LEAGUE Of NATIONS, saunioated to - C.392.1932.I. e Members Of e Council* Geneva* April 20th, I932.
PROTECTION OF MINORITIES IN POLAND.
PETITIONS OF Mme. RUDNYCKâ AND M. PELENSKY CONCERNING THE ALLOTMENT OF LAND TO SOLDIERS OF THE POLISH ARMY IN THE EASTERN VOIYODIES OF POLAND. (Documents C.184, C.217 and C.318. I932. I.)
Note by the Secretary-General.
Under the Council resolution of June 13th, I929,
para.4 (i), the Secretary-General has the honour to circulate,
for the information of the Members of the Council, a letter
addressed to him by the Representatives of France, Panama
and the United Kingdom with reference to their examination
of these petitions and the observations of the Polish
Government thereon.
In accordance with the Council resolution referred
to above, the documents concerning this question are kept
in the archives of the Secretariat at the disposal of the
Council.
t Translation.
Letter from the Representatives of France, Panama and the United Kingdom.
Geneva, April 13th, 1932.
To the Secretary-General.
Sir, 1 ) A Minorities Committee, Af which we were
members, examined several petitions from two Ukranian deputies
to the Polish Sejm, Mme. Milena Rudnycka and M. Pelensky,
concerning the allotment of land to soldiers of the Polish
army in the eastern voivodies (Vilna, Novogrodek, Volhynia,
Polesia and part of the voivodie of Bialystok). The
Committee examined at the same time the observations on
these petitions presented by the Polish Government in a Note
dated March y t h , 1932^^ from the Polish Permanent Delega
tion accredited to the League of Nations.
2 ) The petitioners refer to a Bill recently
submitted to the Sejm by the Polish Government. They also
mention previous legislation in the matter, particularly
the law of December 17th, 1920, and the decree of the
President of the Republic of November 24th, I93O, and announce
their intention of submitting a further petition on the
subject.
3) As regards previous legislation, the Committee
noted that, as the Polish Government pointed out, this legis
lation has already been considered by another Minorities
Committee, in connection with a petition submitted by six
(!) Doc.C.1Ô4 , C.217 and C.3I8.I932.I. -3- members of the White Ruthenian parliamentary group in the
Polish Diet. The results of this Committee’s examination were embodied in the letter which its members sent to the
Secretary-G-eneral, for the information of the other Members of the Council, in March 1931 (Dec. C .^>,1 ^ 2 .1 , page 4) •
The information contained on this subject in the petitions we have had to examine is such that we cannot arrive at
a conclusion different from that already reached by the previous Committee. 7/e feel therefore that we need only refer to that Committee's letter. Our conclusion is ob viously subject to any new information or facts which may be contained in the supplementary petition which the peti tioners have definitely and on several occasions announced that they intend to communicate.
4 ) A study of the allegations made by the petitioners regarding the recent Bill shows that they regard its provisions as being contrary to the provisions of the
Polish Minorities Treaty, which promises to secure for the minorities the same treatment and the same guarantees in law and in fact as are accorded to the ma jorityr for the two following reasons: a) the colonisation contemplated in the Bill would be of benefit only to soldiers of Polish race; b ) as such colcnisation is to take place only in territories inhabited mainly by a White Ruthenian and
Ukranian population, this minority population will suffer the consequences of this colonisation, namely, a decrease in the area of land available for the application of the agrarian reform in these regions. -4-
5 ) The mere reading of the Bill is sufficient to show that it contains no clause providing that only soldiers of Polish race, to the exclusion of all others, may reap the benefits of the proposed colonisation. The Government in its observations declares that "any person who can prove that he fulfils the conditions required by the objective prescriptions of the Bill may obtain its benefits, without distinction of nationality or religion”, and we have not been able to discover among the’conditions any which would make it possible to exclude soldiers belonging to minorities.
But the point which appeared to us decisive and of a nature to dispel the anxiety expressed by the petitioners is the explicit and categoric statement of the Polish Government to the effect that this Bill .does not contemplate a dis tribution of land to new military colonists. If, as a con sequence of this Bill, new colonists are not installed, it is obvious that its application can give rise to no dis crimination as between soldiers of Polish race and soldiers belonging to minorities, and still less to a "fresh wave of colonisation to the detriment of minorities."
6 ) On the other hand, the Government admits that the result of this Bill will be a certain "redistribution of land" with a view to the improved operation of farms, but states (a statement of which the Committee duly took note) that the only land to be used for this purpose will be land
"not reserved for disposal by allotment as laid down in the agrarian reform”, and that "consequently the Bill in its present form does not in any way decrease the existing reserve of land which,, under Articles 1 and 51 of the -5-
Agrarian Reform Lav/ of December 28th, 192^1 is to be distributed by allotment in the first place to the local population.”
7) We wish, finally, to point out that the Polish Gov
ernment has explained the reasons which led it to choose the
eastern voivod5.es for military colonisation. Not only is
agriculture considerably less developed in these territories
than in the other provinces, but the population is far less
dense than in the other voivodios of Poland. In the other
volvodies the density of the population per sq.km. varies,
according to the information furnished by the Government on the
basis of the 1921 census, between 57*3- (Pomerelia) and 265*9
(Silesia). In the eastern volvodies the figures are 20.8
(Polesia) and 47-5 (Volhynia).
8) In these circumstances, the members of the Com
mittee decided to close the examination of the question without
bringing it to the notice of the Council.
The Council resolution of June 13th, I929, paragraph
4 (i), lays down that when the members of a minorities committee
have finished the examination of a question without asking that
it be placed on the Council's agenda, they shall coicmunicate the
result of their examination by letter to the other Members of
the Council for their information. We have therefore the honour
to request you to communicate the contents of this letter to
the other Members of the Council for their information.
We have, etc.
(Signed) R., MASSIGLI.
(Signed) . Narciso GARIY.
(Signed) Alexander CÂDOGAN.