The League of Nations was established with three main constitutional organs: the Assembly; the Council; the Permanent Secretariat. The two essential wings of the League were the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Labour Organisation.
The relations between the Assembly and the Council were not explicitly defined, and their competencies, with a few exceptions, were much the same. Each body might deal with any matter within the sphere of competence of the League or affecting the peace in the world. Particular questions or tasks might be referred either to the Council or the Assembly. Reference might be passed on from one body to another.
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 General Secretary.
The principle Sections of the Secretariat were: Political; Financial and Economics; Communications and Transit; Minorities and Administration (Saar and Danzig); Mandates; Disarmament; Health; Social (Opium and Traffic in Women and Children); Intellectual Cooperation and International Bureaux; Legal; and Information. Each Section was responsible for all official secretarial work related to its particular subject and prepared and organized all meetings and conferences held in that connection.
The staff of the League's secretariat was responsible for preparing the agenda for the Council and Assembly and publishing reports of the meetings and other routine matters, effectively acting as the civil service for the League. The secretariat was often considered to be too small to handle all of the League's administrative affairs. For example, the total number of officials classed as members of the Secretariat was 75 in September 1924. The total staff, including all the clerical services, comprised about 400 persons.
The documents emanating from the League of Nations were classified according to the persons they were addressed to and not according to their subjects.
| Symbol | Distribution |
|---|---|
| A | - Documents addressed to the Assembly’s delegations and the Member States |
| C | – Documents addressed to the Council Members |
| M | - Documents addressed to all Member States |
| CL | – Circular Letters addressed to the Council Members and to a certain group of Member States |
The Assembly consisted of representatives of all Members of the League. Each state was allowed up to three representatives and one vote.[1]. The Assembly had its sessions at Geneva and met on yearly basis on the first Monday of September according to the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly, adopted at Its Eleventh Meeting, 30 November 1920 [1]. A special session of the Assembly might be summoned at the request of a Member, provided a majority of the Members concurred.
The special functions of the Assembly included the admission of new Members, the periodical election on non-permanent Members of the Council, the election with the Council of the judges of the Permanent Court, and the control of the budget. In practice the Assembly had become the general directing force of League activities.
The Plenary Meetings of the First Assembly were held from 15 November to 18 December in Geneva, Switzerland[1].
HE M. Paul Hymans, Belgium
M. Guiseppe Motta, Switzerland
The Assembly at its Fifth Plenary Meeting elected the six Vice-Presidents [1]. Thirty nine states have taken part in the ballot, so the required majority was 20 votes.
| Vice-President | Country | Votes at the first ballot |
|---|---|---|
| HE Viscount Ishii | Japan | 32 |
| HE Jonkheer van Karnebeek | Netherlands | 31 |
| HE Dr. Honorio Puyerredon | Argentina | 28 |
| HE Dr. Eduard Benes | Czechoslovakia | 26 |
| The Rt. Hon Sir George Foster | Canada | 22 |
| HE M. Podrigo Octavio | Brazil | 18 |
The sixth Vice-President was elected at a second ballot with 22 votes.
The Rt Hon A. J. Balfour, British Empire; HE M. Tommaso Tittoni, Italia; HE M. Leon Bourgeois, France; HE M. Quinones de Léon, Spain, HE M. Antonio Huneeus Gana, Chili; HE M. Branting, Sweden.
The Hon. Sir Eric Drummond
The General Committee of the Assembly was constituted of the President and the 12 Vice-Presidents with Sir Eric Drummond, the Secretary-General.[1].
Constitutional questions
Technical Organisations
Permanent Court of International Justice
Organisation of the Secretariat and Finances of the League
Admission of New Members into the League
Mandates Questions, Armaments, and the Economic Weapon
The League Council acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly's business.[2] The Council began with four permanent members (Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan) and four non-permanent members which were elected by the Assembly for a three year period. The first four non-permanent members were Belgium, Brazil, Greece and Spain. The United States was meant to be the fifth permanent member, but the US Senate voted on 19 March 1920 against the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, thus preventing American participation in the League.
| Session | Place | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| First | Paris | 16 January 1920 |
| Second | London | 11 – 13 February 1920 |
| Third | Paris | 12 – 13 March 1920 |
| Forth | Paris | 9 – 11 April 1920 |
| Fifth | Rome | 14 – 19 May 1920 |
| Sixth | London | 14–16 June 1920 |
| Seventh | London | 9 – 20 July 1920 |
| Eighth | San Sebastian | 30 July – 5 August 1920 |
| Ninth | Paris | 16 – 20 September 1920 |
| Tenth | Brussels | 20 – 28 October 1920 |
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 general regulation concerning unanimity was the recognition of national sovereignty.
The League sought solution by consent and not by dictation. However, in case of the dispute, the consent of the parties to the dispute was not required for unanimity. Where the reference of a dispute was made to the Assembly, a decision required the consent of the majority only of the Assembly, but including all the Members of the Council.
The Covenant implied the establishment of auxiliary bodies for various questions of a more or less technical character. The League oversaw the Permanent Court of International Justice, the International Labour Organization and several other agencies and commissions created to deal with pressing international problems. These included the Disarmament Commission, the Health Organization, the Mandates Commission, the International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation (precursor to UNESCO), the Permanent Central Opium Board, the Commission for Refugees, and the Slavery Commission. Several 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 Organization (restructured as the World Health Organization) all became UN institutions.
The Permanent Court of International Justice was provided for by the Covenant, but not established by it. The Council and Assembly established its constitution. Its judges were elected by the Council and Assembly, and its budget was provided by the Assembly. The composition of the Court was of eleven judges and four deputy-judges, elected for nine years. The Court had been competent to hear and to determine any international dispute which the parties concerned submitted to it. The Court might also give an advisory opinion upon 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. Questions of fact as well as questions of law might be submitted.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) was created in 1919 on the basis of part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles and became part of the League's operations.[3]
The ILO, although having the same Members as the League and subjected 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 was different from that of the League: representation had been accorded not only to Governments but to representatives of employers and workers’ organisations.
The Covenant left a broad discretion to the Council and the Assembly in constituting the auxiliary organs. The accomplishment of the numerous tasks delegated to the League necessitated the creation of two main types of auxiliary bodies:
• Technical organizations dealing with finance and economics, transit, and health; and
• Advisory committees, dealing with military questions, disarmament, mandates, traffic in women and children, intellectual cooperation etc.
The League's health organization had three bodies, a Health Bureau, containing permanent officials of the League, an executive section the General Advisory Council or Conference consisting of medical experts, and a Health Committee. The Committee's purpose was to conduct inquiries, oversee the operation of the League's health work, and get work ready to be presented to the Council.[4] This body focused on ending leprosy, malaria and yellow fever, the latter two by starting an international campaign to exterminate mosquitoes. The Health Organization also worked successfully with the government of the Soviet Union to prevent typhus epidemics including organising a large education campaign about the disease.[5]
permanent court of international justice was the permanent body of league of nation and was responsible for solving the matters, which would take place
After the end of the war, the economic and financial conditions in all European countries were close to total collapse. Within this context, the League organized a large conference in Brussels in September – October 1920. The goal was to find a solution to monetary problems and facilitate the circulation of goods and funds. Following the conference the League established an Economic and Financial Organisation, including several Committees (Financial, Economic, Fiscal, Statistical). During the following years the League assisted many European countries: Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, etc. In October 1929 the Great Depression started in the USA and soon contaminated Europe. In 1933, the LON organized a new Economic Conference in London to find a common solution to the protection of national economies. The conflict between the international political goals of the major powers and their views on economic welfare prevented from any concerted solution.
The rapid growth in communications and transit, by land, sea and air, has led to rapidly expanding technical activities of the League regarding those issues. The introduction of mass production systems organized into assembly lines and based on standardized models, hugely contributed to the development of transport and communications. The LON created its Organisation for Communication and Transit in 1921. Its General Conference included all Member States while the Committee had 18 members. The conferences of Barcelona 1921, and Geneva 1923 concluded with conventions on the international regulation of maritime ports, waterways, and railroads. Technical assistance was provided to Member states as well as help with arbitration disputes concerning transit. The Organisation for Communication and Transit accomplished useful works and made laws that will be retained in the future work of the United Nations.
The League of Nations had devoted serious attention to the question of international intellectual cooperation since its creation. The First Assembly (December 1920) recommended that the Council should take action aiming at international organisation of intellectual work. The Council adopted report presented by the Fifth Committee of the Second Assembly and invited a distinguished Committee on Intellectual Cooperation to meet in Geneva, August 1922. The Programme of work of the Committee included: enquiry into the conditions of intellectual life, assistance to countries whose intellectual life was endangered, creation of National Committees for intellectual cooperation, cooperation with international intellectual organisations, protection of intellectual property, inter-university cooperation, coordination of bibliographical work and international interchange of publications, and international cooperation in archaeological research.
The International Commission for Intellectual Cooperation was created in 1922. Its first president, Henry Bergson, participated together with many distinguished people in improving conditions of intellectual workers and facilitating contacts. From 1926 the Commission was included in the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, established in Paris. The cinema was also considered as a useful tool to bring minds together. The International Educational Cinematographic Institute was created in Roma after a proposal from the Italian government and placed under the League’s supervision. Although serving under a fascist government, it carried out considerable work promoting the peaceful ideal and the spirit of international cooperation.
In April 1920, there were more than half a million prisoners of war, most of them in Russia, waiting to be repatriated in extremely bad conditions. The Council of the League asked the famous explorer from Norway Fridtjof Nansen to examine the situation. Nansen took immediate steps and in less than two years managed to repatriate more than 427, 000 prisoners of war to 26 different countries.
The League established a Commission for Refugees in 1921 and Nansen was the first High Commissioner. In autumn 1922 Fridtjof Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Price.
The Commission also established the Nansen passport as a means of identification for stateless peoples.[6]
The work of drawing up draft treaties for the protection of minorities in the States of Eastern Europe was entrusted with the Commission on New States set up at the Peace Conference at Paris on 1 May 1919.
The ten treaties containing provisions concerning minorities:
I. The Treaty of 28 June 1919, between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers and Poland, placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, 13 February 1920.
II. 2. The Treaty of 10 September 1919, between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers and Czechoslovakia, placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, 29 November 1920.
III. The Treaty of 10 September 1919, between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, 29 November 1920.
IV. The Treaty of 9 December 1919, between the Principal Allied and Associated Powers and Romania, placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, 30 August 1920.
V. The Treaty of 10 August 1920, between the Principal Allied Powers and Greece.
VI. The Treaty of 10 August 1920, between the Principal Allied Powers and Armenia.
VII. Articles 64 to 69 of the Treaty of Peace with Austria (signed at St.-Germain-en-Laye on 20 September 1919), placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, 22 October 1920.
VIII. Articles 49 to 57 of the Treaty of Peace with Bulgaria (signed at Neuilly-sur-Seine, 27 November 1919), placed under the guarantee of the League of Nations, 22 October I920.
IX. Articles 54 to 60 of the Treaty of Peace with Hungary (signed at Trianon on 4 June 1920), placed under guarantee of the League of Nations, 30 August 1921.
X. Articles 140 to 151 of the Treaty of Peace with Turkey (signed at Sevres on 10 August 1920). These articles were replaced by Articles 37-45 of the new Treaty of Lausanne.
The League of Nations was maintained financially by the Member States. The Assembly controlled the annual budget.
The total authorized League budgets for the four years 1921–1924 gave an average of 22 757 769 gold francs per year, equivalent to 4 391 187 American dollars. This figure covered not only the League of Nations but also the cost of the Permanent Court of International Justice and the International Labour Organisation.
The average share of the budget for this period was:
League of Nations: 2 178 445 American dollars at par;
International Labour Organisation: 1 350 675 American dollars;
Permanent Court of International Justice: 386 000 American dollars[7].
Since the critical setbacks in 1933, the League’s political cooperation became more and more ineffective. Conversely, the technical activities continued to grow.
Thus the Council decided to evaluate the separation of technical and political activities. Committee presided by an Australian Stanley Bruce concluded that fundamental reforms were needed. However, these proposals come to an abrupt halt due to the resignation of the Secretary General, J. Avenol, and the outbreak of the Second World War.
Following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the Secretariat prepared plans for withdrawal. The rapid advance of German armies in 1940 put pressure on the LON to transfer certain activities according to invitations by some government. While the Secretary General stayed in Geneva to symbolize the League’s continuity and Swiss neutrality, the main activities were located elsewhere.
The High Commissioner for Refugees and the Treasury of the Secretariat were based in London; the Opium Committee was based in Washington D.C.; the Economic and Financial Organisation was moved to Princeton.
Neither the Assembly nor the Council could meet after December, 1939, so the rest of the League was administered by a Control Commission.