THE DUTIES OF MINORITIES The treaties contain no stipulations regarding the "duties" of minorities towards the States of which they form part.
The Third Ordinary Assembly of the League, however, in 1922, when defining certain points of the procedure to be fol lowed in settling minority questions, also adopted the two following resolutions regarding the "duties" of minorities : While the Assembly recognizes the primary right of the minorities to be protected by the League from oppression, it also emphasizes the duty incumbent upon persons belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities to co-operate as loyal fellow-citizens with the nations to which they now belong.
The secretariat of the League, which has the duty of collecting information concerning the manner in which the minorities treaties are carried out, should not only assist the Council in the study of com plaints concerning infractions of these treaties, but should also assist the Council in ascertaining in what manner the persons belonging to racial, linguistic, or religious minorities fulfil their duties towards their States. The information thus collected might be placed at the disposal of the States Members of the League of Nations if they so desire.
All the Minorities Treaties, and also the chapters of the treaties of peace with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey' which relate to minorities, contain a clause establishing a League of Nations guarantee for such of their provisions as affect minorities. This clause reads as follows: Poland (or Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc.) agrees that the stipula tions in the foregoing Articles, so far as they affect persons belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities, constitute obligations of inter national concern and shall be placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations. They shall not be modified without the assent of a majority of the Council of the League of Nations. The United States, the British empire, France, Italy and Japan' hereby agree not to withhold their assent from any modification in these articles which is in due form assented to by a majority of the Council of the League of Nations.
Poland (or Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc.) agrees that any Member of the Council of the League of Nations shall have the right to bring to the attention of the Council any infraction, or any danger of infrac tion, of any of these obligations, and that the Council may thereupon take such action and give such direction as it may deem proper and effective in the circumstances.
Poland (or Austria, Czechoslovakia, etc.) further agrees that any difference of opinion as to questions of law or fact arising out of these Articles between the . . . Government and any one of the principal Allied and Associated Powers or anv other Power, a Member of the Council of the League of Nations', shall be held to be a dispute of an international character under article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. The . . Government hereby consents that any such 'The Albanian and Lithuanian Declarations contain the same pro vision. For Estonia and Latvia, see p. 558.
'The Treaties of Peace with Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary read as tolows: "The Allied and Associated Powers represented on the Coun cil . . . " The United States of America is not mentioned in the Treaty of Lausanne.
'The Treaty of Lausanne reads as follows here: " . . . and any one of the other Signatory Powers or any other Power, a member of the Council of the League of Nations . . . (article 44)." dispute shall, if the other party thereto demands, be referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice. The decision of the Perma nent Court shall be final and shall have the same force and effect as an award under article 13 of the Covenant.
The first paragraph of these provisions confines the League's guarantee to "persons belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities." The significance of this restriction will be realized when we remember that the Minorities Treaties establish certain very important rights, such as the right to protection of life and liberty and certain rights as to equality, and this not only for the benefit of minorities but for that of all nationals, and indeed all the inhabitants of the country. If, therefore, a State which had subscribed to these undertakings infringed any provision estab lishing one of these rights, to the prejudice of a person not belong ing to a minority, such an act would not bring the League's guarantee into play as the guarantee in this case applies only with regard to minorities.