CYIL vol. 12 (2021)

jan kuklík CYIL 12 (2021) Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. What was common to all those treaties was that the states were subject to the supervision of the League of Nations regarding their compliance with the minorities obligations. 11 Obligations relating to the protection of minorities were adopted by some other states when they were joining the League of Nations, namely Albania, Finland, and the Baltic states. In addition, and within the framework of the emerging system of the League of Nations, there were obligations resulting from the Versailles Treaty under the special German-Polish Convention on Upper Silesia from 15 May 1922, and the Convention concerning the Territory of Memel (or the Klaipeda Convention) from 8 May 1924. 12 The system of guarantees for minorities obligations within the League of Nations was created gradually in individual states. The Council of the League of Nations first decided with respect to the guarantees by the League of Nations of minorities obligations regarding Poland on 13 February 1920. The decisions regarding Austria and Bulgaria were issued 27 October 1920; and the decisions regarding Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes were issued on 29 November 1920. The scope and nature of the guarantees for the minorities obligations resulting from the respective minorities or peace treaties were generally acknowledged by the resolution of the Council of the League of Nations on the basis of the report submitted by Italian member of the Council M. Tittoni 13 on 22 October 1920 at their meeting in Brussels. 14 The interpretation of the purpose of minorities obligations by the Council of the League of Nations repeatedly included arguments contained in the letter of French PM, G. Clemenceau, to Paderewski from 24 June 1919, where Poland was notified of the final decision of the Powers on the protection of minorities within the Versailles system. The Council of the League of Nations repeatedly referred to the Polish Minority Treaty throughout the whole procedure. The respective international legal basis enabled the League of Nations to distinguish between duties common to all states having adopted minorities obligations (i.e., including those contained in the Versailles Minorities Treaty with Poland or in St. Germain Treaty with Czechoslovakia) and special obligations applicable just to particular states, such as specially mentioned protection 11 Outlined by Azcárate, P. de: League of Nations and National Minorities: An Experiment , Washington D.C., Carnegie Endowment 1945. For newer sources see, for example, Preece, J. J.: National Minorities and the European Nation-States System . Oxford UP, 1998, p. 67 and following.; Malloy, T.H.: National Minority Rights in Europe , Oxford UP 2009, pp. 29-30, Scheuermann, M.: Minderheitenschutz contra Konfliktverhütung? Die Minderheitenpolitik des Völkerbundes in den zwanziger Jahren. Materialien und Studien zur Ostmitteleuropa- Forschung, Vol. 6 , Marburg, Verlag Herder-Institut 2000, p. 38 and following, Hilpold, P.: The League of Nations and the Protection of Minorities – Rediscovering a Great Experiment, In: Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law Online , Brill 2013, pp. 87-124. Musgrave, T.D.: Self-determination and national minorities, Oxford Monographs in International Law, Oxford 2002, pp. 41–44. 12 See an outline of minorities obligations in the so-called Adachi Report for the League of Nations, June 1929. Protection of linguistic, racial or religious minorities by the League of Nations. Resolutions and Extracts from the Minutes of the Council, Resolutions and Reports adopted by the Assembly relating to the Procedure to be followed in Questions concerning the Protection of Minorities, Second edition, Series of League of Nations Publications, No. C.8.M.5., Geneva 1931, Part II, pp.157–158. 13 Ibid, Part II, pp. 13-15. See also Preece, J. J.: National minorities and the European nation-states system, Oxford UP, 1999, p. 80. 14 Protection of linguistic, racial or religious minorities by the League of Nations. Resolutions and Extracts from the Minutes of the Council, Resolutions and Reports adopted by the Assembly relating to the Procedure to be followed in Questions concerning the Protection of Minorities, c.d, Part I, pp. 7–9.

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