Yatsyshyn N. International legal protection of national minorities in the interwar period (by the example of Ukrainian minority's situation in Poland).

This research deals with the processes of forming legal base and functioning of the institutional system of the national minorities rights' protection that were developed and operated within the League of Nations frame in the interwar period. It also contains the comparative analysis of compatibility of the Ukrainian national minority's actual state in the Polish Republic with international legal standards that were developed and operated under this system. The thesis considers the content of the notions of "a minority" and "a national minority", it generalizes main approaches to these definitions, which were developed in the international law doctrine and the practice of the international law of both interwar and modern period. It is proposed to extend the list of the criteria of determining the national minority notion and taking it into consideration the author's definition has been given. The author accomplished a critical review of the League of Nations' activities in the sphere of national minorities rights' protection, she summarized its experience and defined positive and negative aspects that can be taken into account in the process of creating a modern system of national minorities rights' protection which is taking place within the UN reforming human rights mechanisms framework.