CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASPECTS OF CZECHOSLOVAK MINORITIES Article 6). Second, it contains provisions, stating that ‘the exercise of rights by citizens of a national minority (…) may not threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Slovak republic or discriminate against other citizens’ (Article 34. 3). The Czech Constitution lacks both, and does not prescribe an official language. Beyond the post-war gradual stabilization of the international standards on the protection of minorities at the UN universal and regional level, the beginning of the 1990s raised the need for bilateral treaties mainly in Central and Eastern Europe. The raison d´etre of their existence consists of the fact that 24 new states with new borders were born due to the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. The only exception to this rule represents Germany, reunified in 1991. According to J. J. Preece: “when boundaries in Europe have changes, minority issues have generally been pushed to the forefront of international relation” and reconstituted nation states: “would also prompt new international initiative directed at national minorities”. 64 The existing bilateral practice confirms that relevant provisions concerning minorities are embodied into treaties of good neighbourliness and friendly cooperation. At the beginning of the 1990s Czechoslovakia (and later the Slovak Republic) also became a state party to the treaties of such nature with its neighbours. In this context one can mention the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness, Solidarity and Friendly Cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and Poland of 1991.Some provisions of the protection on minorities are embodied in its Article 8. 65 The next Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic and Germany was concluded in 1992 and minority protection provisions are contained in its Articles 20 and 21. 66 Despite the fact that after 1992 its minority provisions lost its relevance for the Slovak Republic, it remained its party in the larger European context. 67 During the last months of the existence of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, Slovakia signed the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness, Friendly Relations and Cooperation with the Czech Republic. The provisions concerning the new minorities (Slovaks in the Czech Republic and Czechs in the Slovak Republic) are enshrined in its Article 8. 68 After the dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, Slovakia signed the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation with Hungary in 1995. The provisions on the protection of minorities are embodied in its Article 15. 69 Bilateral Treaties of Czechoslovakia on the protection of minorities in the beginning of the 1990s

64 PREECE, J. J.: Self Determination, Minority Rights and Failed States. Available at: http://www.comm.ucsb.edu/faculty/mstohl/failed_states/1999/papers/Jackson-Preece.html.

65 Published under Act No. 416/1992 Collection of Laws. 66 Published under Act No. 521/1992 Collection of Laws.

67 “After the split of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, Slovakia remained party to the treaty in the framework of the Stability Pact under the list of agreements and arrangements concluded between interested countries and the member states of the European Union”. In: GÁL, K.: Bilateral Agreements in Central and Eastern Europe – A New Inter-State Framework for Minority Protection?, ECMI Working Paper 4 , 1999, p. 4. Available at: http://www.ecmi.de/uploads/tx_lfpubdb/working_paper_4.pdf.

68 Published under No. 212/1993 Collection of Laws. 69 Published under No. 115/1997 Collection of Laws.

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