## Facts

- The Åland (Aaland) Islands are a strategically located Baltic archipelago near Sweden and Finland, populated overwhelmingly by Swedish-speakers.
- The islands were long under Swedish rule, were ceded to Russia in 1809 with Finland, and remained linked to Finland during the Russian imperial period.
- Finland declared independence in December 1917; Ålanders sought separation from Finland and union with Sweden based on language, culture, and security fears.
- Sweden supported the Ålanders’ request and pressed for a determination (including by plebiscite) on whether the islands should remain with Finland or join Sweden.
- The islands’ strategic value and prior international arrangements on non-fortification/neutral status (including post-1856 undertakings) made the dispute a regional security concern.
- The League of Nations Council took up the dispute under the Covenant’s dispute-settlement framework and sought expert input.
- An International Committee of Jurists advised that the dispute was not solely within Finland’s domestic jurisdiction, allowing League consideration.
- The Council then appointed a Commission of Rapporteurs to recommend a practical settlement addressing sovereignty, minority protection, and security.

## Issues

1. Whether the islands’ inhabitants’ wishes and claims of self-determination required separation from Finland and union with Sweden.
2. Whether the Ålanders’ linguistic, cultural, and security concerns justified international support for secession or could be met through autonomy and minority protections within Finland.
3. What security arrangement should govern the islands, including demilitarization and neutralization, given their strategic location and earlier treaty practice.

## Decision

- The Commission recommended that sovereignty over the Åland Islands remain with Finland, and the League Council accepted that recommendation.
- The Commission rejected treating self-determination as conferring a legal entitlement to unilateral secession in the circumstances presented.
- The Commission recommended robust, durable guarantees of autonomy and minority protection for the Åland population, especially concerning language, education, and local administration, supported by international assurance.
- The Commission recommended an international settlement of the security dimension through demilitarization and neutralization of the islands, to be implemented by treaty.

## Legal Principles

- Self-determination, as applied in the dispute, did not operate as an automatic legal right of a linguistic minority to secede and change sovereignty unilaterally.
- Claims for separation were evaluated against the stability of states and the risk of multiplying territorial disputes in a postwar order with many mixed-population regions.
- Minority protection and meaningful internal autonomy may be treated as the primary remedy for identity- and security-based grievances when they can secure the population’s essential interests without altering borders.
- The treatment of minorities may be a matter of international concern and can be supported by international guarantees without transferring sovereignty.
- Demilitarization and neutralization can serve as international-law mechanisms to address strategic fears independently of territorial title.

## Conclusion

The League’s settlement maintained Finnish sovereignty over the Åland Islands while requiring strong autonomy and minority protections for the Swedish-speaking population and coupling that arrangement with treaty-based demilitarization and neutralization to address regional security concerns.


The Aaland Islands Question (Comm’n of Rapporteurs), League of Nations Doc. B7/21/68/106 (1921)