當我們談及香港的競爭優勢時，法治總是最先被提及的因素之一。要保持香港的長期繁榮和穩定，除了要有健全的法律機構、不受任何干擾的檢察權和獨立的司法機構外，我們還需要公眾遵守法律，增強對法治概念的認可和應用。不過，本地智庫智經研究中心在2019年12月進行的一項名為「市民對香港法治狀況意見調查」的研究表明，近年來香港社會缺乏法治教育，並呼籲政府有必要加強市民的法治教育。

今期節目邀請到香港政策研究所法治研究中心主任陳澤銘律師作為節目嘉賓，一起來探討有關香港法治的意義和重要性。

主持︰Since the enactment of National Security Law, many inimical Western media spread a deleterious narrative in that, Hong Kong National Security Law pose a threat to HK's high degree of autonomy. They have totally disregarded of its immediate positive effect on our society and our strong independent judiciary. In order to push back this kind of malign rhetoric, what can or should legal practitioners do and how can we defend the rule of law in HK?

自從國安法頒布以後，許多來自西方的敵對媒體企圖散布一些惡意言論，指香港國安法對香港的高度自治構成了極大的威脅。他們完全不理會國安法對我們的社會和我們強大而獨立的司法體系帶來的積極影響，為了回擊這種惡毒的言論，法律工作者應該做些什麼，以及我們該如何捍衛香港的法治？

嘉賓︰This is a very good question. Like I said earlier, NSL is a criminal piece of legislation promulgated by national Central Government applicable in HK, and this is within the Basic Law framework, so this is our system.

這是個非常好的問題。正如我之前所說，國安法是一項由國家中央政府頒布的適用於香港的刑事立法，這存在於基本法的框架之內，所以這是屬於我們自己的制度。

NSL, very specifically under Article 4 and 5 of the NSL, specifically, say that the existing human rights protection are enshrined under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. All the existing rights in HK are actually expressly protected under the NSL. So when the accused is arrested by HK police, accusing him or her of breaching NSL, for example, treason, then the presiding judge will actually have to look at Article 4 and 5, whether the acts are actually in contravention of human rights. So the existing human rights in HK are not compromised.

根據國安法的第四條和第五條，具體地說，香港現有的人權保護（條例）是根據《公民權利和政治權利國際公約》規定的。香港（公民）所擁有的所有權利都受到國安法的明文保護，所以當（某些被告）被香港警察逮捕，指控他們違反國安法的時候，比如說，叛國罪，那麼主審法官實際上要考慮（國安法的）第四條和第五條，（被告）是否構成犯罪，這些行為是否真的違反了人權，所以香港（市民）現有的人權是不會受到損害的。

Finally, I want to add one more point. NSL is actually very common in almost all countries. They have some sort of national security legislation. HK is a common law jurisdiction, so let me quote some common law countries as a comparison.

最後我想再補充一點，國家安全法實際上在所有國家都普遍存在，他們都有相關的國家安全立法，香港是普通法的司法管轄區域，因此讓我引用一些使用普通法的國家作為比較。

In the US, there is a Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act, and a whole host of other legislations. I actually encountered more than 20 different pieces of legislation to do with the national security. In the UK, similar, they have Terrorism Act. In Canada, Australia and New Zealand, they all have some sort of National Security Law about treason. In Singapore, Malaysia, they have Internal Security Act, very similar to what we're doing in HK.

在美國有《愛國者法案》、《國土安全法案》，以及一大堆其他的相關立法。事實上，我曾接觸過二十多條與國家安全有關的不同立法，在英國，他們有《反恐法案》；在加拿大、澳洲和新西蘭，他們有一些關於叛國罪的國安法；在新加坡和馬來西亞，他們有《內部安全法令》，與我們在香港的做法非常相似。

Let me remind everyone, in some of the jurisdictions, I mentioned earlier, treason is actually can be punished by capital punishment, punished by death. It's a very serious crime in all these common law countries for treason. In HK, National Security Law also prohibits treason, subversion of Central Government, terrorism and collusion of foreign forces. These are very common types of offences among common law jurisdiction. So there's nothing new in that sense what we're doing in HK.

我想提醒大家的是，在我剛才提到的一些司法管轄區，叛國罪是可以被判處死刑的，在這些擁有普通法的國家，叛國罪是非常嚴重的罪行。在香港，國安法也禁止叛國罪、顛覆國家政權罪、恐怖主義和勾結外國勢力，這些都是非常常見的犯罪類型，在普通法體系的國家中非常普遍，所以從這個意義上來講，我們在香港做的事情並不是空穴來風。

◆ 點新聞英文節目《EyE on U 容來熙往》，由立法會議員容海恩及梁熙主持，邀請香港社會各界包括政界、商界及專業人士，分享及討論社會熱話。