Great Britain, British Jews, and the international protection of Romanian Jews, 1900-1914: a study of Jewish diplomacy and minority rights

 
13
L’emigration des Juifs Roumains dans la Correspondance Diplomatique Francaise, 
1900-1902 (1981) is based on French diplomatic correspondence, with printed 
documents included.  
 
 
1.3  International protection of minorities  
 
 
The Romanian Jewish question can be approached from the perspective of 
ethnic minority rights. Within the context of debate over minority rights, 
Romanians and outside forces attempted to define, shape, and contest the legal 
position of Romanian Jews. At the centre was the clash of an emerging nation 
state, Romania, with the international community, the Great Powers. Romania 
was intent on guarding its sovereignty against any outside intervention into 
what it saw as its own internal affairs. In contrast, the Great Powers were keen 
to control new states and to impose minority protection standards on them. To 
add to the controversy, serious disagreements arose between the Romanian 
government and Jewish organisations and individuals in Western Europe and 
America.  
 
In order to be able to discuss minority rights, one has first to define the 
word ‘minority’. The definition of a ‘minority’ is undeniably problematic. In 
international law, there is no binding definition of ‘a minority’ in the sense of 
groups of persons who differ from the majority in ethnicity, religion or 
language. Attempts have been made since the interwar era to define the term.
9
 
Since the Second World War, the United Nations has made several suggestions, 
and in the 1990s, regional organisations such as the Council of Europe have also 
put forward draft definitions. The United Nations documents have used the 
expression ‘ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities’, but sometimes the term 
‘national minorities’ is also used.
10
 A historian studying minorities in past 
                                                           
9
  
See Capotorti 1979, 5, for the definition attempts by the League of Nations. 
10
  
Perhaps the most influential definition of ‘a minority’ has been the one included in 
the so-called Capotorti Study of the United Nations in the late seventies: ‘A group 
numerically inferior to the rest of the population of a state, in a non-dominant 
position, whose members — being nationals of the state — possess ethnic, religious 
or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the population and 
show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed towards preserving their 
culture, traditions, religion or language.’ Capotorti 1979, 96.  
 
 
The following elements are nearly always present in the definitions of a 
minority: 
 
 
1. A minority group has features that distinguish it from the other groups 
living  
within the state. These factors can be ethnic, linguistic or religious.  
 
 
2. A minority group is numerically inferior to the rest of the population.  
 
 
3. A minority group is in a non-dominant position in the state. 
 
 
4. Members of the minority are nationals of the state.  
 
 
5. Members of the minority group wish to preserve their distinct 
characteristics,   and they have a sense of community.  
 
For a discussion on these features, see, for example, Shaw 1992, 23-30. 

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societies will encounter additional problems. Modern definitions can not be 
applied directly to historical situations.  
 
Minority protection falls into two categories: protection that is granted 
through domestic legislation within a country and protection that is dependant 
on international treaties. International protection of minorities is often believed 
to conflict with the principle of state sovereignty. States can, however, sign 
treaties in which they voluntarily enter into agreements to protect minority 
rights within their territory.
11
 These considerations were relevant to the 
Romanian case as well: the protection of Romanian Jews was initiated from 
outside Romania, by means of international treaties.
  
 
Zelim Tskhovrebov defines international minority rights along these lines: 
 
 
‘the meaning of international ”minority”-specific legal norms is an imposition of 
 
specific obligations upon states designed to facilitate the preservation of those 
 
differentiating features on which ”minority” groups place high premium.’
12
 
 
From another perspective, minority rights can refer either to non-discrimination 
or to special rights. In the latter case, minorities are granted special treatment 
(or affirmative action) in order to help them to preserve their distinct features.
13
 
Before the First World War, it was the former type of minority rights, i.e. equal 
rights and non-discrimination, which were sought after. The right to acquire 
citizenship of the country of residence was considered to be particularly 
significant. 
 
Before the First World War, international minority protection functioned 
in a very fragmented manner. Its focus was on minority problems in Eastern 
and South-Western Europe, and a prime example was the Treaty of Berlin in 
1878. The provisions of the treaties reflected Western norms, which were now 
being imposed on other, less developed countries. The minorities that were 
being protected differed from present-day minorities, as did the measures and 
goals that had been designed to protect them. At that time, there was no 
powerful international organisation such as the United Nations or the League of 
Nations; the main actors in the arena of international minority protection were 
the Great Powers. Minority issues usually came to the fore at times when great 
international settlements were being concluded. Hence, minority rights can be 
understood as an attempt to secure peace and order by minimising the 
possibility of ethnic conflicts.
14
  
 
Protection was case-specific: treaties that contained stipulations on 
minority rights were series of separate provisions and did not constitute a 
consistent system of minority protection. It is essential to bear in mind that the 
protected people were usually identified by their religion — as were the 
Romanian Jews. However, the minority protection clauses tended to extend 
beyond purely religious rights, covering also, for example, education rights, the 
                                                           
11
  
Modeen 1969, 29-30. 
12
  
Tskhovrebov 1998, 62. 
13
  
Humphrey 1989, 46-47. 
14
  
Jackson Preece 1998, 11, 42. 

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