Internal Self-Determination of Peoples and the Language Rights of Ethnic Minorities in Official Communication in the Czech Republic a Hundred Years on since the Great War

The present article addresses the evolution of the customary international law right to self-determination of peoples in Europe since World War I, along with the treaty-based system for the protection of minority and regional languages in Central Europe that emerged in the 20th Century. This article also briefly examines the history of minorities residing in the territory of the present-day Czech Republic, commencing with the German colonization of the border regions in the 13th century. Subsequently, it elucidates the discrimination against minorities in the Czech Republic during the latter half of the 20th century, attributable in part to the post-war communist regime, as well as to the resentment harboured by the majority of the Czechoslovak population towards German citizens following World War II. Based on this discussion, the article then scrutinizes the current state of the Czech legal system concerning the procedural rights of ethnic (national) minorities in the use of minority languages under the municipal law of the Czech Republic at the onset of the 21st century.