Draft:Act on Åland Autonomy

Act on Åland Autonomy

Signed	6 May 1920
Ratified	1921 (Original) 1951 (First Revision) 1993 (Second Revision)
Negotiators	Sweden League of Nations
Parties	Åland Finland
Languages	Swedish

The Act on Åland Autonomy (Swedish: Självstyrelselagen), also known as the Autonomy Act of Åland and the Åland Self-Government Act, was passed by the Finnish Parliament on 6 May 1920 in response to the Åland Question also referred to as the Åland Islands dispute. The Ålanders initially rejected the Act, as it affirmed Finnish sovereignty over the islands, and instead advocated for incorporation into Sweden due to historic, cultural, and linguistic ties. To avoid conflict between Finland and Sweden, the matter was brought before the newly formed League of Nations, which ruled in 1921 that Finland would keep sovereignty, while granting Åland protection for its Swedish culture, language, and self-government.

Background

The Åland Islands, an archipelago situated in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland, have long held a unique cultural and linguistic identity similar to that of Sweden. Historically, the islands were part of the Kingdom of Sweden until 1809, when Sweden ceded Finland and Åland to Russia under the Treaty of Fredrikshamn following Swedens defeat in the Finnish War. Although under the control of the Russian Empire and part of the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Åland Islands managed to maintain their distinctly Swedish cultural identity with Swedish remaining their dominant language.

In August 1917, amid the collapse of the Russian Empire, all municipal representatives of Åland secretly convened at the Åland Folk High School and decided to request unification with Sweden. A committee was formed to carry out a mass appeal, and in December 1917, they formally petitioned to King Gustav V and the Swedish government. The petition was supported by 7,135 men and women aged 21 or older – an overwhelming majority of the adult population.

When Finland declared independence from Russia on 6 December 1917, the Ålanders invoked the principle of national self-determination, citing their cultural and historical ties to Sweden, but Finland's newly independent parliament rejected their request for reunification. Instead proposing internal autonomy through the Act on Åland Autonomy, which the Ålanders initially refused to accept.

In response to the Ålanders requests and the rising military tensions on the islands, Sweden sent a peaceful expedition to Åland on 14 February 1918 with the aim of protecting the Ålanders and to ensure the withdrawal of the approximately 2,000 Russian troops stationed there. Accompanying the Swedish forces was the Russian government's representative in Stockholm, tasked with assisting negotiations for the evacuation. Although the Russian troops initially agreed to depart, the arrival of around 600 Finnish White Guard soldiers complicated the situation. The Russian forces subsequently insisted they would only leave if the Finnish troops also withdrew, eventually both the Russians and Finnish left the islands.

Fourteen days after the withdrawal of Finnish and Russian forces, a German naval detachment of approximately 1,200 troops landed on Åland. Their arrival, part of the German support for the Finnish White government during the Finnish Civil War, came as a surprise to the Ålanders. Following the end of the Finnish civil war, in December 1918, Finland, Sweden, and Germany signed an agreement to dismantle the Russian fortifications that had been built on the islands. The demolition was carried out between 1 April and 11 October 1919 under the supervision of the Swedish military. In June 1919, a peace treaty between the three countries was signed in Versailles.

The Ålanders continued to campaign for reunification with Sweden, this sentiment was expressed in the unofficial 1919 Ålandic status referendum, in which 95.48% of voters supported integration into Sweden. However, Finland refused to allow or recognise a plebiscite, asserting its sovereign rights over the territory.