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93-674: The protection of religious and minority rights had been a matter of international concern and the subject of protections ever since the days of the Peace of Westphalia. The 1878 Treaty of Berlin had a new type of provision that protected minorities in the Balkans and newly independent states' Great Power recognition was nominally conditional on the promise of guarantees of religious and civic freedoms for local religious minorities. Historian Carol Fink argues: Fink reports that these provisions were generally not enforced—no suitable mechanism existed and

186-653: A Bulgarian state, which was just what Britain and Austria-Hungary feared the most. The Treaty of Berlin confirmed most of the Russian gains from the Ottoman Empire specified in the Treaty of San Stefano, such as Batumi and Adjara , but the valley of Alashkerd and the town of Bayazid were returned to the Ottomans. The regions of Ardahan and Kars were also ceded to Russia. The 1879 Treaty of Constantinople

279-487: A State is created, or when large accessions of territory are made to an established State, the joint and formal recognition of the Great Powers should be accompanied by the requirement that such States should, in the form of a binding International convention undertake to comply with certain principles of Government. In this regard I must recall for your consideration the fact that it is to the endeavors and sacrifices of

372-538: A ban on professional employment, the refusal of higher education for the dissidents' children, police harassment and prison. During the 1980s, Czechoslovakia became one of the most tightly controlled Communist regimes in the Warsaw Pact in resistance to the mitigation of controls notified by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev . In 1989, the Velvet Revolution restored democracy. This occurred around

465-488: A border rectification between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, which occurred after protracted negotiations in 1881, with the transfer of Thessaly to Greece. In the "Salisbury Circular" of 1 April, the Marquess of Salisbury , appointed foreign secretary the next day, made clear his own and his government's objections to the Treaty of San Stefano and its favourable position of Russia. Historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, "If

558-627: A chance for many of their compatriots to participate in communal life before independence. Palacký supported Austro-Slavism and worked for a reorganized federal Austrian Empire , which would protect the Slavic speaking peoples of Central Europe against Russian and German threats. An advocate of democratic reform and Czech autonomy within Austria-Hungary, Masaryk was elected twice to the Reichsrat (Austrian Parliament), from 1891 to 1893 for

651-671: A legal analysis of the status of the territory of Palestine in order to determine the applicable law, before seeking to establish whether that law had been breached. The Court said that in addition to the general guarantees of freedom of movement under Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, account had to be taken of specific guarantees of access to the Christian, Jewish and Islamic Holy Places. It noted that minority and religious rights had been placed under international guarantee by Article 62 of

744-523: A major European crisis that reinforced pre- World War I alliances. The Treaty of Berlin accorded special legal status to some religious groups and also would serve as a model for the Minority Treaties , which would be established within the framework of the League of Nations . It stipulated that Romania recognize non-Christians (Jews and Muslims) as full citizens. It also vaguely called for

837-467: A major factor in the 1980s. Slightly after the foundation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, there was a lack of essential infrastructure in many areas – paved roads , railways , bridges , etc. Massive improvement in the following years enabled Czechoslovakia to develop its industry. Prague 's civil airport in Ruzyně became one of the most modern terminals in the world when it was finished in 1937. Tomáš Baťa ,

930-511: A political monopoly was held by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ). The leader of the KSČ was de facto the most powerful person in the country during this period. Gustáv Husák was elected first secretary of the KSČ in 1969 (changed to general secretary in 1971) and president of Czechoslovakia in 1975. Other parties and organizations existed but functioned in subordinate roles to

1023-648: A threat to German rule. Just like Jews, Poles, Serbs, and several other nations, Czechs were considered to be untermenschen by the Nazi state. In 1940, in a secret Nazi plan for the Germanization of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia it was declared that those considered to be of racially Mongoloid origin and the Czech intelligentsia were not to be Germanized. The deportation of Jews to concentration camps

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1116-777: A unified Czechoslovakia was restored after World War II (after the country had been divided during the war), the conflict between the Czechs and the Slovaks surfaced again. The governments of Czechoslovakia and other Central European nations deported ethnic Germans, reducing the presence of minorities in the nation. Most of the Jews had been killed during the war by the Nazis. Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1921 Ethnicities of Czechoslovakia in 1930 *Jews identified themselves as Germans or Hungarians (and Jews only by religion not ethnicity),

1209-892: Is often referred to as either the Little Treaty of Versailles or the Polish Minority Treaty ; the Austrian, Czechoslovak and Yugoslavian treaties are referred to as Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye (1919); the Romanian treaty as the Treaty of Paris (1919) , the Greek as the Treaty of Sèvres (1920); the Hungarian as the Treaty of Trianon (1920), the Bulgarian as the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine (1919), and

1302-574: The Black Sea a neutral territory. The treaty had protected the Ottoman Empire, ended the Holy Alliance (Austria, Prussia and Russia) and weakened Russia's overall position. In 1870, Russia invoked the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus and effectively terminated the treaty by breaching provisions concerning the neutrality of the Black Sea. The great powers became increasingly convinced that

1395-728: The Danube River basin. The weather is mild winters and mild summers. Influenced by the Atlantic Ocean from the west, the Baltic Sea from the north, and Mediterranean Sea from the south. There is no continental weather. The area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it collapsed at the end of World War I . The new state was founded by Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , who served as its first president from 14 November 1918 to 14 December 1935. He

1488-642: The First World War ( Hungary , Austria , Bulgaria , Turkey ). At the same time, Albania , Lithuania , Estonia , Latvia and, outside of Europe, Iraq were persuaded to accept minority obligations as part of the terms of their admission to the League of Nations. The Polish treaty (signed in June 1919, as the first of the Minority Treaties, and serving as the template for the subsequent ones)

1581-664: The NSDAP in the December 1938 elections. Almost every decree explicitly stated that the sanctions did not apply to antifascists. Some 250,000 Germans, many married to Czechs, some antifascists, and also those required for the post-war reconstruction of the country, remained in Czechoslovakia. The Beneš Decrees still cause controversy among nationalist groups in the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Hungary. Following

1674-711: The Sudetenland . On 29 September 1938, Britain and France ceded control in the Appeasement at the Munich Conference ; France ignored the military alliance it had with Czechoslovakia. During October 1938, Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland border region, effectively crippling Czechoslovak defences. The First Vienna Award assigned a strip of southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary. Poland occupied Zaolzie, an area whose population

1767-827: The Treaty between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire for the Settlement of Affairs in the East ) was signed on 13 July 1878. In the aftermath of the Russian victory against the Ottoman Empire in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 , the major powers restructured the map of the Balkan region . They reversed some of the extreme gains claimed by Russia in

1860-597: The Warsaw Pact of 1955. A period of political liberalization in 1968, the Prague Spring , ended when the Soviet Union, assisted by other Warsaw Pact countries, invaded Czechoslovakia . In 1989, as Marxist–Leninist governments and communism were ending all over Central and Eastern Europe , Czechoslovaks peacefully deposed their communist government during the Velvet Revolution , which began on 17 November 1989 and ended 11 days later on 28 November when all of

1953-790: The Young Czech Party , and from 1907 to 1914 for the Czech Realist Party , which he had founded in 1889 with Karel Kramář and Josef Kaizl . During World War I a number of Czechs and Slovaks, the Czechoslovak Legions , fought with the Allies in France and Italy, while large numbers deserted to Russia in exchange for its support for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the Austrian Empire. With

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2046-680: The autonomous regions of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Annexed by Hungary (1939–1945). ČSR; declared a "people's democracy" (without a formal name change) under the Ninth-of-May Constitution following the 1948 coup . ČSSR; from 1969, after the Prague Spring , consisted of the Czech Socialist Republic (ČSR) and Slovak Socialist Republic (SSR). Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR . Oblast of Ukraine . After World War II,

2139-446: The Åland crisis . Nonetheless, the treaties were also subject to past and present criticism. The countries subject to the treaties saw it as limiting their sovereignty and infringing their right for self-determination , as the League was allowed to influence national, religious and educational policy in those countries, and suggesting that they were not competent enough to deal with their internal matters. Further criticism centered on

2232-911: The 1946 parliamentary election, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was the winner in the Czech lands , and the Democratic Party won in Slovakia. In February 1948 the Communists seized power . Although they would maintain the fiction of political pluralism through the existence of the National Front , except for a short period in the late 1960s (the Prague Spring ) the country had no liberal democracy . Since citizens lacked significant electoral methods of registering protest against government policies, periodically there were street protests that became violent. For example, there were riots in

2325-607: The Czech intelligentsia; the intellectual elites and middle class made up a considerable number of the 200,000 people who passed through concentration camps and the 250,000 who died during German occupation. Under Generalplan Ost , it was assumed that around 50% of Czechs would be fit for Germanization . The Czech intellectual elites were to be removed not only from Czech territories but from Europe completely. The authors of Generalplan Ost believed it would be best if they emigrated overseas, as even in Siberia they were considered

2418-629: The Czechs of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, German occupation was a period of brutal oppression. Czech losses resulting from political persecution and deaths in concentration camps totaled between 36,000 and 55,000. The Jewish populations of Bohemia and Moravia (118,000 according to the 1930 census) were virtually annihilated. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; more than 70,000 were killed; 8,000 survived at Terezín. Several thousand Jews managed to live in freedom or in hiding throughout

2511-536: The German war effort was accelerated. Under the authority of Karl Hermann Frank , German minister of state for Bohemia and Moravia, some 350,000 Czech laborers were dispatched to the Reich. Within the protectorate, all non-war-related industry was prohibited. Most of the Czech population obeyed quiescently up until the final months preceding the end of the war, while thousands were involved in the resistance movement . For

2604-559: The Great Powers had little interest in doing so. Protections were part of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and became increasingly important after World War II. At the Paris Peace Conference the Supreme Council established 'The Committee on New States and for The Protection of Minorities'. All the new successor states were compelled to sign minority rights treaties as a precondition of diplomatic recognition. It

2697-647: The Gulf War with a small force of 200 troops under the command of the U.S.-led coalition. In 1992, because of growing nationalist tensions in the government, Czechoslovakia was peacefully dissolved by parliament. On 31 December 1992, it formally separated into two independent countries, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic . ČSR; boundaries and government established by the 1920 constitution . Annexed by Nazi Germany . ČSR; included

2790-653: The International Court of Justice jurisdiction to resolve disputes. a Sometimes also known as the Treaties on the Protection of National Minorities or Minorities Protection Treaties ; the term Minority Treaties is the most concise of many names, and is used after Dugdale and Bewes (1926). The names of specific treaties affecting various countries vary from case to case. Treaty of Berlin (1878) The Treaty of Berlin (formally

2883-817: The KSČ. All political parties, as well as numerous mass organizations, were grouped under umbrella of the National Front . Human rights activists and religious activists were severely repressed. Czechoslovakia had the following constitutions during its history (1918–1992): In the 1930s, the nation formed a military alliance with France, which collapsed in the Munich Agreement of 1938. After World War II , an active participant in Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ( Comecon ), Warsaw Pact , United Nations and its specialized agencies; signatory of conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe . Before World War II,

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2976-413: The Minority Treaties when those policies were seen as guaranteeing the internal stability of the state concerned. When the Council did review cases, the reviews were commonly dominated by the countries whose ethnic groups were affected and that tried not only to resolve the problem of mistreatment of their minorities but also score other political goals on the international scene, sometimes even sacrificing

3069-645: The Ottoman Empire would not be able to hold its territories in Europe. In 1875, the Herzegovina uprising resulted in the Great Eastern Crisis . As the conflict in the Balkans intensified, atrocities during the 1876 April Uprising in Bulgaria inflamed anti-Turkish sentiments in Russia and Britain, which eventually culminated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 . The treaty formally recognized

3162-599: The Powers in whose name I am addressing you that the Polish nation owes the recovery of its independence. It is by their decision that Polish sovereignty is being restored over the territories in question, and that the inhabitants of these territories are being incorporated into the Polish nation.... There rests, therefore, upon these Powers an obligation, which they cannot evade, to secure in the most permanent and solemn form guarantees for certain essential rights which will afford to

3255-694: The Sanjak of Novi Pazar were withdrawn in 1908, after the annexation of the Vilayet of Bosnia and the resulting Bosnian Crisis , to reach a compromise with the Ottoman Empire, which was struggling with internal strife because of the Young Turk Revolution (1908). The chaotic situation in the Ottoman Empire also allowed Bulgaria to formally declare its independence on 5 October 1908. Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( / ˌ tʃ ɛ k oʊ s l oʊ ˈ v æ k i . ə , ˈ tʃ ɛ k ə -, - s l ə -, - ˈ v ɑː -/ CHEK -oh-sloh- VAK -ee-ə, CHEK -ə-, -⁠slə-, -⁠ VAH - ; Czech and Slovak : Československo , Česko-Slovensko )

3348-494: The Secretariat which selected the petitions according to some criteria (prohibition of violent language, integrity of the state, complaints about specific violations...), tried a first mediation and asked for supplementary information; the special committee of three that was appointed by the council and had the faculty of: The Minority Treaties, recognized as history's first minority treaties, were an important step in protection of minorities and recognition of human rights , bringing

3441-477: The Slovaks, who were hostile to the more numerous Czechs, weakened the country in the late 1930s. Slovakia became autonomous in the fall of 1938, and by mid-1939, Slovakia had become independent, with the First Slovak Republic set up as a satellite state of Nazi Germany and the far-right Slovak People's Party in power . After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in central and eastern Europe. In September 1938, Adolf Hitler demanded control of

3534-502: The Soviet Union, gradually put the brakes on their earlier liberal policies. Meanwhile, one plank of the reform program had been carried out: in 1968–69, Czechoslovakia was turned into a federation of the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic . The theory was that under the federation, social and economic inequities between the Czech and Slovak halves of the state would be largely eliminated. A number of ministries, such as education, now became two formally equal bodies in

3627-406: The Treaty of Berlin, 13 July 1878, and observed that those "existing rights" had been preserved in accordance with the safeguarding provisions of Article 13 of the League of Nations Mandate and a chapter of General Assembly resolution 181 (II) on the future government of Palestine. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognized the urgent need to respect and promote

3720-409: The Turkish as the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). In most of the above cases the minority treaties were only one of many articles of the aforementioned treaties. The Minority Treaties were the basis of the League's system of minorities. Their aim was to protect the minorities without alienating the majority of the countries' population. The procedure was centered on the Council of the League (rather than

3813-399: The countries in question and the League. The treaties were signed between the League and some of the newly established nations: Poland , Yugoslavia (also known then as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ), Czechoslovakia . Similar treaties were also imposed on Greece and Entente -allied Romania in exchange for their territorial enlargement, and on some of the nations defeated in

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3906-420: The decline of League of Nations in the 1930s, the treaties were increasingly considered unenforceable and useless. The League Council, charged with enforcing the various minority treaties, often failed to act upon complaints from minorities. There was an unwritten rule that state policies aimed at the cultural assimilation of minorities should be ignored as the "minor evil" with regard to the rights enshrined in

3999-436: The economy was about the fourth in all industrial countries in Europe. The state was based on strong economy, manufacturing cars ( Škoda , Tatra ), trams, aircraft ( Aero , Avia ), ships, ship engines ( Škoda ), cannons, shoes ( Baťa ), turbines, guns ( Zbrojovka Brno ). It was the industrial workshop for the Austro-Hungarian empire. The Slovak lands relied more heavily on agriculture than the Czech lands. After World War II,

4092-424: The economy was centrally planned, with command links controlled by the communist party, similarly to the Soviet Union . The large metallurgical industry was dependent on imports of iron and non-ferrous ores. After World War II, the country was short of energy, relying on imported crude oil and natural gas from the Soviet Union, domestic brown coal , and nuclear and hydroelectric energy . Energy constraints were

4185-414: The evasion of these international obligations, and its repeated affirmation of the self-evident principle of international law that a State cannot invoke its municipal law as the reason for the non-fulfillment of its international obligations. The United Nations established a formal minority rights protection system as an integral part of the Plan for the Future Government of Palestine . The status of

4278-435: The expulsion of the ethnic German population from Czechoslovakia, parts of the former Sudetenland , especially around Krnov and the surrounding villages of the Jesenik mountain region in northeastern Czechoslovakia, were settled in 1949 by Communist refugees from Northern Greece who had left their homeland as a result of the Greek Civil War . These Greeks made up a large proportion of the town and region's population until

4371-401: The great powers' Constantinople Conference , which had been held one year before without any Bulgarian participation. The most notable result of the conference was the official recognition of the newly independent states of Romania , Serbia , and Montenegro (which had de facto been acting independently for decades). The Paris Peace Treaty of 1856, which ended the Crimean War , had made

4464-494: The independence of the de facto sovereign principalities of Romania , Serbia and Montenegro (plus their expansion) and the autonomy of Bulgaria although the latter de facto functioned independently and was divided into three parts: the Principality of Bulgaria, the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia , and Macedonia , which was given back to the Ottomans, thus undoing Russian plans for an independent and Russophile " Greater Bulgaria ". The Treaty of San Stefano had created

4557-441: The inhabitants on the ground of race, religion, language or sex.' is enshrined in a multitude of international human rights conventions and the UN Charter itself. Li-ann Thio, a professor of international and human rights law at the National University of Singapore noted that many international law norms and customary practices developed in the inter-war years by the League of Nations are still in use today. She specifically addressed

4650-410: The inhabitants the necessary protection, whatever changes may take place in the internal constitution of the Polish State. The new treaties gave minorities the right to appeal directly to the League or UN General Assembly. In the case of the Mandates and the UN Partition Plan for Palestine compromissory clauses provide for the International Court's jurisdiction. The victorious powers attempted to ensure

4743-417: The late 1980s/early 1990s. Although defined as "Greeks", the Greek Communist community of Krnov and the Jeseniky region actually consisted of an ethnically diverse population, including Greek Macedonians , Macedonians , Vlachs , Pontic Greeks and Turkish speaking Urums or Caucasus Greeks . Carpathian Ruthenia (Podkarpatská Rus) was occupied by (and in June 1945 formally ceded to) the Soviet Union. In

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4836-430: The latter loudly protested, their complaints were exploited by interested parties with ulterior motives, and the League interfered as little as possible. The system suffered an apparent death blow with Poland's rejection of its treaty in 1934. Judge Sir Hersch Lauterpacht explained the legal effectiveness of the operation of this system of minority protection treaties. He pointed out the Court's determination to discourage

4929-703: The legal principles were incorporated in the UN Charter and a host of international human rights treaties. Many international law norms and customary practices developed in the inter-war years by the League of Nations are still in use today. The procedures for managing intrastate and inter-ethnic issues include international supervision, regional economic unions, minority protection, plebiscites, and territorial partition. The Palestine and Bosnian Partition Plans and European Union practice are modern examples of conditioning recognition of statehood on human rights, democracy, and minority protection guarantees. There were several bilateral Minority Treaties, each signed between one of

5022-413: The more encompassing Assembly) which had the right and obligation to raise complaints of treaty violations. Individual Council members had the unique privilege of placing complaints on the agenda, even through the petitions for that could be sent from any source. The majority of cases, however, were never handled by the council. Before reaching the Council, the petition passed through: the minority section of

5115-492: The most industrialized regions of the former Austria-Hungary. The new country was a multi-ethnic state, with Czechs and Slovaks as constituent peoples . The population consisted of Czechs (51%), Slovaks (16%), Germans (22%), Hungarians (5%) and Rusyns (4%). Many of the Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians and Poles and some Slovaks, felt oppressed because the political elite did not generally allow political autonomy for minority ethnic groups. This policy led to unrest among

5208-428: The non-Czech population, particularly in German-speaking Sudetenland , which initially had proclaimed itself part of the Republic of German-Austria in accordance with the self-determination principle. The state proclaimed the official ideology that there were no separate Czech and Slovak nations, but only one nation of Czechoslovaks (see Czechoslovakism ), to the disagreement of Slovaks and other ethnic groups. Once

5301-428: The occupation. Despite the estimated 136,000 deaths at the hands of the Nazi regime, the population in the Reichsprotektorate saw a net increase during the war years of approximately 250,000 in line with an increased birth rate. On 6 May 1945, the third US Army of General Patton entered Plzeň from the south west. On 9 May 1945, Soviet Red Army troops entered Prague . After World War II, pre-war Czechoslovakia

5394-400: The occupations. In 1948, this provision was cancelled for the Hungarians, but only partially for the Germans. The government then confiscated the property of the Germans and expelled about 90% of the ethnic German population , over 2 million people. Those who remained were collectively accused of supporting the Nazis after the Munich Agreement , as 97.32% of Sudeten Germans had voted for

5487-408: The outbreak of World War I, Masaryk began working for Czech independence in a union with Slovakia. With Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik , Masaryk visited several Western countries and won support from influential publicists. The Czechoslovak National Council was the main organization that advanced the claims for a Czechoslovak state. The Bohemian Kingdom ceased to exist in 1918 when it

5580-498: The parties involved to attack the nation that violates the treaty. ' " The Kosovo Vilayet remained part of the Ottoman Empire. Austria-Hungary was allowed to station military garrisons in the Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar . The Vilayet of Bosnia was placed under Austro-Hungarian occupation although it formally remained part of the Ottoman Empire until it was annexed by Austria-Hungary thirty years later, on 5 October 1908. The Austro-Hungarian garrisons in

5673-418: The preliminary Treaty of San Stefano , but the Ottomans lost their major holdings in Europe. It was one of three major peace agreements in the period after the 1815 Congress of Vienna . It was the final act of the Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) and included the United Kingdom , Austria-Hungary , France , Germany , Italy , Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Chancellor of Germany Otto von Bismarck

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5766-474: The preservation of the Soviet, socialist system and vowed to intervene in any state that sought to replace Marxism-Leninism with capitalism . In the week after the invasion, there was a spontaneous campaign of civil resistance against the occupation. This resistance involved a wide range of acts of non-cooperation and defiance: this was followed by a period in which the Czechoslovak Communist Party leadership, having been forced in Moscow to make concessions to

5859-434: The prime architect of the Czechoslovak-Romanian-Yugoslav alliance (the " Little Entente ", 1921–38) directed against Hungarian attempts to reclaim lost areas. Beneš worked closely with France. Far more dangerous was the German element, which after 1933 became allied with the Nazis in Germany. Czech-Slovak relations came to be a central issue in Czechoslovak politics during the 1930s. The increasing feeling of inferiority among

5952-405: The principles adopted by the League, the Minorities Treaties were a part of the Wilsonian idealist approach to international relations, and as with the League itself, the Minority Treaties were increasingly ignored by the respective governments, with the entire system mostly collapsing in the late 1930s. Despite the political failure they remained the basis of international law. After World War II

6045-468: The procedures for managing intrastate and inter-ethnic issues through (1) international supervision, (2) supranational integration, (3) minority protection, (4) plebiscites, and (5) partitions. She cited the Palestine and Bosnian Partition Plans and 1990s European practice as examples of conditioning recognition of statehood on human rights, democracy, and minority protection guarantees. The International Court of Justice performed

6138-501: The reformer Alexander Dubček was appointed to the key post of First Secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, there was a brief period of liberalization known as the Prague Spring . In response, after failing to persuade the Czechoslovak leaders to change course, five other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded . Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night of 20–21 August 1968. Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev viewed this intervention as vital for

6231-434: The rights of indigenous peoples affirmed in treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements with States. It also noted that the rights affirmed in treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous peoples are, in some situations, matters of international concern, interest, responsibility and character. In many instances the minority rights treaties provided for arbitration and granted

6324-417: The same time as the fall of communism in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland. The word "socialist" was removed from the country's full name on 29 March 1990 and replaced by "federal". Pope John Paul II made a papal visit to Czechoslovakia on 21 April 1990, hailing it as a symbolic step of reviving Christianity in the newly-formed post-communist state. Czechoslovakia participated in

6417-463: The stable development of the region between defeated Germany and Soviet Russia , a region characterized by the existence of many ethnic groups and the emergence of new nations. The idea behind the Minority Treaties was that by subjecting those countries to the scrutiny of others and to the threat of sanction and intervention from the newly created international body, the League of Nations, the rights of minorities would be safeguarded. As with most of

6510-432: The state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and Carpathian Ruthenia became part of Hungary , while the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed in the remainder of the Czech Lands . In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II , former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies . After World War II, Czechoslovakia

6603-400: The subject to an international forum. In them, for the first time, states and international communities recognized that there are people living outside normal legal protection and who required an additional guarantee of their elementary rights from an external body, as protection within individual states itself may not be sufficient. Among issues successfully resolved by the Minority Treaties was

6696-504: The sum is, therefore, more than 100%. During the period between the two world wars Czechoslovakia was a democratic state. The population was generally literate, and contained fewer alienated groups. The influence of these conditions was augmented by the political values of Czechoslovakia's leaders and the policies they adopted. Under Tomas Masaryk , Czech and Slovak politicians promoted progressive social and economic conditions that served to defuse discontent. Foreign minister Beneš became

6789-584: The territory acquired by Russia, subjects could choose whether they wished to be Ottoman or Russian subjects for a period of six months after the agreement became effective. Despite the pleas of the Romanian delegates, Romania was forced to cede southern Bessarabia to the Russian Empire. As a compensation, Romania received Dobruja , including the Danube Delta . The treaty also limited the Russian occupation of Bulgaria to 9 months, which limited

6882-501: The throes of the Russian Revolution , was a separate case. This inequality further offended the smaller countries. Finally, this inequality also meant that the minority rights were not seen as a universal right; it was exclusively a foreign policy issue, and thus populations that had no state to back up their claims were relatively disadvantaged when compared to ones backed up by a powerful state or group of interests. With

6975-468: The time during which Russian troops and supplies could be moved through Romanian territory. The three newly independent states subsequently proclaimed themselves kingdoms: Romania in 1881, Serbia in 1882 and Montenegro in 1910, and Bulgaria proclaimed full independence in 1908 after it had united with Eastern Rumelia in 1885. Austria–Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908, sparking the Bosnian crisis ,

7068-475: The top Communist leaders and Communist party itself resigned. On 31 December 1992, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into the two sovereign states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia . The country was of generally irregular terrain. The western area was part of the north-central European uplands. The eastern region was composed of the northern reaches of the Carpathian Mountains and lands of

7161-481: The town of Plzeň in 1953 , reflecting economic discontent. Police and army units put down the rebellion, and hundreds were injured but no one was killed. While its economy remained more advanced than those of its neighbors in Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia grew increasingly economically weak relative to Western Europe. The currency reform of 1953 caused dissatisfaction among Czechoslovak laborers. To equalize

7254-537: The treaties not being obligatory for the established countries (like France, Germany, United Kingdom or Russia). The Western countries, who dictated the treaties in the aftermath of the First World War, saw minority safeguards as unnecessary for themselves, and trusted that they could fulfill the "standard of civilization". It was the new Central and Eastern European countries that were not trusted to respect those rights, and, of course, Bolshevik Russia , still in

7347-647: The treaties was questioned by the United Nations Secretariat in 1950, but a modern-day Chairman-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Minorities subsequently advised that no competent UN organ had made any decision which that extinguish the obligations under those instruments. He added that it was doubtful whether that could even be done by the United Nations. The provision that 'No discrimination of any kind shall be made between

7440-450: The treaty of San Stefano had been maintained, both the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary might have survived to the present day. The British, except for Beaconsfield in his wilder moments, had expected less and were, therefore, less disappointed. Salisbury wrote at the end of 1878: 'We shall set up a rickety sort of Turkish rule again south of the Balkans. But it is a mere respite. There is no vitality left in them. The treaty also calls on

7533-528: The two formally equal republics. However, the centralized political control by the Czechoslovak Communist Party severely limited the effects of federalization. The 1970s saw the rise of the dissident movement in Czechoslovakia, represented among others by Václav Havel . The movement sought greater political participation and expression in the face of official disapproval, manifested in limitations on work activities, which went as far as

7626-407: The very minority in question (German and Hungarian governments are recognized as having abused the system the most). Also, of course, the League, lacking its own army, could not coerce any state to adhere to its recommendations. Even before Adolf Hitler seized control of Germany in 1933, the problems with the Minority Treaties were evident. Various European governments continued to abuse minorities,

7719-410: The wage rate, Czechoslovaks had to turn in their old money for new at a decreased value. The banks also confiscated savings and bank deposits to control the amount of money in circulation. In the 1950s, Czechoslovakia experienced high economic growth (averaging 7% per year), which allowed for a substantial increase in wages and living standards, thus promoting the stability of the regime. In 1968, when

7812-520: Was a landlocked country in Central Europe , created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary . In 1938, after the Munich Agreement , the Sudetenland became part of Nazi Germany , while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland (the territories of southern Slovakia with a predominantly Hungarian population to Hungary and Zaolzie with a predominantly Polish population to Poland). Between 1939 and 1945,

7905-484: Was a further continuation of negotiations. It reaffirmed the provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano which had not been modified by the Berlin Treaty and established amounts of compensation that the Ottoman Empire owed to Russia for losses to businesses and institutions during the war. It granted amnesty to Ottoman subjects and for release of prisoners of war. In addition, Article VII of the treaty provided that in

7998-420: Was agreed that although the new States had been recognized, they had not been 'created' before the signatures of the final Peace Treaties. Clemenceau noted in an aide-memoire attached to the Polish treaty that the minority protections were consistent with diplomatic precedent: This treaty does not constitute any fresh departure. It has for long been the established procedure of the public law of Europe that when

8091-595: Was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was founded in October 1918, as one of the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I and as part of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . It consisted of the present day territories of Bohemia , Moravia , parts of Silesia making up present day Czech Republic , Slovakia , and a region of present-day Ukraine called Carpathian Ruthenia . Its territory included some of

8184-614: Was majority Polish, in October 1938. On 14 March 1939, the remainder ("rump") of Czechoslovakia was dismembered by the proclamation of the Slovak State , the next day the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia was occupied and annexed by Hungary, while the following day the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed. The eventual goal of the German state under Nazi leadership was to eradicate Czech nationality through assimilation, deportation, and extermination of

8277-475: Was organized under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich , and the fortress town of Terezín was made into a ghetto way station for Jewish families. On 4 June 1942 Heydrich died after being wounded by an assassin in Operation Anthropoid . Heydrich's successor, Colonel General Kurt Daluege , ordered mass arrests and executions and the destruction of the villages of Lidice and Ležáky . In 1943

8370-530: Was reestablished under its pre-1938 borders, with the exception of Carpathian Ruthenia, which became part of the Ukrainian SSR (a republic of the Soviet Union ). The Communist Party seized power in a coup in 1948 . From 1948 to 1989, Czechoslovakia was part of the Eastern Bloc with a planned economy . Its economic status was formalized in membership of Comecon from 1949 and its defense status in

8463-528: Was reestablished, with the exception of Sub carpathian Ruthenia , which was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . The Beneš decrees were promulgated concerning ethnic Germans (see Potsdam Agreement ) and ethnic Hungarians. Under the decrees, citizenship was abrogated for people of German and Hungarian ethnic origin who had accepted German or Hungarian citizenship during

8556-554: Was succeeded by his close ally Edvard Beneš (1884–1948). The roots of Czech nationalism go back to the 19th century, when philologists and educators, influenced by Romanticism , promoted the Czech language and pride in the Czech people . Nationalism became a mass movement in the second half of the 19th century. Taking advantage of the limited opportunities for participation in political life under Austrian rule, Czech leaders such as historian František Palacký (1798–1876) founded various patriotic, self-help organizations which provided

8649-525: Was the chairman and dominant personality. The most important task of the Congress was to decide the fate of Bulgaria , but Bulgaria itself was excluded from participation in the talks, at Russian insistence. At the time, as it was not a sovereign state , Bulgaria was not a subject of international law , and the same went for the Bulgarians themselves. The exclusion was already an established fact in

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