CYIL vol. 12 (2021)

CYIL 12 (2021) THE MECHANISM OF THE PROTECTION OF RACIAL, NATIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS… case in the form of a memorandum drafted by the Secretariat General appended with the observation of the government of a state concerned. 45 The next shift in the procedure regarding consideration of petitions was made in 1925, when Brazilian diplomat A. de Mello-Franco drafted a report which was discussed at the Sixth Committee of the League of Nations. 46 The report covered the real practice and proposed its more precise regulation. The role of the Minorities Committees of Three was emphasized, which were designated in the report as an institutional part of the decision- making procedure relation to minorities issues. 47 However, there was a background concern identifiable in relation to the regulation and its potential abuse regarding German minorities after the planned membership of Germany in the League of Nations. 48 On 10 June 1925, the Council of the League of Nations adopted a rule within the framework of its resolution that the representative of a state that might be prejudiced regarding the petition to be considered may not be member of the committee, particularly because it was a neighbouring state or a state whose population as to its ethnicity formed a majority identical with the minority submitting the petition. The same disqualification would have applied to the President of the Council (referring to the chairmanship by a Yugoslav representative), and also the state against which the petition was directed would have been excluded from consideration irrespective of whether such state was member of the Council. 49 The committee was trying to suggest the resolution of the contentious issue, or it considered it on the merits and was able to state that a minorities obligation had been violated. Such decision was further referred to all Member States of the Council. The Council then considered the outcomes of the Committee of Three and could decide on merits and proceed to the imposition of sanctions, if applicable. If the case was determined by the Council, a Reporter was appointed for the case and the case was decided by the plenary of the Council. The representative the state against which the petition was directed was heard, but the applicant was not. Thus, a Czechoslovak representative could have been the member of the Committee of Three only exceptionally; for example, in 1934, envoy Künzl-Jizerský decided the petitions relating to suppressing the religion of Assyrians in Iraq, the Bulgarian monastery Zograf on the Athos Mountain, and the Armenian minority in Turkey. 50 On 14 September 1925 and within the consideration of a part of the Report on the Work of the Council of the League of Nations relating to minorities, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Galvanauskas submitted a proposal that the league of Nations should institute a special committee, which would be responsible for drafting a general convention on the 45 Archives of the League of Nations, Geneva, the Secretariat of the Council of the League of Nations, S340/5/1, documents from meetings of the Committees of Three – Comités des Minorités – Documents des Comités des Trois. 46 https://biblio-archive.unog.ch/ C-719-(1)-1925-I_EN. 47 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, ibid., pp. 38-39. 48 SeeScheuermann,M.:MinderheitenschutzcontraKonfliktverhütung?DieMinderheitenpolitikdesVölker- bundes in den zwanziger Jahren, c.d., pp. 35-36. See also Scheu, H.: Role mateřských států v meziválečné ochraně menšin [ The role of home states in the system of post-war protection of national minorities ], ibid., p. 112. 49 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, ibid., Part I, p. 10. 50 https://biblio-archive.unog.ch/ C-5-1935-EN-I.pdf.

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