Editing League of Nations (section)

==Organization==
{{main|Organisation of the League of Nations}}
{{See also|Permanent Court of International Justice|Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations|Leaders of the League of Nations}}
[[File:League of Nations Organization.png|thumb|League of Nations Organisation chart<ref>{{Cite journal| issue = 2| last = Grandjean| first = Martin| title = Complex structures and international organizations| trans-title = Analisi e visualizzazioni delle reti in storia. L'esempio della cooperazione intellettuale della Società delle Nazioni| journal = Memoria e Ricerca| date = 2017| pages = 371–393| url = https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.14647/87204| doi = 10.14647/87204| access-date = 31 October 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171107020256/https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.14647/87204| archive-date = 7 November 2017| url-status=live| df = dmy-all}} See also: [https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01610098v2 French version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107004313/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01610098v2 |date=7 November 2017 }} (PDF) and [http://www.martingrandjean.ch/complex-structures-and-international-organizations/ English summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102034717/http://www.martingrandjean.ch/complex-structures-and-international-organizations/ |date=2 November 2017 }}.</ref>]] 
[[File:UN Building A Southern Lawn.jpg|thumb|The [[Palace of Nations]], Geneva, the League's headquarters from 1936 until its dissolution in 1946|alt=A drive leads past a manicured lawn to large white rectangular building with columns on it facade. Two wings of the building are set back from the middle section.]]

===Permanent organs===

The main constitutional organs of the League were the Assembly, the council, and the Permanent Secretariat. It also had two essential wings: the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] and the [[International Labour Organization]]. In addition, there were several auxiliary agencies and bodies.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=48, 66}} Each organ's budget was allocated by the Assembly (the League was supported financially by its member states).<ref>{{cite web|publisher=University of Indiana|access-date=5 October 2011|title=Budget of the League|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/pictorialsurvey/lonapspg30.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823153107/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/pictorialsurvey/lonapspg30.htm|archive-date=23 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

The relations between the assembly and the council and the competencies of each were for the most part not explicitly defined. Each body could deal with any matter within the sphere of competence of the league or affecting peace in the world. Particular questions or tasks might be referred to either.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=48–49}}

[[Unanimity]] was required for the decisions of both the assembly and the council, except in matters of procedure and some other specific cases such as the admission of new members. This requirement was a reflection of the league's belief in the sovereignty of its component nations; the league sought a solution by consent, not by dictation. In case of a dispute, the consent of the parties to the dispute was not required for unanimity.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=53}}

The Permanent Secretariat, established at the seat of the League at Geneva, comprised a body of experts in various spheres under the direction of the [[Secretary General|general secretary]].{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=50}} Its principal sections were Political, Financial and Economics, Transit, Minorities and Administration (administering the [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar]] and [[Free City of Danzig|Danzig]]), Mandates, Disarmament, Health, Social (Opium and Traffic in Women and Children), Intellectual Cooperation and International Bureaux, Legal, and Information. The staff of the Secretariat was responsible for preparing the agenda for the Council and the Assembly and publishing reports of the meetings and other routine matters, effectively acting as the League's civil service. In 1931 the staff numbered 707.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 September 2011|publisher=United Nations Office at Geneva|url=http://biblio-archive.unog.ch/detail.aspx?ID=245|title=League of Nations Secretariat, 1919–1946|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111212075827/http://biblio-archive.unog.ch/detail.aspx?ID=245|archive-date=12 December 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:League of Nations 1923.jpg|thumb|A session of the Assembly (1923), meeting in Geneva at the ''Salle de la Réformation'' (in a building at the corner of ''Boulevard Helvétique'' and ''Rue du Rhône'') from 1920 to 1929, and at the ''Bâtiment électoral'' or ''Palais Électoral'' (''Rue du Général- Dufour'' 24) from 1930 to 1936 as well as for special sessions at the ''Palais&nbsp;du désarmement'' adjacent to the [[Palais Wilson]],<ref name="UN GENEVA 1920">{{cite web | title=Main Organs of the League of Nations | website=UN GENEVA | date=1920-12-16 | url=https://www.ungeneva.org/en/library-archives/league-of-nations/organs | access-date=2023-02-24}}</ref> before moving into the ''Assembly Hall'' of the [[Palace of Nations]].]]

The Assembly consisted of representatives of all members of the League, with each state allowed up to three representatives and one vote.<ref name="UNOG">{{cite web | title =Organization and establishment:The main bodies of the League of Nations | publisher =The United Nations Office at Geneva | url =http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/84C4520213F947DDC1256F32002E23DB?OpenDocument | access-date =18 May 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081209115248/http://www.unog.ch/80256EE60057D930/(httpPages)/84C4520213F947DDC1256F32002E23DB?OpenDocument | archive-date =9 December 2008 | url-status =dead | df =dmy-all }}</ref> It met in Geneva and, after its initial sessions in 1920,{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=72}} it convened once a year in September.<ref name="UNOG"/> The special functions of the Assembly included the admission of new members, the periodical election of non-permanent members to the council, the election with the Council of the judges of the Permanent Court, and control of the budget. In practice, the Assembly was the general directing force of League activities.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=48–50}}

The Council acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly's business.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=48}} It began with four permanent members – [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]], [[France]], [[Italy]], and [[Japan]] – and four non-permanent members that were elected by the Assembly for a three-year term.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=42–48}} The first non-permanent members were [[Belgium]], [[Brazil]], [[Greece]], and [[Spain]].<ref name=photo>{{cite web|access-date=15 September 2011|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/photos.htm|publisher=University of Indiana|title=League of Nations Photo Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110909035837/http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eleague/photos.htm|archive-date=9 September 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

The composition of the Council was changed several times. The number of non-permanent members was first increased to six on 22 September 1922 and to nine on 8 September 1926. [[Werner Dankwort]] of Germany pushed for his country to join the League; joining in 1926, Germany became the fifth permanent member of the Council. Later, after Germany and Japan both left the League, the number of non-permanent seats was increased from nine to eleven, and the Soviet Union was made a permanent member giving the council a total of fifteen members.<ref name=photo/> The Council met, on average, five times a year and in extraordinary sessions when required. In total, 107 sessions were held between 1920 and 1939.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 September 2011|publisher=University of Indiana|title=Chronology 1939|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1939.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927120649/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/1939.htm|archive-date=27 September 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Other bodies===

The League oversaw the Permanent Court of International Justice and several other agencies and commissions created to deal with pressing international problems. These included the Disarmament Commission, the [[International Labour Organization|International Labour Organization (ILO)]], the [[League of Nations mandate|Mandates]] Commission, the [[International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation|International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation]]<ref>Grandjean, Martin (2016). [https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01525565 Archives Distant Reading: Mapping the Activity of the League of Nations' Intellectual Cooperation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915204329/https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01525565 |date=15 September 2017 }}. In ''Digital Humanities 2016'', pp. 531–534.</ref> (precursor to [[UNESCO]]), the [[Permanent Central Opium Board]], the Commission for Refugees, the Slavery Commission, and the [[Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations|Economic and Financial Organization]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=National Library of Australia|access-date=15 September 2011|title=League of Nations|url=http://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/league-of-nations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012025850/http://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/league-of-nations|archive-date=12 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Three of these institutions were transferred to the United Nations after the Second World War: the International Labour Organization, the [[Permanent Court of International Justice]] (as the [[International Court of Justice]]), and the Health Organisation<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oculus.nlm.nih.gov/health034|title=Health Organisation Correspondence 1926–1938|publisher=National Library of Medicine}}</ref><ref name="BMJ-1924">{{Cite journal|date=1924|title=The International Health Organization Of The League Of Nations|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20436330|journal=The British Medical Journal|volume=1|issue=3302|pages=672–675|jstor=20436330|issn=0007-1447}}</ref> (restructured as the [[World Health Organization]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://visit.un.org/wcm/content/site/visitors/lang/en/home/about_us/un_offices|access-date=15 September 2011|title=Demise and Legacy|publisher=United Nations Office at Geneva|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110923093857/http://visit.un.org/wcm/content/site/visitors/lang/en/home/about_us/un_offices|archive-date=23 September 2011}}</ref>

The Permanent Court of International Justice was provided for by the Covenant, but not established by it. The Council and the Assembly established its constitution. Its judges were elected by the Council and the Assembly, and its budget was provided by the latter. The Court was to hear and decide any international dispute which the parties concerned submitted to it. It might also give an advisory opinion on any dispute or question referred to it by the council or the Assembly. The Court was open to all the nations of the world under certain broad conditions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~league/pcijoverview.htm|access-date=15 September 2011|title=Permanent Court of International Justice|publisher=University of Indiana|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827192713/http://www.indiana.edu/~league/pcijoverview.htm|archive-date=27 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Breaker boys. Smallest is Angelo Ross. Hughestown Borough Coal Co. Pittston, Pa. - NARA - 523384.jpg|thumb|Child labour in a coal mine, United States, {{Circa|1912}}]]

The International Labour Organization was created in 1919 on the basis of Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=179–80}} The ILO, although having the same members as the League and being subject to the budget control of the Assembly, was an autonomous organisation with its own Governing Body, its own General Conference and its own Secretariat. Its constitution differed from that of the League: representation had been accorded not only to governments but also to representatives of employers' and workers' organisations. [[Albert Thomas (minister)|Albert Thomas]] was its first director.{{sfn|Scott|1973|p=53}}

[[File:Kamerun children weaving.jpg|thumb|right|Child labour in [[Kamerun]] in 1919|alt=A row of more than a dozen children holding wooden looms stretches into the distance.]]

The ILO successfully restricted the addition of lead to paint,{{sfn|Frowein|Rüdiger|2000|p=167}} and convinced several countries to adopt an [[eight-hour day|eight-hour work day]] and forty-eight-hour working week. It also campaigned to end child labour, increase the rights of women in the workplace, and make shipowners liable for accidents involving seamen.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=179–80}} After the demise of the League, the ILO became an agency of the United Nations in 1946.<ref name="ILO">{{cite web | title =Origins and history | publisher =International Labour Organization | url =http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Origins_and_history/lang--en/index.htm | access-date =25 April 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080427052744/http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Origins_and_history/lang--en/index.htm | archive-date =27 April 2008 | df =dmy-all }}</ref>

The League's Health Organisation had three bodies: the Health Bureau, containing permanent officials of the League; the General Advisory Council or Conference, an executive section consisting of medical experts; and the Health Committee. In practice, the Paris-based [[Office international d'hygiène publique]] (OIHP) founded in 1907 after the [[International Sanitary Conferences]], was discharging most of the practical health-related questions, and its relations with the League's Health Committee were often conflictual.<ref>{{cite book|last=Howard-Jones|first=Norman|url=https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/39249|title=International public health between the two world wars: the organizational problems|publisher=[[World Health Organization]]|year=1979|isbn=978-92-4-156058-0|hdl=10665/39249}}</ref><ref name="BMJ-1924" /> The Health Committee's purpose was to conduct inquiries, oversee the operation of the League's health work, and prepare work to be presented to the council.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=182}} This body focused on ending [[leprosy]], [[malaria]], and [[yellow fever]], the latter two by starting an international campaign to exterminate mosquitoes. The Health Organisation also worked successfully with the government of the Soviet Union to prevent [[typhus]] epidemics, including organising a large education campaign.{{sfn|Baumslag|2005|p=8}}<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1093/ahr/rhz577 |doi-access=free|title=Communicable Disease: Information, Health, and Globalization in the Interwar Period |year=2019 |last1=Tworek |first1=Heidi J. S. |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=124 |issue=3 |pages=813–842 }}</ref>

Linked with health, but also commercial concerns, was the topic of narcotics control. Introduced by the second [[International Opium Convention]], the [[International Narcotics Control Board|Permanent Central Opium Board]] had to supervise the statistical reports on trade in [[opium]], morphine, cocaine and heroin. The board also established a system of import certificates and export authorisations for the legal international trade in [[narcotics]].{{sfn|McAllister|1999|pp=76–77}}

The League of Nations had devoted serious attention to the question of international intellectual cooperation since its creation.{{sfn|Grandjean|2018}} The First Assembly in December 1920 recommended that the Council take action aiming at the international organisation of intellectual work, which it did by adopting a report presented by the Fifth Committee of the Second Assembly and inviting a committee on intellectual co-operation to meet in Geneva in August 1922. The French philosopher [[Henri Bergson]] became the first chairman of the committee.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=186–187}} The work of the committee included: an inquiry into the conditions of intellectual life, assistance to countries where intellectual life was endangered, creation of national committees for intellectual cooperation, cooperation with international intellectual organisations, protection of intellectual property, inter-university co-operation, co-ordination of bibliographical work and international interchange of publications, and international co-operation in archaeological research.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=187–189}}

The [[1926 Slavery Convention|Slavery Commission]] sought to eradicate [[slavery]] and slave trading across the world, and fought forced prostitution.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=185–86}} Its main success was through pressing the governments who administered mandated countries to end slavery in those countries. The League secured a commitment from [[Ethiopia]] to end slavery as a condition of membership in 1923, and worked with [[Liberia]] to abolish forced labour and intertribal slavery. The United Kingdom had not supported Ethiopian membership of the League on the grounds that "Ethiopia had not reached a state of civilisation and internal security sufficient to warrant her admission."<ref>British Cabinet Paper 161(35) on the "Italo-Ethiopian Dispute" and exhibiting a "Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on British interests in Ethiopia" dated 18 June 1935 and submitted to Cabinet by [[John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby|Sir John Maffey]]</ref>{{sfn|Northedge|1986|pp=185–86}}

The League also succeeded in reducing the death rate of workers constructing the [[Usambara Railway|Tanganyika railway]] from 55 to 4 per cent. Records were kept to control slavery, prostitution, and the [[Human trafficking|trafficking of women and children]].{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=166}} Partly as a result of pressure brought by the League of Nations, [[Afghanistan]] abolished slavery in 1923, [[Iraq]] in 1924, [[Nepal]] in 1926, [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]] and [[Persia]] in 1929, [[Bahrain]] in 1937, and [[Ethiopia]] in 1942.<ref>{{cite book|year=1976|publisher=Americana Corporation|title=''The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 25''|page=24}}</ref>

[[File:Nansenpassport.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A sample [[Nansen passport]]]]
Led by [[Fridtjof Nansen]], the Commission for Refugees was established on 27 June 1921<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1938/nansen.html|title=Nansen International Office for Refugees|publisher=Nobel Media|access-date=30 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927070056/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1938/nansen.html|archive-date=27 September 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> to look after the interests of refugees, including overseeing their [[repatriation]] and, when necessary, resettlement.{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=77}} At the end of the First World War, there were two to three million ex-prisoners of war from various nations dispersed throughout Russia;{{sfn|Northedge|1986|p=77}} within two years of the commission's foundation, it had helped 425,000 of them return home.{{sfn|Scott|1973|p=59}} It established camps in [[Turkey]] in 1922 to aid the country with an ongoing refugee crisis, helping to prevent the spread of [[cholera]], [[smallpox]] and [[dysentery]] as well as feeding the refugees in the camps.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Walsh|first1=Ben|last2=Scott-Baumann|first2=Michael|date=2013|title=Cambridge Igcse Modern World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOXTXwAACAAJ|publisher=Hodder Education Group|page=35|isbn=978-1-4441-6442-8}}</ref> It also established the [[Nansen passport]] as a means of identification for [[stateless people]].{{sfn|Torpey|2000|p=129}}

The Committee for the Study of the Legal Status of Women sought to inquire into the status of women all over the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.remedialherstory.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15313606/the_league_of_nations_and_status_of_women_.pdf |doi=10.1353/jowh.2019.0001|title=Setting New Standards: International Feminism and the League of Nations' Inquiry into the Status of Women |year=2019 |last1=Ludi |first1=Regula |journal=Journal of Women's History |volume=31 |pages=12–36 |s2cid=150543084 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124032257/https://www.remedialherstory.com/uploads/1/5/3/1/15313606/the_league_of_nations_and_status_of_women_.pdf |archive-date=24 November 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was formed in 1937, and later became part of the United Nations as the Commission on the Status of Women.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief Survey of Women's Rights|author=de Haan, Francisca|work=UN Chronicle|publisher=United Nations|access-date=15 September 2011|date=25 February 2010|url=https://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/cache/bypass/home/archive/issues2010/empoweringwomen/briefsurveywomensrights?ctnscroll_articleContainerList=1_0&ctnlistpagination_articleContainerList=true|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016104326/http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/cache/bypass/home/archive/issues2010/empoweringwomen/briefsurveywomensrights?ctnscroll_articleContainerList=1_0&ctnlistpagination_articleContainerList=true|archive-date=16 October 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Covenant of the League said little about economics. Nonetheless, in 1920 the Council of the League called for a financial conference. The First Assembly at Geneva provided for the appointment of an Economic and Financial Advisory Committee to provide information to the conference. In 1923, a permanent [[Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations|Economic and Financial Organisation]] came into being.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hill|first=M.|date=1946|title=The Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations|publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CtBAAAAIAAJ|isbn=978-0-598-68778-4}}</ref> The existing bilateral treaty regime was integrated into the League where the most-favoured-nation norm was codified and the League took on responsibilities related to international oversight and standardisation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dungy |first=Madeleine Lynch |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bre9EAAAQBAJ |title=Order and Rivalry: Rewriting the Rules of International Trade after the First World War |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-30890-8 |language=en}}</ref>