CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

JÁN KLUČKA CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ About the Author: Professor Ján Klučka , Institute of International and European Law, Faculty of Law, P. J. Šafárik University, Košice, Slovak Republic. Born 1951; Doctor of Law from the University of Bratislava (1974); Professor of International Law at Kosice University (since 1975); Judge at the Constitutional Court (1993); Member of the Permanent Arbitration Court at The Hague (1994); Member of the Venice Commission (1994); Chairman of the Slovakian Association of International Law (2002); Judge at the Court of Justice from 11 May 2004. Introduction The 20th century brought to mankind two world wars and a number of regional conflicts, the result of which was inter alia the creation of new states and/or different territorial changes. New states were also created as a result of the right of nations to self-determination in the 1960s (especially in Africa) and in the 1990s (in Europe). Because almost none of the newly born states were purely a “one nation state”, arrangement of the legal status as well as the rights and duties of national, religious, and other minorities belonged to the urgent tasks of the public bodies of each of them. During the last century, Czechoslovakia had an active part in the state-forming processes (after World War I) as well as in the realization of the process of self-determination (resulting in the creation of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in 1993).These historical events were accompanied by the conclusions of international treaties and the adoption of relevant national rules concerning the protection of minorities in Czechoslovakia. The centennial anniversary of the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic on 28 October 2018 offers a good opportunity for their review and for the analysis that forms the subject of this article. I. The League of Nations Minority System and Czechoslovakia (1919–1946) After World War I the existing borders in Eastern Europe were dramatically changed, which amounted to the largest creation of new sovereign states since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It is to be noted that the three great empires of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were replaced with eight new or newly constituted countries (including Czechoslovakia) structured on the principle of self-determination. The newly created states resolved to be multinational like the Old Empires they had replaced, and included a population of between sixteen and eighteen million people living outside of their Kin States in the form of minorities, composing roughly one-fifth to one-fourth of the population of the states where they lived. 1 As a consequence, a specific international legal regime was set for them under the aegis and guarantees of the League of Nations. This was the first time that states and international communities recognized that some parts of their citizens required additional guarantees of their basic rights from an external international body. 2 One principle of that system is that only certain states (mainly states that had been newly reconstituted or considerably enlarged, namely Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia) should be subject to obligations and international control of minorities. Within the political context of Europe in the post-war period, the goal of minorities treaties was however not only humanitarian, but also political, 1 Czechoslovakia had the highest proportion of minorities who constituted 32.4% of the population. 2 For more details see: PREECE, J. J.: Minority Rights in Europe: From Westphalia to Helsinki. Review of International Studies , 1997, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 75-92.

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