Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter III. The Baltic Minorities' Rights detailed. Paper read at the Assembly of the International Law Association at The Hague, September 1921
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Estonian States, had their legal domicile on the territory of these States
or were born on that territory as provided for by the treaties concluded
with Poland (Arts. 3, 4 and 5), Austria (Arts. 78 to 82), Roumania
(Arts. 3 and 5), Turkey (Arts. 124, 125 and 143).[1]
(10). Freedom to travel or reside within the territory of the State,
or to leave and re-enter it at will, as stipulated by the treaty concluded
with Turkey (Arts. 127, 143 and 144).
The reading of the paper was followed by a discussion in which M.
van Zuylen and Mr. Rastorgoueff took the chief part. The
former said:
„Having been recently in touch with an old family of Russians near
the frontier, I feel compelled to draw attention to a state of things to
which no speaker as far has alluded. The previous speakers have been
talking about the right of minorities. Well, if there is no speedy help
for that minority, I am afraid that soon no such minority will exist. The
cruelty to those ci-devant rich people who had lands and property is
most appalling.
In Riga, some months ago, the home for old-age people was closed,
and all those infirm and old people were turned into the street; they
had no home to go to, no help, no protection. The food at the public
kitchens was refused to them. The houses they owned are no longer
their own. You are aware that all property has been confiscated, and
that the present Government has declined to give any guarantee as to
persons or lands.
I may add that not only the home for old-age people has been
closed, but the adolescents’ hospital at Riga has shared the same fate.
Everywhere the private institutions’ property has been seized and the
owners turned out.
I sincerely hope that those who are going to Geneva will call the
attention of the Assembly to these facts, and urge the immediate
necessity of protecting the very existence of those minorities.“
Mr. L. P. Rastorgoueff. „Though the question raised by my
countryman, Baron Heyking, concerns only small localities in the Baltic
States, I must say that behind it lies the much greater question of the
rights of national minorities. After the great war, the map of Europe
looks rather queer. Instead of the great Empires comprising each many
nationalities, Europe is now divided into small portions; several new
small States are being created, and not a single one is homogeneous;
each State, by way of compensation, and by one means or another, has
been granted strips of territories populated by people of different
nationalities from the State itself. I do not know the present position in the
Baltic States accurately, but it seems that newly created States which
in past centuries have themselves been oppressed by dominant nations,
are now striving to take revenge and are oppressing in their turn, the
small minorities living within their territory. As far as I can
understand, there is a hope that the Baltic States, which are not members
yet of the League of Nations but which are applying for that
membership, if they are admitted to the League of Nations, will have to alter
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