Post World War I The Minority Treaties

World War I changed the situation for minorities because of self-determination of other groups or entities. It is also important to note that the type of minority changed. While there by now was a tradition to protect religious minorities, the focus now changed to include national and ethnic minorities. The principle of self-determination showed itself to be a delicate principle and it was incoherently applied after World War 1. The self-determination of the new Eastern European states meant that considerable numbers of minorities [...] would, paradoxically, be victims of the self-determination of their new masters.  

12 deals with the enforcement of the treaty and is described as the most innovative, contested and revised portion of the Polish Minority Treaty. It places the responsibility of guaranteeing adherence to the treaty with the Council of the League of Nations. From the viewpoint of minorities, art. 12 uplifted their status breaches by the states would not go uimoticed anymore. As art. 12 only refers cases to the League of Nations and does not directly provide sanctions for violations of the previous provisions of the treaty, the protection often remained on paper. The League of Nations received complaints but was not obligated to consider them. 

The minority treaties protected minorities however, their success was not measured on how minorities were protected. The objective of the treaties had been political  

The object of the protection of minorities which those treaties conunitted to the League of Nations was to avoid the many inter-state frictions and conflicts which had occurred in the past, as a result of the frequent ill-treatment or oppression of national minorities.  

Preamble Explanatory Report to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995) As published in Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities - Collected Texts, 4th ed.. Council of Europe, 2007, pp. 17-35, Strasbourg. 

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