis will not only approve the concept that "Children are the subjects of rights ", but stress the concept of "the right of the child to be heard", which stipulated in the article 12 of the CRC. Among all children’s rights, the right of the child to be heard can most demonstrates the concept of "Children are the subjects of rights." The paragraph 1 of the article 12 prescribes that child who is capable of forming his or her own views has the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child. This paragraph thus entitle children the substantive rights to express their views actively in order to protect their other rights. In the other hand, the second paragraph of the article 12 is the procedural rights which sets forth that child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child. For children, the right of the child to be heard is the indispensable right because it represent that children are the subjects of rights. Therefore, this thesis emphasis that we should apply the rights of the child to be heard with a view of implementing the protection of children’s rights. In comparison with the right of the child to be heard, there is no objective criteria of the best interest of the child principle. And this leads to the best interest of the child principle can seldom achieve the goal of children rights’ protection. Consequently, this thesis will quote the General Comment No. 12 of the CRC and explain the right precisely. Finally, this thesis will examine whether the right of the child to be heard is implemented in our country and suggest the improvement to fulfill the right.