Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter IV. Safeguarding the Rights of the Baltic Minorities. Paper presented to the Council of the Federation of the League of Nations Societies at Vienna, October 1921
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
Treaty of Paris (1856), and also at the Treaty of Berlin (1878). The
Treaty of Versailles goes farther, and places the legal position of
minorities upon a new footing; no mere privileges are granted for minorities
of race, language or religious denomination, no mere reference is made
to the de facto situations — this time it is a question of rights.
These new and enlightened principles on positive International
law, signifying the legal recognition of the inalienable rights of the
weak as opposed to the strong, and in support of their very existence
as human beings, manifest, however, certain discrepancies in the fact
that the League of Nations — which has taken upon itself the function
of being sponsor — is still in its infancy and has not yet acquired the
power of enforcing its will under all circumstances. The tenets of the
Minorities’ Treaties have not always been conscientiously carried out,
and the mere „guarantee“ of the League of Nations has not had, in
practice, the desired effect of impelling obedience. It must be admitted,
therefore, that the executive power of the League is not quite what
it might be. Moreover, the rights of minorities are not even theoretically
sufficiently safeguarded. Minorities have hitherto not been recognised
as public Corporations in the general system of the League of
Nations or as subjects of International law. Only States as a whole
have the right to address themselves to the International Tribunal, and
minorities are not allowed to bring their grievances independently
before the League of Nations, but have for this purpose to avail
themselves of the instrumentality of a member of the Council, who must
consent to identify himself with the contents of the petition to be
adressed to the Council of the League of Nations. It is easy to
recognise that such an order of procedure is totally inadequate for
safeguarding the minorities’ rights. Since the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
up to the present day when breaches of the minorities’ rights occur
only too frequently, it is glaringly apparent that the position of racial
and religious minorities towards the overwhelming power of their
ruling majorities, is precarious to the extreme and demands an
extra-territorial guarantee. If the minorities’ rights are violated, there is
little hope that redress can be attained by lodging complaints with the
home government, which, in the position of judex in propria causa,
cannot assure impartiality and justice. Similarly, the representatives
of any given country who are members of the Council of the League of
Nations, cannot be expected to voice the complaints of their minorities
against their own Home government. And, as the Council of the
League of Nations is composed exclusively of members of ruling
majorities and does not admit a single representative of racial or religious
minorities, these have no alternative but to find a member of the
Council who could be persuaded to interest himself so far on their
behalf as to identify himself with their cause. Thus there is no definitely
constituted right for the minorities, but only a possibility that the
complaint may come before the Council. However apart from very specific
political circumstances which might induce a member of the Council
to take an active interest in the complaints raised by the minority of a
foreign State, the representatives of every country are supposed to
observe the interests of their own State and, in the majority of cases, it
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
