President

The President of the Assembly was Paul Hymans of Belgium and the honorary president was Giuseppe Motta of Switzerland. The Assembly at its Fifth Plenary Meeting elected the six Vice-Presidents.^[7] Thirty nine states have taken part in the ballot, so the required majority was 20 votes.

The sixth Vice-President was elected at a second ballot with 22 votes. The Vice-Presidents ex officio as Chairmen of the Committees were Arthur Balfour, British Empire; Tommaso Tittoni, Italy; Léon Bourgeois, France; Jose Maria Quiñones de León, Spain; Antonio Huneeus Gana, Chile; and Hjalmar Branting, Sweden.

Committees

The General Committee of the Assembly was constituted of the President and the 12 Vice-Presidents with Sir Eric Drummond, the Secretary-General.^[7] There were six committees: (1) Constitutional questions, with chairman Arthur Balfour (British Empire), (2) Technical Organisations, with chairman M Tittoni (Italy), (3) Permanent Court of International Justice with Chairman Léon Bourgeois (France), (4) Organisation of the Secretariat and Finances of the League with chairman Quinones de Léon (Spain), (5) Admission of New Members into the League with chairman Huneeus Gana (Chile), and (6) Mandates Questions, Armaments, and the Economic Weapon with chairman Hjalmar Branting (Sweden).

List of Council Sessions, 1920

The first session of the Council was held in Paris at the Ministry of foreign Affairs (Salle de l’Horloge) on 16 January 1920. The following members of the League were represented: Belgium, Brazil, The British empire, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Spain. The French representative, Mr Léon Bourgeois, was elected as the first Chairman of the Council.^[11]

The second session of the Council was held in London at St. James's Palace on 11 Feb 1920. The following members of the League were represented: Belgium, Brazil, The British Empire, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Spain. The British Empire was represented by the right Honourable A.J. Balfour, who was elected as President. The Secretary General of the League, Sir Eric Drummond, was also present, and assisted in the preparation of the agenda and relevant documents.^[12]

The third session of the Council was held at the Quai d’Osrsay in Paris on 13 Mar 1920. The following members of the League were represented: Belgium, Brazil, The British Empire, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Spain. In accordance with Art. VI of the Covenant, M. Zamoisky, ambassador of Poland in Paris, sat as a member during the discussion concerning Poland, namely the typhus in Poland.

The fourth session of the Council was held at the Palais du Petit-Luxembourg in Paris on 9–11 April 1920. The following members of the League were represented: Belgium, Brazil, The British Empire, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, and Spain. The main issues discussed were: the status of Armenia, the protection of minorities in Turkey, the repatriation of prisoners of war in Siberia, and the question of Danzig.

The fifth session of the Council was held at the Palaso Chigi in Rome on 15 May 1920. The President of the session was the Italian representative, Mr Tittoni. The main issues discussed were: the Traffic in Women and Children, the question of Eupen and Malmedy, prevention of disease in Central Europe, the International Committee of Jurists, and the Prisoners in Siberia. The second public meeting was held at the Capitol on 19 May 1920.

Permanent Members of the Council

Period	Permanent Members	Notes
1920–1926	United Kingdom	See Art. 4, Para I of the Covenant
	France
	Italy
	Japan
1926–1933	United Kingdom	See Assembly Resolution of 8 Sep 1926, Official Journal, Special Supplement 43, p. 29 on Germany
	France
	Italy
	Japan
	Germany
1933–1934	United Kingdom	On 27 March 1933 Japan announced its withdrawal, Official Journal, May 1933, p. 657; On 19 Oct 1933 Germany announced its withdrawal, Official Journal, Jan 1934, p. 16
	France
	Italy
1934–1937	United Kingdom	See Assembly Resolution of 18 Sep 1934, on the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
	France
	Italy
	Soviet Union
1937–1939	United Kingdom	On 14 Dec 1939 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was excluded from the League under Art. 16, Para 4 of the Covenant
	France
	Soviet Union
1939–1946	United Kingdom
	France

Non-permanent Members of the Council

The number of nonpermanent members of the Council was set at four by Art. 4, Para I of the Covenant. They were to be selected by the Assembly from time to time at its discretion. The number of nonpermanent members of the Council was increased from four to six by Assembly resolution of 25 Sep 1922. In 1926 the membership was further increased to nine. In 1933 the number of nonpermanent seats on the Council was provisionally increased from nine to ten. A further increase to eleven was approved by the assembly in 1936.

Year	Nations
1920	Belgium  Brazil  Greece  Persia  Poland  Spain  Sweden
1921	Belgium  Brazil  China  Spain
1922	Belgium  Brazil  China  Spain
1923	Belgium  Brazil  China  Spain  Sweden  Uruguay
1924	Belgium  Brazil  Czechoslovakia  Spain  Sweden  Uruguay
1925	Belgium  Brazil  Czechoslovakia  Spain  Sweden  Uruguay
1926	Belgium  Brazil (withdrew 14 June 1926)  Chile  China  Colombia  Czechoslovakia  El Salvador  Netherlands  Poland  Romania  Spain (withdrew 8 September 1926)  Sweden  Uruguay
1927	Belgium  Chile  China  Colombia  Czechoslovakia  El Salvador  Netherlands  Poland  Romania
1928	Canada  Chile  China  Colombia  Cuba  Finland  Netherlands  Persia  Poland  Romania  Spain  Venezuela

Period	Nonpermanent Member	Notes
1933–1936	Argentina
1933–1936	Australia
1920–1926, 1937–1939	Belgium
1936–1939	Bolivia
1920–1926	Brazil
1927–1930	Canada
1926–1929, 1934–1937	Chile
1920–1923, 1926–1928, 1931–1934, 1936	China
1926–1928	Colombia
1927–1930	Cuba
1923–1926, 1932–1935	Czechoslovakia
1933–1936	Denmark
1938–1939	Dominican Republic
1935–1938	Ecuador
1939	Egypt
1926	El Salvador
1927–1930	Finland
1920, 1938–1939	Greece
1930–1933	Guatemala
1928–1931, 1937–1939	Iran
1930–1933	Ireland
1936–1939	Latvia
1932–1935	Mexico
1926–1928	Netherlands
1936–1939	New Zealand
1930–1933	Norway
1931–1934	Panama
1929–1932, 1937–1939	Peru
1926–1939	Poland	Semi-permanent member
1933–1936	Portugal
1926–1929, 1935–1938	Romania
1939	South Africa
1920–1926, 1928–1937	Spain	Semi-permanent member
1923–1926, 1936–1939	Sweden
1934–1937	Turkey
1923–1926	Uruguay
1928–1931	Venezuela
1929–1932, 1938–1939	Yugoslavia

Health Organization

The League's Health Organisation was created in accordance with the mandated of the Covenant that the League would address "the prevention and control of disease." It was theoretically composed by three bodies:^[14]

• The Health Section of the League's Secretariat, with a Bureau of permanent officials and a section of medical experts. The Health section also worked with countries that were not members of the League of Nations.
• The Health Committee, whose purpose was to conduct inquiries, oversee the operation of the League's health work, and get work ready to be presented to the Council.^[15] This body focused on any issue related to diseases and health.
• The "General consultative council on health." which was a function, in practice, handled by the independent, Paris-based Office international d'hygiène publique (OIHP).

In practice, because of the overreaching views of the League (the Covenant contemplated "placing under the direction of the League all international bureaux already established by general treaties"), the work of the Health Organization was made complicated by important tensions with these preexisting treaty-based organizations, such as the OIHP or the Pan American Health Organization.^[14][16]

Nevertheless, the Health Organisation worked successfully on a number of topics, such as with the government of the Soviet Union to prevent typhus epidemics including organising a large education campaign about the disease.^[17] Many topics were addressed, for example ending leprosy, malaria, and yellow fever, the latter two by starting an international campaign to exterminate mosquitoes.

Permanent Mandates Commission

The existence of the Commission was stipulated in Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant: "A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates."^[18][19]

The Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) was the commission of the League of Nations responsible for oversight of mandated territories. The commission was established on 1 December 1920.^[20] The Commission took over the role from the Mandates Section.^[21]

Even though the PMC was composed of members from imperial and foreign policy establishments, the organization did act independently of states and established norms that constrained the behaviors of colonial powers.^[22] The PMC was the first instance that either France or Britain had been subjected to any kind of imperial oversight.^[23] The PMC played a key role in establishing that the mandates could not be annexed by the colonial powers. The PMC helped to establish that the mandates had a unique status under international law.^[24]

Economic and Financial Organization

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.
The Fiscal Committee discussed several general issues related to double taxation and tax evasion. The works of the Economic Committee comprised the treatment of foreign nationals and enterprises, abolition of the prohibition and restrictions on imports and exports, unification of customs nomenclature, bill of exchange, unification of statistical methods, trade policy, veterinary medicines, international industrial agreements, problems of coal, sugar problems, issue of smuggling in general and alcohol, in particular, and indirect protectionism.
In October 1929 the Great Depression started in the US 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.

Transit, Transport and Communications

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 organised into assembly lines and based on standardised 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.

International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation

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, Henri 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 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.

International drug control activities

Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children

International treaties were signed to combat human trafficking in 1904 and 1910.^[29] In 1921, the League Council established the Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children. The committee was composed of delegates from nine states, as well as assessors appointed by five private organizations.^[29] The committee was tasked with examining annual reports by League members and governments on human trafficking.^[29]
In 1921 a convention was adopted strengthening the measures against trafficking. The Committee on the Traffic in Women and Children was created. The annual reports of governments, combined with those of big private organizations working on parallel lines, enabled the committee to carry on its work of coordination and supervision.

Slavery Commission

The league has considered the problem of slavery and set about securing information from various governments since 1922. Few years later, a convention was drawn up in view of hastening the total abolition of slavery and the slave trade. The Slavery Convention of 25 September 1926 produced good results in many territories.
In 1932, in the league review of the convention implementation, appeared that cases of capture of free men still occurred in some areas, and that slave-markets existed in several countries. The assembly decided therefore to appoint a permanent advisory committee to study the facts and the institutions related to slavery, and to consider means of eliminating them.

Commission for Refugees

In 1921 they helped to assist the approximately 1.5 million people who fled the Russian Revolution of 1917. 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 Prize.
The Commission also established the Nansen passport as a means of identification for stateless peoples.^[30]

Disarmament Commission

The Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments of 1932–1934 (sometimes World Disarmament Conference or Geneva Disarmament Conference) was an effort by member states of the League of Nations, together with the U.S., to actualize the ideology of disarmament. It took place in the Swiss city of Geneva, ostensibly between 1930 and 1934, but more correctly until May 1937.

The first effort at international arms limitation was made at the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907, which had failed in their primary objective. Although many contemporary commentators (and Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles) had blamed the outbreak of the First World War on the war guilt of Germany, historians writing in the 1930s began to emphasize the fast-paced arms race preceding 1914. Further, all the major powers except the US had committed themselves to disarmament in both the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant of the League of Nations. A substantial international non-governmental campaign to promote disarmament also developed in the 1920s and early 1930s.

A preparatory commission was initiated by the League in 1925; by 1931, there was sufficient support to hold a conference, which duly began under the chairmanship of former British Foreign Secretary Arthur Henderson. The motivation behind the talks can be summed up by an extract from the message President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent to the conference: "If all nations will agree wholly to eliminate from possession and use the weapons which make possible a successful attack, defences automatically will become impregnable and the frontiers and independence of every nation will become secure."

The talks were beset by a number of difficulties from the outset. Among these were disagreements over what constituted "offensive" and "defensive" weapons, and the polarization of France and Germany. The increasingly military-minded German governments could see no reason why their country could not enjoy the same level of armaments as other powers, especially France. The French, for their part, were equally insistent that German military inferiority was their only insurance from future conflict as serious as they had endured in the First World War. As for the British and US governments, they were unprepared to offer the additional security commitments that France requested in exchange for limitation of French armaments.

The talks broke down and Hitler withdrew Germany from both the Conference and the League of Nations in October 1933. The 1930s had proved far too self-interested an international period to accommodate multilateral action in favour of pacifism.

Committee for the Study of the Legal Status of Women

In 1935, the League of Nations Assembly decided to conduct a study of women's legal status "around the world" as a response to pressure by women's organizations pressing for an international treaty of women's equal rights. The assembly resolved to consider how "the terms of the Equal Rights Treaty should be examined in relation to existing political, civil and economic status of women under the laws of countries around the world."

To conduct this study, the Committee for the Study of the Legal Status of Women was appointed to design a questionnaire to submit to three scientific institutes: the Institut de Droit Comparé and the Institut de Droit Penal in Paris and the Institute of Private Law at Rome. The Institute de Droit Comparé was enlisted to study women's franchise, access to educational facilities and similar questions. The Institut de Droit Penal was assigned questions of penal and criminal laws related to women, and the Institute of Private Law focused on divorce, domicile rights and similar questions. Additionally, after much discussion, the Committee agreed to employ interested women's organizations who had already been conducting studies on the legal status of women for some time. While the work was left incomplete because of the outbreak of the Second World War, the study provided a foundation upon which the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women would organize its work after 1946.

The first meeting of the Committee of Experts for the Study of the Legal Status of Women Around the World was held in Geneva on 4 April 1938. They met again in January 1939 before disbanding. The members were Mme. Suzanne Bastid of France, professor of law at the University of Lyon; M. de Ruelle of Belgium, legal adviser for the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration; Mme. Anka Godjevac of Yugoslavia, adviser of the Yugoslav delegation at the 1930 Codification Conference; Mr. H. C. Gutteridge of the United Kingdom, professor of comparative law at the University of Cambridge. Gutteridge was elected chair of the Committee; Mlle. Kerstin Hesselgren of Sweden, member of the Second Chamber of the Swedish Riksdag and Rapporteur of the Committee; Ms. Dorothy Kenyon of the United States, doctor of law, member of the New York Bar and legal adviser to a number of national organizations; M. Paul Sebasteyan of Hungary, counselor and head of the Treatise Division the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Mr. McKinnon Wood of the United Kingdom who served as Secretariat of the Committee. ^[31]