Introduction

The attempt to include a provision concerning religious liberty in the Covenant of the League of Nations failed. However, a second route opened up with the conclusion of a series of minorities treaties which did embrace the concept. These treaties were drafted in the New States Committee which was established by the Council of Four on 1 May 1919. The work of the Committee was, however, preceded by a series of discussions between those representing the principal Allied Powers who were most informed – or, rather, the most lobbied – on the question of the Jews in Poland. As the work of the Committee progressed and broadened out to embrace the problem of minorities in all of the newly constituted and enlarged States in Central and Eastern Europe, it did become more formalized and experts were brought in to help. In the initial stages, however, the decision-making process was concentrated in the hands of a very small circle, comprising the Committee members and the Supreme Council.

Moreover, the very existence of the New States Committee remained secret during the initial phase of its activities. Although the members had no shortage of information from their advisors, and kept up a constant dialogue with the Jewish and Polish groups, formal consultations only took place at a very late stage by which time the basic structure of the Polish Treaty, which served as a model for the others, was well advanced. The Polish Treaty, then, established the pattern of minorities protection during the inter-war years and exerted a powerful influence on the development of human rights protection following the Second World War.