⌂ HOME: HOW DID THE LEAGUE WORK FOR A BETTER WORLD?

• Refugees: The League did tremendous work in getting refugees and former prisioners of war back to their homelands. The Refugees Committee Fridtjof Nansen introduced the "Nansen Passport" (Document). This made it much easier or refugees to travel across borders to return home or resettle in new lands. The League acted quickly to stamp out cholera, smallpox and dysentery in the camps. The Refugee Committee was constantly short of funds and Nansen spent much of this time trying to raise donations. In 1930s his work became more difficult because the international situation became more tense.
• Working Conditions: The International Labour Organisation was successful in banning the limiting hours that small children were allowed to work. They also wanted to improve working conditions. The International Labour Organisation hampered by lack of funds. Many abuses were not even known about before the International Labour Organisation exposed them.
•  Health: The Health Committee produced some important achievements. As well as collecting statistical information and spreading good practice it sponsored research into infectious diseases with institutes (These were helping to develop vaccines and other medicines) in Singapore, London and Denmark. The Health Committee was one of the most successful of the League's organisations.
• Transport: The League made recommendations on marking shipping lanes and produced an international highway code for road users.
• Social problems: The League blacklisted four large German, Dutch, French and Swiss companies which were involved in the illegal drug trade. It organized raids against slave owners.

Conclusion: even in the areas where it could not remove social injustice, the League kept careful records of what was going on and provided information on problems such as drug trafficking, prostitution and slavery.

1. ORGANISATION: a) THE COUNCIL

• Was smaller that the Assembly, which met about five times a year or more often in case of emergency. It included:
• permanent members. In 1920 were Britain, France, Italy and Japan.
• temporary members, elected by the Assembly for three-year periods.
• Each permanent member had a veto (which meant that one permanent member could stop the Council acting even if all the other members agreed).
• If any dispute arose between members, they brought the problems to the Council and it was sorted out through discussion before matters got out of hand. If this didn't work, the Council could use a range of powers:
• Moral condemnation: they could decide which country was the aggressor (which country was to blame), and they could condemn the aggressor's action and tell it to stop what it was doing. 
• Economic and financial sanctions: members of the League could refuse to trade with the aggressor.
• military force: the armed forces of member countries could be used against and aggressor.

1. ORGANISATION: b) THE ASSEMBLY

• Was the League's Parliament. Every country in the League sent a representative to the Assembly.
• It could recommend action to the Council and could vote on: 
• admitting new members to the League
• appointing temporary members of the Council 
• the budget of the League
• other ideas put forward by the Council 
• Only met once a year. 
• Decisions made by the Assembly had to be unanimous - they had to be agreed by all members of the Assembly.
  

1. ORGANISATION: c) THE PERMANENT COURT OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

• Was meant to be playing a key role in the League's work of settling disputes between countries peacefully.
• The Court was based at the Hague in the Netherlands and was made up of judges from the member countries.
• If it was asked, the Court would give a decision on a border dispute between two countries. 
• It also gave legal advice to the Assembly or Council.
• However, the Court had no way of making sure that countries followed its rulings. 

1. ORGANISATION: d) THE SECRETARIAT

• Was a sort of civil service.
• It kept records of the League meetings and prepared reports for the different agencies of the League.
• The Secretariat had specialist sections covering areas such as health, disarmament and economic matters.

1. ORGANISATION: e) THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO)

• Brought together employers, governments and workers' representatives once a year.
• Its aim was to improve the conditions of working people throughout the world.
• It collected statistics and information about working conditions and it tried to persuade member countries to adopt its suggestions.

1. ORGANISATION: f) THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS COMISSIONS

The League's agencies which were created to solve major problems were:

• The Mandates Commission was made to control how people on mandates (colonies of Germany and its allies which ended up as League's mandates ruled by Britain or France) were being treated and to make sure that Britain or France acted in the interests of the people of that territory, not its own interests. 
• The Refugees Committee was created to help refugees (people who had fled from the areas of conflict at the First World War) to return to their homes, or help them to settle and find work in new countries. 
• The Slavery Commission worked to abolish slavery around the world. (And there were also many workers who weren't technically slaves, but were treated like slaves).
• The Health Committee attempted to deal with dangerous diseases and to educate people about health and sanitation. It worked with charities and many other independent agencies to collect statistics about health issues, to spread the new ideas and to develop programmes to fight desease.