The League's humanitarian work Flashcards
What were the different humanitarian organisations/commissions?
- International Labour Organisation
- Slavery Commission
- Disarmament Commission
- Refugee Organisation
- Health Organisation
- Economic and Financial Organisation
What catergory/LoN aims was the International Labour organisation part of?
- General improvement in working conditions
What were the success of the International Labour organisation?
- Brought about general improvement of working conditions
- Published information on health risks (eg the use of white lead in paint), published recommended working hours (eg 8 hour working day and max 48 hour week) and recommendations on pay were made for governments to implement
- Passed Conventions guaranteeing compensation for industrial accidents
- Despite patchy implementation of recommendations, ILO did establish benchmarks for working conditions and it became increasingly difficult for members to ignore recommendations.
What were the failures of the International Labour Organisation?
- Led by the French socialist Albert Thomas: achieved some success.
- Not all nations implemented its policies/ implementation of its recommendations was patchy (eg. even Britain (key member of the League) did not raise the school leaving age to the recommended age of 15 yrs old)
- Had no way to ensure countries followed their suggestions
- The work of the ILO was hampered by lack of funds and lack of power.
What catergory/LoN aims was the Slavery Commission part of?
- Ending slavery
What were the successes of the Slavery Commission?
- Freeing of 200 000 slaves in Sierra Leone
- The reduction of the death rate for African workers engaged on the Tanganyika railway from 50 per cent to 4 per cent.
- A number of countries abolished slavery all together such as Iraq, Jordan and Nepal
- Organised raids against slave owners and traders in Burma.
What were the failures of the Slavery Commission?
- Continued existence of slave trading was acknowledged in the Commission’s report for 1937
- The ‘white slave’ traffic remains a serious social problem even in advanced countries.
What catergory/LoN aims was the Disarmament Commission part of?
- Disarmament
What were the successes of the disarmament commission?
- There was a minor success for the commission in organising the Washington Naval Conference of 1921, which led to agreement on naval limitation by the United States, Britain, France and Japan.
- All the agencies achieved some positive results or were engaged in ongoing research, publicity and persuasion.
- Through persistent methods the incidence of illegal drugs trading, black slavery, and white slave traffic was much reduced.
What were the failures of the Disarmament Commission?
- The disarmament commission made the least progress of all the League’s various agencies and commissions.
- Article 8 of the League Covenant had called on all nations to disarm “to the lowest point consistent with national safety” yet by the end of the 1920s only the defeated powers had disarmed because they were forced to by the terms of the peace treaties imposed on them.
What catergory/LoN aims was the Refugee Organisation part of?
- Helping refugees and former prisoners of war
What were the successes of the Refugee Organisation?
- The league helped to repatriate about 400000 WWI prisoners
Fridtjof Nansen (the Norwegian explorer and scientist) was given the responsibility of devising a solution to the refugee problem. He was given a very small budget to fix the issue of hundreds of thousands of former First World War prisoners.Nansen was able to work with his staff alongside the red cross to help refugees to return home or find new ones between 1920 and 1922. - He set up camps and new settlements and taught new trades to them.
- He also issued the identity documents which allowed them to return home.
- It garnered lots of praise for the League and made it look stronger.
It also gained respect globally for the - League as the prisoners of war were sent home to all the places around the world.
What were the failures of the Refugee Organisation?
The scale of the task was mammoth and so the return of refugees took many years.
What were the successes of the Health Organisation?
- Established links with non-member countries such as Germany, USA and USSR to provide information service, technical assistance and advice on public health matters
- Helped reduce the incidence of leprosy
began an international campaign to exterminate mosquitoes to reduce the spread of malaria and yellow fever - It was important in setting up a number of research institutions based in London, Copenhagen and Singapore
- Developed internationally accepted vaccines for diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria and tetanus.
- It became known as the world health organisation in the future and is still active today
What were the successes of the Economic and Financial Organisation?
- In 1922 the League devised a rescue plan and action was taken to stabilise the currency of Austria by controlling the level of interest rates, the circulation of banknotes and the issuing of credit. Austria was also given a loan. Trade improved, unemployment fell, the budget was balanced.
- Similar rescue programmes were devised for other countries: Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria
What were the failures of the Economic and Financial Organisation?
A number of countries faced economic crises. Austria was in danger of financial collapse as it tried to adjust to its new status as a small landlocked country now dependant upon agriculture for its wealth.
