890G.42/35
The Minister Resident in Iraq (Knabenshue) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 22.]
Sir: I have the honor to report as follows regarding a new educational law which the Iraqi Government is about to enact and which, if passed in its present form, would be prejudicial to American and other foreign schools.
A few weeks ago the local press published brief items announcing that the Ministry of Education was preparing a new education law, mentioning briefly some of the provisions thereof for the control of foreign schools. Inasmuch as it was evident that a new law such as proposed would be very damaging to foreign schools, in Iraq, I decided to consult with M. Lescuyer, my French colleague, in the matter. Aside from a large number of Iranian schools, the only other foreign schools in Iraq are French and American. M. Lescuyer and I decided to take parallel action with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Consequently, on June 15 I called on the Foreign Minister and handed him a copy in Arabic of the enclosed copy1 of an article published in the Al-Bilad on Tuesday, May 23, 1939, regarding the alleged new educational law, remarking that a law containing the provisions such as reported would hardly seem consistent with our treaty rights and particularly with Article 15 of Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations of May 30, 1932.2 His Excellency said that he knew nothing about the matter and that as far as he knew the Ministry for Foreign Affairs had not been consulted, but that he would immediately make inquiries at the Ministry of Education. I suggested to His Excellency that if some such new law were in process of formulation I hoped he would be good enough to let me see the draft of it before it would be passed to the Council of Ministers, explaining that if it should contain any clauses which might seem to [Page 546] be in conflict with the privileges of foreign schools as guaranteed by treaty rights and Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations, we might be able in consultation to reconcile such differences before the draft would be presented to the Council of Ministers. His Excellency very kindly agreed to do this.
Some days ago Mr. MacDougall, the British Legal Advisor to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, first hinted to me and then spoke frankly about the proposed new educational law which had been submitted to him for examination. From our conversation it was evident that it was his intention to endeavour to cause the law to be redrafted so that it would not violate treaty rights and Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations.
It would seem that Mr. MacDougall was not successful in his efforts, for on August 1 the local press published the alleged text of the new law (a copy of which is enclosed3) with a statement to the effect that the law would be presented to Parliament for approval before the close of the present session. After consultation with the Reverend Francis B. Serjeant, S. J., Principal of the American Jesuit school known as the Baghdad College, and with M. Valadier, the French Chargé d’Affaires ad interim, I despatched a note to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, a copy of which is enclosed herewith. I am also enclosing a copy of a note with translation sent by the French Legation to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the same connection.3 I am also enclosing a copy of a memorandum prepared at my request by Father Serjeant3 analysing the proposed law and commenting upon the effect of its application to American schools, and showing also in what respects it is a contravention of American treaty rights and Article 15 of Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations.
In view of the serious difficulties with which the American schools would be confronted were such a law to be hastily enacted by the Iraqi Parliament, I took advantage of the occasion of the Prime Minister’s dining with me last night to mention the matter to him and to ask that he be good enough to hold the law over until the next session of Parliament in October (the present Parliament is expected to adjourn within a few days) in order that the representations which I propose to make in the matter might be given due consideration before enactment of the proposed new law. General Nuri very kindly promised to do so and assured me that no action would be taken until after the opening of the next session of Parliament.
The only specific comment that General Nuri made to me in connection with the proposed law was that the article providing for the [Page 547] prohibition of Iraqi subjects to attend foreign primary schools was directed essentially against the Iranian schools and that he agreed to the inclusion of the article in this form because he seemed to be under the impression that the American Missions in Iraq were conducting only secondary schools here. In this respect General Nuri has been misinformed, for Primary schools as well as Secondary schools are conducted both by Dr. John Van Ess in Basrah and by Dr. Staudt in Baghdad.
I am asking both Dr. Van Ess and Dr. Staudt to furnish me with memoranda giving their comments regarding the effect of the application of the proposed law to their schools and when received these memoranda will be sent to the Department.
I would like to draw the Department’s attention to the fact that while in my note to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs I have referred to the Convention and Protocol between the United States, Great Britain, and Iraq, signed at London on June [January] 9, 1930,4 and to the exchange of notes of the same date between the Minister of Iraq and the American Ambassador at London,5 the question might be raised as to whether the provisions thereof are now applicable in the case now at issue. According to Article 7 of the Convention cited it might be held that pending the conclusion of new agreements, American nationals are entitled only to Most Favored Nation treatment and that the rights specifically provided for in the Convention in respect to American schools are superseded by and rest exclusively in the rights granted under Article 15 of Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations of May 30, 1932. This is of course a debatable point but one which might be raised and which should be considered by the Department.
I would also like to draw the Department’s attention to the fact that in some respects Article 15 of Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations is more favorable to foreign schools than is Article 4 of the Convention with the United States, for the former does not contain the specification indicated in capital letters6 in the following quotation from Article 4 of the Convention:
“Subject to the provisions of any local laws for the maintenance of public order and public morals, and to any other7 general educational requirements prescribed by law in Iraq the nationals of the United States will be permitted freely to establish and maintain educational, philanthropic, and religious institutions in Iraq, to receive voluntary applicants, and to teach in the English language.”
Article 15 of Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations merely states as follows:
“Subject to such measures as may be essential for the maintenance of public order and morality, Iraq undertakes to ensure and guarantee throughout its territory freedom of conscience and worship and the free exercise of the religious, educational, and medical activities of religious missions of all denominations, whatever the nationality of those missions or of their members.”
Even if it were accepted that rights under the Convention have been superseded by Article 15 of Iraq’s Declaration to the League of Nations, it would seem that the Iraqi Minister’s note of January 9, 1930, to the American Ambassador at London clarifying Article 2 of the Protocol might still properly be invoked.
In the circumstances I respectfully ask that the Department instruct me in respect to the nature and form of the representations which it desires me to make to the Iraq Government in this matter and that such instructions reach me as early as possible before the opening of the Iraqi Parliament on October 7.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
- For text of Declaration, see League of Nations document No. A.17.1932.VII: Request of the Kingdom of Iraq for Admission to the League of Nations, p. 3.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1930, vol. iii, p. 302.↩
- Ibid., pp. 307–308.↩
- Printed in italics.↩
- The word “other” does not appear in the text of the convention.↩