RATIFICATIONS of the Treaty between Great Britain, France, &c., respecting the Frontiers of Central European States. Signed at Sèvres, August 10, 1920.* DECLARATION concerning the Protection of Minorities in Albania.-Geneva, October 2, 1921.‡ [Ratification deposited at the Permanent Secretariat of the League of Nations, March 22, 1922.] ART. I. The stipulations of this Declaration are recognised as fundamental laws of Albania and no law, regulation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations, nor shall any law, regulation or official action now or in the future prevail over them. II. Full and complete protection of life and liberty will be assured to all inhabitants of Albania, without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race or religion. All inhabitants of Albania will be entitled to the free exercise, whether public or private, of any creed, religion or belief, whose practices are not inconsistent with public order or public morals. They will have the right to change their religion. Suitable provision will be made in the case of Mussulmans for regulating family law and personal status in accordance with Mussulman usage. III. All persons born in Albania who are not born nationals of another State shall, ipso facto, be Albanian nationals. Persons habitually resident in Albania before the war will be allowed, together with their wives and children under * Vol. CXIII, page 866. + The Serb-Croat-Slovene State acceded August 6, 1921. League of Nations Treaty Series," No. 249. Signed also in tha French language. 18 years of age, within two years from the date of this Declaration, to become Albanian citizens if they make application to that effect. Albanian nationals habitually resident at the coming into force of the Treaty between the Principal Allied Powers and Greece signed at Sèvres on the 10th August, 1920,* in territories transferred to Greece by treaties subsequent to the 1st January, 1913, shall be recognised as becoming Greek nationals ipso facto and without the requirement of any formality. Nevertheless, they will have the right to opt for the Albanian nationality as provided for in Article 3 of the said Treaty of Sèvres, and no hindrance shall be put in the way of the exercise of this right. This right must be exercised within one year of the coming into force of that Treaty. Albania is prepared to comply with any recommendations which may be made by the Council of the League of Nations with respect to the reciprocal and voluntary emigration of persons belonging to ethnical minorities. IV. All Albanian nationals shall be equal before the law, and shall enjoy the same civil and political rights without distinction as to race, language or religion. An electoral system giving due consideration to the rights of racial, religious and linguistic minorities will be applied in Albania. Differences of religion, creed or confession will not prejudice any Albanian national in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil or political rights, as, for instance, admission to public employments, functions and honours, or the exercise of professions and industries. No restriction will be imposed on the free use by any Albanian national of any language in private intercourse, in commerce, in religion, in the Press or in publications of any kind, or at public meetings. Notwithstanding any establishment of an official language, adequate facilities will be given to Albanian nationals of non-Albanian speech for the use of their language, either orally or in writing, before the Courts. V. Albanian nationals who belong to racial, religious or linguistic minorities will enjoy the same treatment and security in law and in fact as other Albanian nationals. In particular, they shall have an equal right to maintain, manage and control at their own expense or to establish in the future charitable, religious and social institutions, schools and other educational establishments, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their religion freely therein. Within six months from the date of the present Declaration, detailed information will be presented to the Council of * Vol. CXIII, page 471. the League of Nations with regard to the legal status of the religious communities, churches, convents, schools, voluntary establishments and associations of racial, religious and linguistic minorities. The Albanian Government will take into consideration any advice it might receive from the League of Nations with regard to this question. VI. Provision will be made in the public educational system in towns and districts in which are resident a considerable proportion of Albanian nationals whose mothertongue is not the official language for adequate facilities for ensuring that in the primary schools instruction shall be given to the children of such nationals through the medium of their own language; it being understood that this provision does not prevent the teaching of the official language being made obligatory in the said schools. In towns and districts where there is a considerable proportion of Albanian nationals belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities, these minorities will be assured an equitable share in the enjoyment and application of sums which may be provided out of public funds under the State, municipal or other budgets, for educational, religious or charitable purposes. VII. The stipulations in the foregoing Articles of this Declaration, so far as they affect the persons belonging to racial, religious or linguistic minorities, are declared to constitute obligations of international concern, and will be placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations. No modification will be made in them without the assent of a majority of the Council of the League of Nations. Any member of the Council of the League of Nations shall have the right to bring to the attention of the Council any infraction or danger of infraction of any of these stipulations, and the Council may thereupon take such action and give such direction as it may deem proper and effective in the circumstances. Any difference of opinion as to questions of law or fact arising out of these Articles between the Albanian Government and any Power a Member of the Council of the League of Nations shall be held to be a dispute of an international character under Article 14 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Any such dispute shall, if the other party thereto demands, be referred to the Permanent Court of International Justice. The decision of the Permanent Court shall be final and shall have the same force and effect as an award under Article 13 of the Covenant. F. S. NOLI. * Vol. CXII, page. 13. CONVENTION between the Argentine Republic and Spain relative to Workmen's Compensation for Accidents.Buenos Aires, November 27, 1919. [Ratifications exchanged at Buenos Aires, September 28, 1922.] (Translation.) His Excellency the President of the Argentine Nation and His Majesty the King of Spain, animated with the desire of regulating in common accord the conditions of workmen of both countries who have suffered accidents in the course of their work in the respective territories of the two States, and of ensuring to them the benefits of reciprocity as regards proper compensation, have appointed their Plenipotentiaries: His Excellency the President of the Argentine Nation: Dr. Honorio Pueyrredon, Minister Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Public Worship; and His Majesty the King of Spain: his Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Don Pablo Soler y Guardiola, to the Argentine Nation; Who, after having communicated their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed upon the following Articles : ART. I. Citizens of each Contracting State, when victims of labour accidents in the territory of the other State, as also their heirs, shall be entitled to such compensation and exceptions as the local law concedes to nationals. II. Notwithstanding any provision of the local law, the right to compensation referred to in the previous Article shall remain if the injured workman or employee or his heirs shall have left the territory of the State where the accident occurred and reside in another country. III. When a Spanish workman in the Argentine Republic, or an Argentine workman in Spain, dies as the result of a labour accident, the heirs of the injured person shall be entitled to receive the proper legal compensation, whatever may be the country of their residence. IV. When a workman, whatever his nationality, dies in either of the two Contracting Countries and his heirs reside in the other Contracting Country, these shall be entitled to receive proper lega! compensation. V. The National Pensions Board, or the Office which carries out its functions in regard to payment of compensations for accidents during work, in the Argentine Republic and the analogous Office in the Kingdom of Spain shall advise the Consuls of the High Contracting Parties in every case, in order that the fact may be communicated to the heirs for the legal effects. VI. The present Agreement shall apply to pending cases of compensation in which payment to the injured persons or their heirs, through the National Pensions Board or the corresponding Office in Spain, has not been made. VII. The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanged in Buenos Aires as soon as possible, and it shall enter into force thirty days from the exchange of ratifications. It shall remain in force for a term of five years and thereafter be considered as prolonged from year to year, unless denounced with one year's notice. In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries sign and seal in duplicate in the city of Buenos Aires, federal capital of the Argentine Republic, on the 27th day of November, 1919. (L.S.) HONORIO PUEYRREDON. CONVENTION between the Argentine Republic and Uruguay for the Triangulation of the River Uruguay.Montevideo, April 11, 1918. [Ratifications exchanged at Buenos Aires, February 3, 1922.] (Translation.) His Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic and his Excellency the President of the Republic of Uruguay, animated by the desire that steps should be taken for the triangulation of the zone of the River Uruguay and the frontiers of both countries, thus satisfying proposals entertained for some time, have resolved to sign a Convention with this object, and have appointed their respective Plenipotentiaries, to wit: His Excellency the President of the Argentine Republic: Señor Dr. Don Carlos de Estrada, Argentine Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his Excellency the President of the Republic of Uruguay; and His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uruguay: Señor Don Baltasar Brum, Uruguayan Minister Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs; Who, after communicating their full powers, which were found in good and due form, have agreed as follows: ART. 1. The Military Geographical Institutes of the Argentine Republic and of the Republic of Uruguay shall carry out conjointly the work of triangulating the zone of the River Uruguay, frontier of both countries, from the mouth of the Cuareim as far as the confluence of the River Uruguay |