The Protection of Minorities Under the Guarantee of the League of Nations

The declaration subsequently made by the Estonian repre sentative laid down the procedure to be followed with regard to information addressed to the League on the position of minorities. This procedure corresponds to that already described in the case of Latvia.

The Conventions.

The decision which was adopted on Oct. 20, 1921, by the conference of ambassadors in conformity with the opinion expressed by the Council of the League, lays down as follows: (I) That the Polish Minorities Treaty of June 28, 1919, is applicable to the Polish portion of Upper Silesia; (2) That considerations of equity, as well as the maintenance of the economic life of Upper Silesia, require that the German Government should accept similar provisions, at least for a provisional period of 15 years, as regards the German portion of Upper Silesia; (3) That the provisions of the convention to be concluded between, the German and Polish Governments in this connection should consti tute obligations of international concern both for Germany and for Poland, and should be placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations in the same manner as those of the treaty of June 28, 1919.

On the basis of this decision, negotiations between Germany and Poland were begun at Beuthen in Dec. 1921, and were resumed at Geneva on Feb. 15, 1922.

The results of these negotiations were embodied in part III. (articles 64-158) of the German-Polish Convention signed at Geneva on May 15, 1922.

The first division of this part of the Convention contains a synoptic table, setting out in one column those articles of the Polish Minorities Treaty which Poland undertakes to apply in the Polish portion of Upper Silesia, and in another column parallel engagements entered into by Germany.

However, in order that the protection of minorities in the plebiscite portions of the territory might be based upon principles of equitable reciprocity, and in order that the special conditions arising out of the provisional regime might receive due consider ation, the contracting parties agreed to observe, for a period of 15 years, certain more detailed provisions concerning civil and political rights, religion, private education, public elementary edu cation, vocational training and extension classes, secondary and higher education, the official language of administration and the language to be employed in all legal proceedings of whatever nature.

The Convention also deals with the right of petition and methods of appeal. A minorities office is to be set up in each por tion of the plebiscite territory. Persons belonging to a minority may, after having filed a complaint with the highest administra tive authority, submit a petition to the minorities office of their State for consideration. If the minorities office does not succeed

in obtaining satisfaction for the petitioners, it will transmit the petition, together with any comments it may wish to make, to the president of the Mixed Commission for his opinion. The president will give the members of the Mixed Commission an opportunity to express their views. (The Mixed Commission is composed of two Germans and two Poles, with a president of some other nationality.) The president will then make known his opinion to the minori ties office, which will communicate it to the proper administrative authorities. In case the petitioners are not satisfied with the find ings of the administrative authority, they may appeal to the Council of the League of Nations.

Such appeals must be addressed to the minorities office, which will see that they are forwarded to the Council by the Govern ment.

The Council is also competent to give a decision concerning any individual or collective petition addressed to it directly by persons belonging to a minority.

The Convention concerning the Memel Territory contains only two provisions relating to the protection of minorities. The first (article 11 of the Convention and article 26 of the statute annexed to it) stipulates that the Lithuanian declaration of May 12, 1922, applies to minorities within the Memel Territory, with the exception of paragraph 4 of article 4, relating to the use of the minority languages in the law courts. This exception is due to the fact that, in accordance with the second stipulation (article 27 of the statute) the Lithuanian and the German lan guages are recognized on the same footing as official languages in the Memel Territory.

Certain States have concluded special conventions concerning the position of their respective minorities, but these have not been placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, e.g., the Treaty of Briinn between Austria and Czechoslovakia, dated June 7, 1920; the Treaty of April 23, 1925, between Poland and Czechoslovakia, etc. Mention may also be made of article 33 of the Convention of Nov. 9, 192o, between Poland and the Free City of Danzig, under which Danzig undertakes to apply to minorities provisions similar to those which are applied by Poland in execution of the Polish Minorities Treaty. The Agreement of Oct. 24, 1921, between Danzig and Poland, in exe cution of the Convention of Nov. 9, 1920, deals in articles 225 and 226 with the question of language, and in article 227 and annex with the question of education in connection with the Polish minority at Danzig.