CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ CZECHOSLOVAKIA: CERTIFICATES AND PASSPORTS OF REFUGEES Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided, upon agreement with the Ministry of Interior, to issue special personal certificates of residency, with a limited validity of one year, however without a direct statutory basis. District political administrations were entrusted with extending the validity of the certificates, always by one year. No serious objections could be raised to the refugee’s residency. In this respect, the district political administrations were in the position of omnipotent state agencies. They could revoke the extension of the personal document at any time. As depicted, the certificate of residency fulfilled both an identification and permissive function. The certificate officially verified the holder’s identity, their Russian nationality, and permitted such an individual to reside and freely travel within the Czechoslovak territory. During the summer of 1921, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was forced to take further administrative measures. The so-called Russian diplomatic missions operating in Czechoslovakia, that were not officially recognized, issued informal personal documents to Russian and Ukrainian refugees. In any case, these documents could not produce the expected legal effects. According to the circular of the Ministry of Interior of August 1921, every Russian national had to request a registration card from the Zemgor . Only then could they apply to the Russian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain a certificate of residency. In the prior interest of registration, all Russian and Ukrainian refugees, without exception, were committed to possess a certificate of residency issued by the Russian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The personal certificate of residency played a pivotal normative role; it established a temporary relationship between Russian and Ukrainian refugees and the Czechoslovakian state. Moreover, the document gave the refugee status. The implementation provisions for issuing certificates of residency to Russian and Ukrainian refugees were inserted into internal instructions: especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ letters and the circulars of the Ministry of Interior. The legal fundament of Czechoslovak provisional passports, on the other hand, consisted of section 11 of the Austrian Regulation no. 80/1867. The chief of the provincial political administration was entrusted with the power to issue a provisional passport to a non-national to carry out the purpose of their journey. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out the possibility of issuing temporary passports on 8 September 1921. The notice was addressed to the Ministry of Interior, which sent a circular on 14 September 1921 to provincial political administrations. The prerequisite for issuing the document was the requirement that the state to which the non-national belonged did not have any diplomatic or consular representation in Czechoslovakia. The validity of the provisional passport was a one-off, completely limited to the purpose of the journey. The statutory basis for granting this travel document was introduced by section 5 of Act no. 55/1928 Coll. However, non-nationals or persons without nationality had no legal claim to obtain a Czechoslovak provisional passport. Even though the passport was internationally acknowledged, it provided the holder with only a time-limited identification and permissive function. This passport of temporary validity did not approve the status of the holder as a refugee. The Czechoslovak Passport Act of 1928 governed in section 5 the legal framework for the issuance of certificates in the form of passports (Nansen passports) to Russian and Armenian refugees. The inside and outside forms of the identity cards were already agreed upon at the Geneva Conference held on 5 July 1922. The Czechoslovak government decided to enter

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