CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ

EXPERIMENTS WITH INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATION IN THE PARIS…

2. Administration by International Commissions in the Peace Treaties of 1919–1920 When referring to various territorial forms of administration in the 4 th volume of his monumental “ International Administrative Law ”, Karl Neumeyer considered administration by international commissions as a special type of “contractual occupation” ( vertragliche Besetzung ). 24 In this respect, the model of administration by international commissions was on one hand distinguished from administration executed directly by the League of Nations 25 and from international administration based on multilateral agreements. 26 On the other hand, administration by international commissions was also distinguished from the cases of mandate administration (e.g. Palestine, Iraq, Great Lebanon etc.) and from the cases of direct military occupation (e.g. Franco-Belgian occupation of Ruhrgebiet between 1923 and 1925). It is interesting to mention, that multiplication of these forms of administration triggered discussion to establish a Commission consultative d’administration internationale under the guardianship of the League of Nations. 27 Very similar to the cases of pledge and territorial lease, it has been argued 28 that by establishing the international commissions, the “ultimate sovereignty” over the territory remained by the concerned State. 29 However, the international commissions were not perceived as being authorities of this concerned State, 30 but rather as “agents of international community”. 31 Consequently, this contribution will first deal with three examples of such international commissions established by the Paris Peace Treaties. After exploring them briefly, the contribution will deal with the legacy of these “experiments” in international administration. 24 Karl Neumeyer (n 2) 535-536. 25 This was the case of the Free City of Danzig in the years 1920–1939, the Saar Territory between 1920 and 1935 and the city of Leticia in Colombia in the years 1933–34. Also, the League of Nations appointed the chair of the Memel Harbour Board (1924–39) pursuant to the Convention concerning the Territory of Memel of 1924. The Memel Territory itself had been administered by the Allied Powers from 1921 to 1923, when it was seized by Lithuania. 26 The only famous example of multilateral territorial administration in the era of the League of Nations was the International Zone of Tangier in the years 1923 to 1957. 27 Karl Neumeyer (n 2) 8. 28 DELBEZ, L.: ‘Le Concept d‘Internationalisation’ [1967] Revue générale de droit international public 5-62 , WOLFRUM, R.: ‘Internationalisation’ in: Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Elsevier 1987) 268-271, STAHN, C.: The Law and Practice of International Territorial Administration, Versailles to Iraq and Beyond (Cambridge University Press 2008) 64-65. 29 In this regard, it was also argued that when applying provisions of administrative law, the Saar Territory (being under the administration of the League of Nations) was to be considered as a “foreign territory” ( Ausland ), rather than inland . This classification had major consequences in particular in the field of social security and labour legislation. See Karl Neumeyer (n 2) 144 (footnote 17) and 541-542 (footnote 25). 30 So did Karl Neumeyer (n 2, at p. 540, footnote 21) concerning the International Commission for Upper Silesia. Here, he disagreed with a judgement of a state criminal court, which considered a police official of the International Commission to be a German state official. The issue was explicitly addressed in the Sèvres Treaty, which provided in its Article 33 that “control (executed by the International Commission for the Straits shall be exercised in the name of the Turkish and Greek Governments respectively, and in the manner provided in this Section”. 31 SECRETAN, J.: ‘The independence granted to agents of the international community in their relations with national public authorities’ [1935] British Yearbook of International Law 17-35.

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