CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

JÁN KLUČKA

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ

Conclusion As it is clear from the analysis above, during the course of the twentieth century two international regimes for the protection of minority rights were in place. The first was created under the aegis of the League of Nations and was selective in its nature because it applied only to minorities in some of the states and granted them cultural, religious, and language rights. However, for a number of political and other reasons this regime was ultimately unsuccessful and the termination of the League of Nations in 1946 marked the emergence of a new international system of human rights protection under the United Nations, which lasts until today. Unlike of the League of Nations regime, the minorities under the UN system are to be characterized as an integral part of the universal principles of human rights and prevention of discrimination. The United Nations started to pay direct attention to the rights of minorities for the first time in 1966 within Article 27 of the ICCPR, and later in 1992 through the Declaration of the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. These documents helped to stabilize the universally recognized standard for the rights and the protection of minorities. Czechoslovakia as one of the new states created after World War I was among the participants in the League of Nations system on the protection of minorities. Unlike some other participants, Czechoslovakia was able to comply with the commitments resulting from its “Minority Treaty” and the need to use the monitoring and controlling procedure before the relevant body of the League of Nations (including the Permanent Court of International Justice) was not necessary. 70 The relevant constitutional and other regulations were adopted immediately after the creation of Czechoslovakia to guarantee their obligations concerning the minorities in the Czechoslovak territory. After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia as one of the original members of the United Nations became a party to the international regime of human rights guaranteed by the United Nations Charter. Similarly as the United Nations, Czechoslovakia did not pay attention to the rights of minorities immediately after the Second World War. Instead, it followed the principle of a nation state. The rights of minorities gradually became part of the Czechoslovak legal order pending the post-war period. It was the Constitutional Act on Minorities Rights of 1968 that became the first legal act granting more specific rights to minorities than the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1960. The second constitutional act dealing with the minority rights within the context of the human rights system is represented in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of 1991. The wave of new states that emerged in Europe during the early 1990s prompted the emergence of a number of bilateral agreements between these countries and their neighbours. Their main objectives were to guarantee the respect of their borders and their inviolability as well as the protection of minorities. Such treaties were also concluded by the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (before 1993) and after the dissolution by the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. As was true during the emergence of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the founding of 70 *Rights of Minorities (Minority School) in Upper Silesia (Germany v. Poland) Judgment of the PCIJ, 1928, (Serie A), No. 15. *Minority (Greek) Schools in Albania. Advisory Opinion, 1935, P.C.I.J . (Ser. A/B), No. 64. * Exchange of Greek and Turkish Population. Advisory Opinion, 1925, P.C.I.J. (Ser. B), No. 10. * Interpretation of the Convention between Greece and Bulgaria Respecting Reciprocal Emigration. Advisory Opinion, 1930, P.C.I.J. (Ser. B), No .17.

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