105 years ago, Albania adopted the Charter for the Protection of Minorities

On 2 October 1921, Albania adopted the Charter for the Protection of Minorities, which guaranteed all citizens “full protection of life and liberty, without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race or religion.”

Albania considered members of minorities to be citizens with equal rights. The step came thanks to the signing of the Charter for the Protection of Minorities at the League of Nations in Geneva by the Albanian representative, Fan Noli.

“Everyone could change their citizenship within a set period; those who had stayed in Albania before the war, their wives and their young sons up to the age of 18, would have the right, if they wished, to become Albanian citizens within two years of the date of this declaration,” read the speech delivered by Noli at the League of Nations.

Continuing his declaration, Noli specified that Greek citizens would be considered those Albanian subjects who, on the date of entry into force of the treaty between the great powers and Greece, signed at Sèvres on 10 August 1920, lived in the territories that had passed to Greece.

A change of religious faith would not prevent any Albanian subject from enjoying political rights or rights in other areas of life. A further facilitation for members of minorities would be made in the courts: although the Albanian government had made the mother tongue official, this group would have the right to use its language of origin in writing and orally before the court.