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World Health Organization

World Health Organization

WHO redirects here. For the TV station in Iowa, see WHO-TV The World Health Organization (WHO) is an agency of the United Nations, acting as a coordinating authority on international public health, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. WHO was established by the UN on April 7, 1948. The current Director General is Lee Jong-wook. WHO inherited much of the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health Organization (HO), which had been an agency of the League of Nations.

Mission

WHO's constitution states that its mission "is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health". Its major task is to combat disease, especially key infectious diseases. As well as coordinating international efforts to monitor outbreaks of infectious disease such as SARS, malaria, and AIDS, it also has programmes to combat such diseases, by developing and distributing vaccines. After years of fighting smallpox, WHO declared in 1979 that the disease had been eradicated - the first disease in history to be completely eliminated by deliberate human design. WHO is nearing success in developing vaccines against malaria and schistosomiasis and aims to eradicate polio within the next few years. WHO also compiles the widely followed International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The tenth revision of the ICD was released in 1992 and a searchable version is available online on the WHO website, although it is not comprehensive. Later revisions are indexed and available in hardcopy versions. The WHO does not permit simultaneous classification in two separate areas. The constitution of WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not as consisting only of the absence of disease or infirmity. In addition to its work in eradicating disease, WHO also carries out campaigns — for example, to boost consumption of vegetables worldwide, or to discourage tobacco consumption – and conducts research: for instance, into whether or not the electromagnetic field surrounding cell phones has a negative influence on health. Some of this work can be controversial, such as the April 2003 WHO report which recommended that sugar be no more than 10% of a healthy diet, which led to lobbying by the sugar industry against this recommendation [http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,940287,00.html]. In addition to WHO's stated mission, international treaties assign the Organization a variety of responsibilities. For instance, the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances call on WHO to issue binding scientific and medical assessments of psychoactive drugs and recommend how they should be regulated. In this way, WHO acts as a check on the power of the drug policymaking Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

Structure

Commission on Narcotic Drugs WHO Member States [http://www.who.int/countries/en/] appoint delegations to the World Health Assembly, WHO's supreme decision-making body. The Assembly generally meets in May each year, and as well as appointing the Director-General (for five-year terms), supervises the financial policies of the Organization, and reviews and approves the proposed programme budget. The Assembly elects 32 members who are technically qualified in the field of health for three-year terms to an Executive Board. The main functions of the Board are to give effect to the decisions and policies of the Assembly, to advise it and generally to facilitate its work.

Membership

WHO has 192 Member States, including all UN Member States except Liechtenstein. Territories that are not UN Member States may join as Associate Members (with full information but limited participation and voting rights) if approved by an Assembly vote: Puerto Rico and Tokelau are Associate Members. Entities may also be granted observer status - examples include the PLO and the Vatican. Taiwan is campaigning for observer status, against the opposition of China which is already a WHO member and sees Taiwan as part of China.

Secretariat

The day-to-day work of WHO is carried out by its Secretariat, which is staffed by some 11,000 health and other experts and support staff, working at headquarters, in the six regional offices, and in countries. WHO is also represented by WHO Goodwill Ambassadors.

Partnership

As a UN agency, WHO is financed through the UN system by contributions from member states. In recent years, WHO's work has involved more collaboration with NGOs and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as with foundations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. Some of these collaborations may be considered public-private partnerships [http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/publications/pdf/partnerships.pdf]; half the WHO budget is financed by private foundations and industry.

Some WHO-private sector partnerships

- PATH: Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (http://www.path.org)
- IAVI: International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (http://www.iavi.org)
- MMV: Medicines for Malaria Venture (http://www.mmv.org)
- MVI: Malaria Vaccine Initiative (http://www.malariavaccine.org)
- TB Alliance: Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (http://www.tballiance.org)
- Aeras: Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation (http://aeras.org)
- IPM: International Partnership for Microbicides (http://www.ipm-microbicides.org)
- PDVI: Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative (http://www.pdvi.org)
- FIND: Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (http://www.finddiagnostics.org)
- IOWH: Institute for One World Health (http://www.oneworldhealth.org)
- DNDi: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (http://www.dndi.org)

Directors-General of WHO

public-private partnership of the World Health Organization]]

Name	Country	Term of Office
Brock Chisholm	Canada	1948–1953
Marcolino Gomes Candau	Brazil	1953–1973
Halfdan T. Mahler	Denmark	1973–1988
Hiroshi Nakajima	Japan	1988–1998
Gro Harlem Brundtland	Norway	1998–2003
Lee Jong-wook	South Korea	2003–Present

- [http://www.who.int/archives/who50/en/directors.htm Former Directors General]

Other notable persons associated with WHO

- Carlo Urbani
- Andrija Štampar

External links

- [http://www.who.int World Health Organization] Category:International organizations Category:United Nations specialized agencies Category:Health
- ko:세계 보건 기구 ja:世界保健機構 th:องค์การอนามัยโลก

WHO-TV

WHO-TV is a television station that broadcasts on channel 13 in Des Moines, Iowa. It is affiliated with the NBC television network and serves most of central Iowa. The station transmits from the WOI-Tower in Alleman, Iowa.

History

WHO-TV signed on the air on April 26, 1954 as the eighth television station in Iowa and the second in Des Moines. It was owned by the Palmer family, owners of WHO-AM 1040. The Palmers had competed with KIOA-AM 940 for the channel 13 license and won it after reaching a settlement. It has always been an NBC affiliate. In 1996, WHO-TV was acquired by The New York Times Company; up to that time it had been the last locally owned commercial station in Des Moines. WHO-AM, which was eventually acquired by Clear Channel Communications, continued to occupy the same building until it moved to another building in 2005. WHO-DT began broadcasting in high-definition television during the 2002 Winter Olympics. One channel carries NBC HDTV programming while another channel carries an image of the station's "Mega Doppler" radar. For many years, WHO battled it out with WOI-TV for second in the Central Iowa news race behind longtime leader KCCI. However, it has managed to surge into the top spot on several occasions in recent years. WHO's main anchor since 1987, John Bachman, was one of three reporters who interviewed Ronald Reagan at the end of his presidential term. The other two were Larry King and Barbara Walters. While it was co-owned with WHO-AM, it used an owl as its mascot, as WHO-AM still does today.

Personalities and programming

WHO-TV's Channel 13 News broadcasts perennially rank second to KCCI in ratings. They have the only weekend morning newscast in the Des Moines area, as their Today in Iowa morning news airs seven days a week. WHO-TV also provides aerial coverage of stories with its "Chopper 13" helicopter, making it one of only two stations in Iowa (KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids) is the other) to have its own helicopter. Current on-air news personalities (as of September 2005) include:
- John Bachman, news anchor of 5, 6, and 10 PM newscasts
- Patrick Dix, reporter and Today in Iowa co-anchor
- Brad Ehrlich, Today in Iowa traffic reporter
- Andy Fales, sports reporter
- Mark Ferree, weekend meteorologist
- Courtney Greene, Today in Iowa Saturday news anchor
- Sonya Heitshusen, reporter/anchor, noon and 5 PM newscasts
- Mark Meisenheimer, weekend sports anchor
- Lynn Melling, reporter/weekend anchor
- Keith Murphy, sports director, 6 and 10 PM newscasts
- Kathryn Pritchard, co-anchor, 6 and 10 PM newscasts
- Jeriann Ritter, Today in Iowa Saturday and Today in Iowa Sunday meteorologist
- Trisha Shepherd, Today in Iowa co-anchor
- Steve Templeton, Today in Iowa and midday meteorologist
- Ed Wilson, chief meteorologist of 5, 6, and 10 PM newscasts
- Dan Winters, reporter and anchor of Today in Iowa Saturday and Today in Iowa Sunday Syndicated programs carried on WHO-TV include the game shows Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, as well as Ellen DeGeneres', Montel Williams', and Tony Danza's talk shows. Local programs include The Insiders, a Sunday-morning political talk show moderated by John Bachman, and Sound Off, a Sunday-night sports talk show hosted by Keith Murphy and Andy Fales.

References

- Stein, Jeff, Making Waves: The People and Places of Iowa Broadcasting (ISBN 0971832315). Cedar Rapids, Iowa: WDG Communications, 2004.

External links

- [http://www.whotv.com WHO-TV web site]
- [http://www.desmoinesbroadcasting.com/who-tv/who-tv-main.html WHO-TV historical artifacts] from DesMoinesBroadcasting.com
- Category:NBC network affiliates

Public health

Public health is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. Many organizations define health and how to promote health differently. The WHO, the United Nations body that sets standards and provides global surveillance of disease, defines health as: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The population in question can be as big as a handful of people or, in the case of a pandemic, whole continents. Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided into the categories of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Health Services. Environmental, Social and Behavioral Health, and Occupational Health, are also important fields in public health. The focus of a public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease can be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an infectious disease. Vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures. Many countries have their own government agencies, sometimes known as ministries of health, to respond to domestic health issues. In the USA, the frontline of public health initiatives are state and local health departments. The Surgeon General-led United States Public Health Service, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, although American, are also involved with several international health issues in addition to their national duties. There is a vast discrepancy between access to healthcare and public health intiatives between the developed and the developing world. In the developing world, many public health infrastructures are still forming. There may not be enough trained health workers or monetary resources to provide even a basic level of medical care and disease prevention. As a result, a large majority of disease and mortality in the developing world results from and contributes to extreme poverty. In many countries in Africa, governments spend less than USD$10 per person on healthcare, while in the United States, the federal government spent approximately USD$4,500 per capita in 2000. Many diseases are preventable through simple, non-medical methods. Public health plays a very important role in prevention efforts in the developing world, either through the local health system or through international NGOs. The major postgraduate degree related to this field is the Masters in Public Health (M.P.H.), while the United States medical residency specialty is General Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

History of public health

In many ways, public health is largely a modern concept, although it has roots in antiquity. From the early beginnings of human civilization, it was recognized that polluted water and lack of proper waste disposal may spread vector-borne diseases. The establishment of governments placed responsibility on leaders to develop public health policies and programs to gain some understanding of the causes of disease to ensure stability, prosperity, and maintain order.

Early public health interventions

By Roman times, it was well understood that proper diversion of human waste was a necessary tenet of public health in urban areas. The Chinese developed the practice of variolation following a smallpox epidemic around 1,000 B.C. An individual without the disease could gain some measure of immunity against it by inhaling the dried crusts that formed around lesions of infected individuals. Similarly, children were protected by innoculating a scratch on their forearms with the pus from a lesion. This practice was not documented in the West until the early 1700s and was used on a very limited basis. The practice of vaccination did not become prevalent until the 1820s, following the work of Edward Jenner. During the 14th century Black Death in Europe, it was believed that removing bodies of the dead would further prevent the spread of the bacterial infection. Unfortunately, this did little to stem the plague, which was actually spread by rodent-borne fleas. Burning areas of cities resulted in much greater benefit, since it removed the rodent infestations. The development of quarantine in the medieval period helped mitigate the effects of other infectious diseases. The science of epidemiology was founded by John Snow's identification of a polluted public water well as the cause of an 1854 cholera outbreak in London. John believed in the germ theory of disease as opposed to the prevailing miasma theory. Although miasma theory taught correctly that disease was a result of poor sanitation, it was based only upon the prevailing theory of spontaneous generation. Microorganisms, which are now known to cause many of the most common infectious diseases, were first observed around 1680 by Anton van Leeuwenhoek. But the modern era of public health did not begin until the 1880s with the culmination of Robert Koch's germ theory and Louis Pasteur's production of artificial vaccines revolutionized the study of infectious disease.

Public health today

As the rate of infectious diseases in the developed world decreased through the 20th century, public health began to put more focus on chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Meanwhile, the developing world remained plagued by largly preventable infectious diseases, exacerbated by malnutrition and poverty. Since the 1980s, the growing field of population health has broadened the focus of public health from individual behaviors and risk factors to population-level issues such as inequality, poverty, and education. Richard Wilkinson has been a major contributor to this area of study. Modern public health is often concerned with the addressing determinants of health across a population, rather than advocating for individual behaviour change. There is a recognition that our health is affected by many factors including where we live, genetics, our income, our educational status and our social relationships - these are known as "social determinants of health." A social gradient in health runs through society, with those who are poorest generally suffering the worst health. However even those in the “middle classes” will generally have worse health outcomes than those of a higher social stratum (WHO, 2003). The “new” public health seeks to address these health inequalities by advocating for population-based policies that improves the health of the whole population in an equitable fashion.

Public health programs

Today, most governments recognize the importance of public health programs in reducing the incidence of disease, disability, and the effects of aging, although public health generally receives significantly less government funding compared with medicine. In recent years, public health programs providing vaccinations have made incredible strides in promoting health, including the eradication of smallpox, a disease which plagued humanity for thousands of years. Certainly, one of the most important public health issues facing the world currently is HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis, which claimed the lives of authors Franz Kafka and Charlotte Bronte, and composer Franz Schubert among others, is also reemerging as a major concern due to the rise of HIV/AIDS-related infections and the development of strains resistant to standard antibiotics. A controversial aspect of public health is that related to the control of smoking. Many nations have implemented major initiatives to cut smoking, such as increased taxation and bans on smoking in some or all public places. Proponents argue that smoking is one of the major killers in all developed countries, and that they have a duty to reduce the death rate, both through limiting passive smoking and by providing less opportunities for smokers to smoke. Opponents say that this undermines individual freedom and personal responsibility, (often using the phrase nanny state in the UK) and worrying that the state may take power to remove more and more choice in the name of better population health overall.

Economics of public health

The application of health economics to the realm of public health has been rising in importance since the 1980s. Health economics studies can show, for example, where limited public resources might best be spent to save lives or cause the greatest increase in quality of life.

References

- [http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/ WHO Definition of Health] Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, 1946
- Control of Communicable Diseases Manual edited by James B. Chin, APHA, 2000
- Encyclopedia of public health edited by Lester Breslow, Macmillan Reference 2002
- The Solid Facts: Social Determinants of Health edited by Richard Wilkinson and Michael Marmot, WHO, 2003

External links

- [http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca]
- [http://www.nrdc.org/health/default.asp toxic chemicals and health - Natural Resources Defense Council]
- [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)]
- [http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/109/introduction.html Introduction to Virology]
- [http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html John Snow]: [http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/snowbook.html Mode of Communication of Cholera]
- [http://www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/Tutorials/Tutorials.html U Leicester Online Tutorials]
- [http://www.cdc.gov Centers for Disease Control]: [http://www.cdc.gov/phin/ Public Health Information Network]
- [http://www.naccho.org National Association of County and City Health Officials] The national organization representing local public health officials; based in Washington, DC.
- [http://www.astho.org Association of State and Territorial Health Officials] Organization representing heads of state public health agencies.
- [http://www.globalizationandhealth.com Globalization and Health] A peer reviewed, open access journal
- [http://www.healthyamericans.org Trust for America's Health] A Washington-DC-based health research and policy organization
- [http://www.publichealthy.com Public Healthy.com] Information on Public Health training, practice and research in the UK
- [http://depts.washington.edu/eqhlth Population Health Forum]
- [http://www.who.dk/document/e81384.pdf The Solid Facts, the Social Determinants of Health]
- ja:公衆衛生

Geneva

Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf, Italian: Ginevra) is the second most populous city in Switzerland, situated where Lake Geneva (known in French as Lac Léman) flows into the Rhône River. It is the capital of the Canton of Geneva. The population within the city limits is 185,526 (2004) and that of the city and its suburbs — which extend all the way into France — is 645,000 (2000). Geneva's high international profile today is mainly due to the presence in the city of numerous international organisations, including the European headquarters of the United Nations. See Names of European cities in different languages for a list of the name of this city in other languages.

History

Names of European cities in different languages Geneva was the name of a settlement of the Celtic people of the Allobroges. The name of Genava (or Genua) in Latin appeared for the first time in the writings of Julius Caesar in De Bello Gallico, his comments on the Gallic Wars. Its name may be identical in origin to the name of the Ligurian city of Genua (modern Genoa), meaning "knee"; that is, "angle", referring to its geographical position; though more likely is based on the root gen- 'birth' (Genawa is at the birth of the river from the womb of the lake; perhaps the name in full means 'birth-water'). After the Roman conquest it became part of the Provincia Romana (Gallia Narbonensis). In 58 BCE, at Geneva, Caesar hemmed in the Helvetii on their westward march. In the 9th century it became the capital of Burgundy. Though Geneva was contested among Burgundians and Franks and the Holy Roman Emperors, in practice it was ruled by its bishops, until the Reformation, when Geneva became a republic. Due to the work of reformers such as John Calvin, Geneva was sometimes dubbed the Protestant Rome. In the 16th century Geneva was the center of Calvinism; the St Peter's Cathedral in what is now called the Old Town was John Calvin's own church. During the time when England was ruled by Queen Mary I, who persecuted Protestants, a number of Protestant scholars fled to Geneva. Among these scholars was William Whittingham who supervised the translation of the Geneva Bible in collaboration with Miles Coverdale, Christopher Goodman, Anthony Gilby, Thomas Sampson, and William Cole. One of the most important events in Geneva's history is l'Escalade (literally: "the scaling of the wall"). For the people of Geneva, l'Escalade is the symbol of their independence. It marked the final attempt in a series of assaults mounted throughout the 16th century by Savoy, which wanted to annex Geneva as its capital north of the Alps. This last assault happened on the night of 11-12 December 1602 and is celebrated yearly in the Old Town with numerous demonstrations and a parade of horses, cannons and armed men in period costumes. Geneva, or officially the Canton and Republic of Geneva, became a canton of Switzerland in 1815. The first of the Geneva Conventions was signed in 1864, to protect the sick and wounded in war time.

Geography

1864 at the bottom.]] Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, where the lake flows into the Rhône River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains, the Alps and the Jura. The city of Geneva has an area of 15.86 km², while the area of the Canton of Geneva is 282 km², including the two small enclaves of Céligny in Vaud. The part of the Lake that is attached to Geneva has an area of 38 km² and is sometimes referred to as Petit lac (small lake). The Canton has only a 4.5 km border with the rest of Switzerland; out of a total of 107.5 km of borders, the remaining 103 are shared with France, with the Départment de l'Ain to the North and the Département de la Haute-Savoie to the South. The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 m, and corresponds to the altitude of the largest of the Pierres du Niton, two large rocks emerging from the lake which date from the last ice age. This rock was chosen by General Guillaume Henri Dufour as the reference point for all surveying in Switzerland [http://www.swisstopo.ch/en/basics/geo/faq/horizon]. The second main river of Geneva is the Arve River which flows into the Rhône River just west of the city centre.

Demographics

As of 2004, the population of the Commune (city) of Geneva was 185,526, while 438,500 people lived in the Canton of Geneva. In 2000, 645,000 people lived in the Geneva urban community, which extends into Vaud Canton and neighboring France. The population of the Canton is split between 145,200 people originally from Geneva (33.1%), 123,400 Swiss from other cantons (28.2%) and 169,000 foreigners (38.7%), from 180 different countries. Including people holding dual citizenship, 54.4% of people living in Geneva hold a foreign passport. [http://www.geneve.ch/statistique/statistiques/domaines/domaine.asp?domaine=pop&sousdomaine=pop&vue=apercu] [http://www.swissinfo.org/sfr/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=6160464] While Geneva is usually considered as a Protestant city, there are now more Roman Catholics (39.5%) than Protestants (17.4%) living in the Canton. 22% of the inhabitants indicate that they are not part of any religion, the rest being shared between Islam (4.4%), Judaism (1.1%), other religions and people who did not respond. [http://www.geneve.ch/statistique/statistiques/domaines/domaine.asp?domaine=cult_media&sousdomaine=lang_religion&vue=apercu] (2000 figures.)

International organizations

Judaism Geneva is the seat of many international organisations, including the European headquarters of the United Nations and several other international bodies, such as the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Trade Organization and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Geneva also hosts the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, the International Organization for Standardization, the World Council of Churches, the World Wide Web Virtual Library, the World Economic Forum, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International AIDS Society. Geneva was the seat of the League of Nations between 1919 and the league's dissolution in 1946. It was first housed in the Palais Wilson, and then in the Palais des Nations, which now hosts the United Nations.

Economy

Many multinational companies like Procter & Gamble, Serono, Firmenich and Givaudan have their European headquarters in Geneva.

Infrastructure

Transportation

The city is served by the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. It is connected to both the Swiss railway network SBB-CFF-FFS, and to the French SNCF network, including direct connections to Paris by TGV. Geneva is also connected to the motorway systems of both Switzerland (A1 motorway) and France. Public transport by bus, trolleybus or tram is provided by Transports Publics Genevois (TPG). In addition to an extensive coverage the city centre, the network covers most of the municipalities of the Canton, with a few lines extending into France. Public transport by boat is provided by the Mouettes Genevoises, who link the two banks of the Lake; however, their use is mostly touristic. Regional trains operated by SBB-CFF-FFS connect the main station of Cornavin with the airport's train station, and several smaller train stations outside the city center. Trains are currently not used for transportation inside the city; however, work has started on the CEVA (Cornavin - Eaux-Vives - Annemasse) project, first planned in 1884, which will connect the city's main train station with the Canton's public hospital, the Eaux-Vives station and Annemasse, in France. The link between the main station and the classification yard of La Praille already exists; from there, the line will go mostly underground to the Hospital and the Eaux-Vives, where it will link to the existing line to France. [http://www.ceva.ch/menu/CEVA_accueil]

Utilities

Water, natural gas and electricity are provided to the municipalities of the Canton of Geneva by the state-owned [http://www.sig-ge.ch/ Services Industriels de Genève] (or SIG). Most of the drinkable water (80%) is extracted from the lake; the remaining 20% is provided by groundwater originally formed by infiltration from the Arve River. 30% of the Canton's needs in electricity are locally produced, mainly by three hydroelectric dams on the Rhone River (Seujet, Verbois and Chancy-Pougny). In addition, 13% of the electricity produced in the Canton is made from the heat induced by the burning of waste at the waste incineration facility of [http://www.sig-ge.ch/corporate/entreprise_sig/patrimoine/cheneviers.lbl Les Cheneviers]. The remaining needs (70%) are covered by imports from other cantons in Switzerland or other European countries; SIG buys only electricity produced by renewable methods, and in particular does not use electricity produced using nuclear reactors or fossil fuels. Natural gas is available in the City of Geneva, as well as in about two-thirds of the municipalities of the canton, and is imported from western Europe by the Swiss company [http://www.gaznat.ch/ Gaznat].

Education

Geneva is also home of one of the oldest universities of the world, the University of Geneva, founded in 1559, and one of the most prestigious graduate schools of international relations, the Graduate Institute of International Studies.

Culture

Landmarks and Sights

Graduate Institute of International Studies Notable sights in Geneva include the Flower Clock, the Art and History Museum, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and the Palais des Nations, the European headquarters of the United Nations. The city's most noted landmark is a fountain: the Jet d'Eau (water-jet), situated in Lake Geneva. Its 140-metre-high water column is visible from many parts of the city.

Media

Jet d'Eau The city's main newspaper is the Tribune de Genève, a daily newspaper founded on 1 February 1879 by James T. Bates, with a readership of about 187,000. Le Courrier, founded in 1868, was originally supported by the Roman Catholic Church, but has been completely independent since 1996. Mainly focused on Geneva, Le Courrier is trying to expand into other cantons in Romandy. Both Le Temps (headquartered in Geneva) and Le Matin are widely read in Geneva, but both journals actually cover the whole of Romandy. Geneva is covered by the different French language radio networks of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, in particular the Radio Suisse Romande. While these networks cover the whole of Romandy, special programs related to Geneva are sometimes broadcast on some of the local frequencies in the case of special events such as elections. Other local station broadcast from the city, including [http://www.radiolac.ch/ RadioLac] (FM 91.8 MHz), [http://radiocite.ch Radio Cité] (Christian Radio, FM 92.2 MHz), [http://www.onefm.ch OneFM] (FM 107.0 MHz, also broadcast in Vaud), and World Radio Geneva (FM 88.4 MHz), Switzerland's only English-language radio station. The main television channel covering Geneva is the Télévision Suisse Romande; while its headquarters are located in Geneva, the programs cover the whole of Romandy and are not specific to Geneva. [http://www.lemanbleu.ch Léman Bleu] is a local TV channel, founded in 1996 and distributed by cable.

Sport

The main sport team in Geneva is Servette FC, a football (soccer) club founded in 1890. Servette was the only club to have remained in the top league in Switzerland since its creation in the 1930s; however, in 2005, management problems caused the bankruptcy of the club's parent company, causing the club to be demoted two divisions. Geneva also has an ice hockey club, Genève-Servette HC, which operates in the Swiss Nationalliga A.

External links

- [http://www.ville-ge.ch/index_e.htm Official website of the City of Geneva]
- [http://www.geneva-tourism.ch Geneva Tourism]
- Tribune de Genève: [http://www.tdg.ch/tghome/english_corner/last_news.html Daily news from the city] (English)
- [http://www.geneva.ch/GenevaHistory.htm Brief history of Geneva]
- [http://www.geneva.info/ Geneva information]
- [http://www.tpg.ch Geneva public transport]
-
- [http://www.egeneve.ch/ Tales of Geneva life (from 1910 till 2005)] Category:Cantonal capitals of Switzerland ja:ジュネーヴ simple:Geneva

April 7

April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). There are 268 days remaining.

Events

- 529 - first draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I
- 1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu
- 1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
- 1655 - Fabio Chigi becomes Pope Alexander VII.
- 1795 - France adopts the metre as the unit of length.
- 1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain.
- 1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
- 1805 - First public performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica).
- 1827 - John Walker (inventor), an English chemist, invents the friction match.
- 1831 - Emperor Pedro I of Brazil abdicates in favor of his son, Pedro II.
- 1856 - Foundation of Nelson College, Nelson, New Zealand.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends - Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
- 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
- 1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
- 1908 - Herbert Henry Asquith takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
- 1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome petroleum reserves in Wyoming.
- 1927 - First long distance public television broadcast (Washington, DC to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
- 1933 - The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, the first law meant to discriminate specifically against Jews is passed by the National Socialist regime in Germany.
- 1934 - The U.S. Congress passes the Jones-Connally Farm-Relief Act.
- 1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
- 1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
- 1943 - First synthesis of LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide, by Albert Hoffman
- 1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while in-route to a suicide mission.
- 1945 - Kantaro Suzuki becomes the 42nd Prime Minister of Japan
- 1946 - Syria's independence from Vichy France is officially recognised
- 1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
- 1952 - The manga Astro Boy debuts in the monthly magazine Shōnen.
- 1953 - Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary General.
- 1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
- 1955 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
- 1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.
- 1964 - IBM announces the System/360
- 1967 - Six-Day War: Israeli fighters shoot down seven Syrian MIG-21s.
- 1968 - Formula One racer Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim, Germany.
- 1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
- 1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light
- 1977 - Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox
- 1980 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
- 1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk (duration: 4 hours, 10 minutes).
- 1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway after a fire. 42 sailors die.
- 1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal but the convictions were later reversed after an appeal.
- 1992 - Republika Srpska announces its independence.
- 1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
- 1998 - Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
- 1998 - Singer George Michael is arrested in a Beverly Hills public restroom for "engaging in a lewd act."
- 1999 - Kosovo War: Kosovo's main border crossings are closed by Serbian forces to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.
- 2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
- 2001 - An M-17 helicopter crashes into mountain in south of Hanoi, Vietnam killing 16.
- 2003 - US troops capture Baghdad, Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later
- 2005 - The State of Connecticut allows same-sex civil unions.

Births

- 1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
- 1613 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
- 1644 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
- 1648 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)
- 1652 - Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
- 1718 - Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
- 1727 - Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
- 1763 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer
- 1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
- 1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
- 1803 - James Curtiss, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
- 1848 - Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
- 1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1951)
- 1867 - Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
- 1870 - Gustav Landauer, German anarchist and revolutionary (d. 1919)
- 1873 - John McGraw, baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
- 1883 - Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
- 1889 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)
- 1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (d. 1958)
- 1893 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)
- 1897 - Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)
- 1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
- 1908 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)
- 1915 - Billie Holiday, American singer (d. 1959)
- 1915 - Henry Kuttner, American writer (d. 1958)
- 1917 - R.G. Armstrong, American actor
- 1918 - Bobby Doerr, baseball player
- 1919 - Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer
- 1920 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sithar player
- 1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban musician (d. 2003)
- 1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
- 1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (d. 2003)
- 1928 - James Garner, American actor
- 1928 - Alan J. Pakula, American producer and director (d. 1998)
- 1929 - Bob Denard, French soldier
- 1930 - Andrew Sachs, British actor
- 1931 - Donald Barthelme, American author
- 1933 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
- 1934 - Ian Richardson, British actor
- 1935 - Bobby Bare, American musician
- 1936 - Jean-Pierre Changuex, French neuroscientist
- 1938 - Jerry Brown, American politician
- 1938 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter
- 1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- 1939 - Sir David Frost, English broadcaster and television host
- 1944 - Julia Phillips, American film producer and writer (d. 2002)
- 1944 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
- 1945 - Joël Robuchon, French chef
- 1946 - Colette Besson, French runner
- 1949 - John Oates, American musician (Hall and Oates)
- 1951 - Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong actor
- 1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
- 1955 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- 1956 - Charles Carreon, American lawyer and author
- 1956 - Christopher Darden, American O.J. Simpson prosecuter
- 1961 - Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
- 1962 - Hugh O'Connor, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1962 - Alain Robert, French rock and urban climber
- 1964 - Russell Crowe, New Zealand actor
- 1965 - Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian
- 1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
- 1970 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist
- 1971 - Guillaume Depardieu, French actor, son of Gérard Depardieu
- 1973 - Carole Montillet, French skier
- 1975 - Tiki Barber, New York Giants Running Back (American Football)
- 1979 - Tony Malone, British designer and activist

Deaths

- 858 - Pope Benedict III
- 1307 - Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1271)
- 1498 - King Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
- 1614 - El Greco, Greek-born artist (b. 1541)
- 1638 - Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese ruler of Satsuma (b. 1576)
- 1651 - Lennart Torstenson, Swedish soldier and engineer (b. 1603)
- 1658 - Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic (b. 1595)
- 1661 - William Brereton, English soldier and politician (b. 1604)
- 1663 - Francis Cooke, Mayflower pilgrim
- 1668 - William Davenant, English poet (b. 1606)
- 1719 - Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French saint (b. 1651)
- 1739 - Dick Turpin, English highwayman (hanged) (b. 1706)
- 1747 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshall (b. 1676)
- 1761 - Thomas Bayes English mathematician (b. 1702)
- 1766 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
- 1767 - Franz Sparry, composer (b. 1715)
- 1782 - Taksin, King of Thailand (b. 1734)
- 1789 - Abd-ul-Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1725)
- 1789 - Petrus Camper, Dutch anatomist (b. 1722)
- 1801 - Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (b. 1724)
- 1823 - Jacques Charles, French chemist (b. 1746)
- 1833 - Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish politician (b. 1775)
- 1836 - William Godwin, English political writer (b. 1756)
- 1850 - William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
- 1858 - Anton Diabelli, Austrian music publisher, editor, and composer (b. 1781)
- 1871 - Alexander Lloyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- 1885 - Carl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist (b. 1804)
- 1891 - P. T. Barnum, American circus impresario (b. 1810)
- 1928 - Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician and philosopher (b. 1873)
- 1939 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
- 1943 - Jovan Ducic, Serbian poet
- 1943 - Alexandre Millerand, President of France (b. 1859)
- 1947 - Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer and industrialist (b. 1863)
- 1950 - Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (b. 1884)
- 1955 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- 1968 - Jimmy Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
- 1981 - Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
- 1984 - Frank Church, U.S. Senator from Idaho (b. 1924)
- 1986 - Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- 1990 - Ronald Evans, astronaut (b. 1933)
- 1994 - Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic professional football player and politician (b. 1923)
- 1994 - Golo Mann, German historian (b. 1909)
- 1994 - Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
- 1997 - Witto Aloma, baseball player (b. 1923)
- 1997 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- 1998 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and environmentalist (b. 1890)
- 2001 - David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
- 2001 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
- 2002 - John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Cecile de Brunhoff, French storyteller (b. 1903)
- 2005 - Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

- Araw ng Kagitingan was moved this year from April 9 to April 7 to give the residents a long weekend and help tourism in the Philippines.
- World Health Day - April 7th of every year is designated as World Health Day and celebrated by the 191 member countries of the World Health Organization to emphasize significant issues in public health of worldwide concern. Observed annually since 1948.
- Mozambique - Women's Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/7 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/4/7 Today in History: April 7] ---- April 6 - April 8 - March 7 - May 7 -- listing of all days ko:4월 7일 ms:7 April ja:4月7日 simple:April 7 th:7 เมษายน

Lee Jong-wook

Lee Jong-wook (b. April 12, 1945 in Seoul) of South Korea is the Director-General of the World Health Organization. He was nominated on 28 January, 2003 by the WHO's Executive Board for the post of Director-General of agency and elected to the post on 21 May by the Member States of WHO. The Director-General is WHO's chief technical and administrative officer. Lee took office and started his five-year term as Director-General of WHO on 21 July 2003. Lee received a Medical doctor degree (M.D.) from Seoul National University and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Hawaii. He has worked at WHO, at country, regional and HQ level for 20 years in technical, managerial and policy positions, notably leading the fight against two of the greatest challenges to health and development: tuberculosis and vaccine preventable diseases of children. After heading the WHO Global Programme for Vaccines and Immunizations and serving as a Senior Policy Advisor, he became, in 2000, Director of Stop TB, a coalition of more than 250 international partners including WHO member states, donors, non-governmental organizations, industry and foundations. Dr. Lee speaks English, Korean and Japanese, and reads French and Chinese. See also: List of Korea-related topics

External links

- [http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2003/webArticles/052703_who_elected.html New WHO Head]: official UN Chronicle on-line nb:Lee Jong-wook Category:1945 births Lee

League of Nations

The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. The League's goals included disarmament; preventing war through collective security; settling disputes between countries through negotiation and diplomacy; and improving global welfare. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a fundamental shift in thought from the preceding hundred years. The old philosophy, growing out of the Congress of Vienna (1815), saw Europe as a shifting map of alliances among nation-states, creating a balance of power maintained by strong armies and secret agreements. Under the new philosophy, the League was a government of governments, with the role of settling disputes between individual nations in an open and legalist forum. The impetus for the founding of the League came from Democratic U.S. President Woodrow Wilson although the United States never joined the League of Nations. The League lacked an armed force of its own and so depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, which they were often very reluctant to do. After a number of notable successes and some early failures, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis Powers in the 1930s. The onset of the Second World War made it clear that the League had failed in its primary purpose—to avoid any future world war. The United Nations effectively replaced it after World War II and inherited a number of agencies and organizations founded by the League. United Nations, Switzerland, built between 1929 and 1938, was constructed as the League's headquarters. Today, it serves as the United Nations' European headquarters and flies the UN flag]]

Origins

UN flag The concept of a peaceful community of nations had previously been described in Immanuel Kant’s Perpetual Peace. The idea of the actual League of Nations appears to have originated with British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, and it was enthusiastically adopted by the Democratic U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his advisor Colonel Edward M. House as a means of avoiding bloodshed like that of World War I. The creation of the League was a centrepiece of Wilson's Fourteen Points for Peace, specifically the final point: "A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike." The Paris Peace Conference accepted the proposal to create the League of Nations (French: Société des Nations, German: Völkerbund) on January 25, 1919. The Covenant of the League of Nations was drafted by a special commission, and the League was established by Part I of the Treaty of Versailles, which was signed on June 28 1919. Initially, the Charter was signed by 44 states, including 31 states which had taken part in the war on the side of the Triple Entente or joined it during the conflict. Despite Wilson's efforts to establish and promote the League, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919, the United States neither ratified the Charter nor joined the League due to opposition from isolationists in the U.S. Senate, especially influential Republican leader Henry Cabot Lodge, together with Wilson's refusal to compromise. The League held its first meeting in London on 10 January 1920. Its first action was to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I. The headquarters of the League soon moved to Geneva, where the first general assembly of the League was held on November 15, 1920.

Symbols

1920 The League of Nations did not have an official flag or logo. Proposals for adopting an official symbol were made during the League's beginning in 1920, but the member states never reached agreement. However, League of Nations organisations used varying logos and flags (or none at all) in their own operations. An international contest was held in 1929 to find a design, which again failed to produce a symbol. One of the reasons for this failure may have been the fear by the member states that the power of the supranational organisation might supersede them. Finally, in 1939, a semi-official emblem emerged: two five-pointed stars within a blue pentagon. The pentagon and the five-pointed stars were supposed to symbolise the five continents and the five races of mankind. In a bow on top and at the bottom, the flag had the names in English (League of Nations) and French (Société des Nations). This flag was used on the building of the New York World's Fair in 1939 and 1940.

Languages

The official languages of the League of Nations were French, English and Spanish (from 1920). In the early 1920s, there was a proposal for the League to accept Esperanto as their working language. Ten delegates accepted the proposal with only one voice against, the French delegate, Gabriel Hanotaux. Hanotaux did not like how the French language was losing its position as the international language and saw Esperanto as a threat. Two years later the League recommended that its member states include Esperanto in their educational curricula.

Structure

The League had three principal organs: a secretariat (headed by the General Secretary and based in Geneva), a Council and an Assembly, and many Agencies and Commissions. Authorisation for any action required both a unanimous vote by the Council and a majority vote in the Assembly.

Secretariat

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. Over the life of the League from 1920–1946, the three Secretaries General were:
- Sir James Eric Drummond, 16th Earl of Perth (U.K.) (1920-1933)
- Joseph Avenol (France) (1933-1940)
- Seán Lester (Ireland) (1940-1946) The General Secretary wrote annual reports on the work of the League.

Council

The League Councils had the authority to deal with any matter affecting world peace. The Council began with four permanent members (Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan) and four non-permanent members elected by the Assembly every three years. The first four non-permanent members were Belgium, Brazil, Greece and Spain. China took the place of the United States, which was originally to be the fifth permanent member, after the United States Senate, dominated by the Republican Party since the 1918 election, voted on March 19, 1920 against the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. Subsequently, the composition and the number of members of the Council were changed as Germany was added as a permanent member and the number of non-permanent members was increased to nine for a total of fifteen members. The Council met in ordinary sessions four times a year, and in extraordinary sessions when required. In total, 107 public sessions were held between 1920 and 1939.

Assembly

Germany Each member was represented and had one vote in the League Assembly. Individual member states did not always have representatives in Geneva. The Assembly held its sessions once a year in September. Eamon de Valera was the President of the Council of the League of Nations at its 68th and Special Sessions in September and October 1932, and President of the Assembly of the League of Nations in 1938. C.J. Hambro was President in 1939 and 1946.

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 were the Disarmament Commission, the Health Organisation, the International Labour Organization, the Mandates Commission, the Permanent Central Opium Board, the Commission for Refugees, and the Slavery Commission. While the League itself is generally branded a failure, several of its Agencies and Commissions had successes within their respective mandates. ; Disarmament Commission : The Commission obtained initial agreement by France, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom to limit the size of their navies. However, the UK refused to sign a 1923 disarmament treaty, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, facilitated by the commission in 1928, failed in its objective of outlawing war. Ultimately, the Commission failed to halt the military buildup during the 1930s by Italy, Germany and Japan. ; Health Organisation : This body focused on ending leprosy and malaria, the latter by starting an international campaign to exterminate mosquitoes. The Health Organisation also succeeded in preventing an epidemic of typhus from spreading throughout Europe due to its early intervention in the Soviet Union. ; Mandates Commission : The Commission supervised League of Nations Mandates, and also organised plebiscites in disputed territories so that residents could decide which country they would join, most notably the plebiscite in Saarland in 1935. ; International Labour Organization : This body was led by Albert Thomas. It successfully banned the addition of lead to paint, and convinced several countries to adopt an eight-hour work day and forty-eight-hour working week. It also worked to end child labour, increase the rights of women in the workplace, and make shipowners liable for accidents involving seamen. ; Permanent Central Opium Board : The Board was established to supervise the statistical control system introduced by the second International Opium Convention that mediated the production, manufacture, trade and retail of opium and its by-products. The Board also established a system of import certificates and export authorizations for the legal international trade in narcotics. ; Commission for Refugees : Led by Fridtjof Nansen, the Commission oversaw the repatriation and, when necessary the resettlement, of 400,000 refugees and ex-prisoners of war, most of whom were stranded in Russia at the end of World War I. It established camps in Turkey in 1922 to deal with a refugee crisis in that country and to help prevent disease and hunger. It also established the Nansen passport as a means of identification for stateless peoples. ; Slavery Commission : The Commission sought to eradicate slavery from the world, and fought forced prostitution and drug trafficking, particularly in opium. It succeeded in gaining the emancipation of 200,000 slaves in Sierra Leone and organised raids against slave traders in its efforts to stop the practice of forced labour in Africa. It also succeeded in reducing the death rate of workers in Tanganyika from 55% to 4%. In other parts of the world, the Commission kept records on slavery, prostitution and drug trafficking in an attempt to monitor those issues. Several of these institutions were transferred to the United Nations after the Second World War. In addition to the International Labour Organisation, the Permanent Court of International Justice became a UN institution as the International Court of Justice, and the Health Organisation was restructured as the World Health Organisation.

Mandates

League of Nations Mandates were established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. These territories were former colonies of the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire that were placed under the supervision of the League following World War I. There were three Mandate classifications: ; An "A" Mandate : This was a territory which "had reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognised, subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a "Mandatory" until such time as they are able to stand alone." These were mainly parts of the old Ottoman Empire. ; A "B" Mandate : This was a territory which "was at such a stage that the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee: :
- Freedom of conscience and religion :
- The maintenance of public order and morals :
- Prohibition of abuses such as the slave trade, the arms traffic and the liquor traffic :
- The prevention of the establishment of fortifications or military and naval bases and of military training of the natives for other than political purposes and the defence of territory :
- Equal opportunities for the trade and commerce of other Members of the League." ; A "C" Mandate : This was a territory "which, owing to the sparseness of their population, or their small size, or their remoteness from the centres of civilisation, or their geographical contiguity to the territory of the Mandatory, and other circumstances, can be best administered under the laws of the Mandatory." (Quotations taken from The Essential Facts About the League of Nations, a handbook published in Geneva in 1939). The territories were governed by "Mandatory Powers", such as the UK in the case of the Mandate of Palestine and the Union of South Africa in the case of South-West Africa, until the territories were deemed capable of self-government. There were fourteen mandate territories divided up among the six Mandatory Powers of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. In practice, the Mandatory Territories were treated as colonies and were regarded by critics as spoils of war. With the exception of Iraq, not until World War II did the territories began to gain their independence, a process that did not end until 1990. Following the demise of the League, most of the remaining mandates became United Nations Trust Territories. In addition to the Mandates, the League itself governed the Saarland for 15 years, before it was returned to Germany following a plebiscite, and the free city of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) from 15 November 1920 to 1 September 1939.

Successes

The League is generally considered to have failed in its mission to achieve disarmament, prevent war, settle disputes through diplomacy, and improve global welfare. However, it achieved significant successes in a number of areas.

Åland Islands

Åland is a collection of around 6,500 islands mid-way between Sweden and Finland. The islands are exclusively Swedish-speaking, but Finland had sovereignty in the early 1900s. During the period from 1917 onwards, most residents wished the islands to become part of Sweden; Finland, however, did not wish to cede the islands. The Swedish government raised the issue with the League in 1921. After close consideration, the League determined that the islands should remain a part of Finland, but be governed autonomously, averting a potential war.

Albania

The border between Albania and Yugoslavia remained in dispute after the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and Yugoslavian forces occupied some Albanian territory. After clashes with Albanian tribesmen, the Yugoslav forces invaded further. The League sent a commission of representatives from various powers to the region. The commission found in favour of Albania, and the Yugoslav forces withdrew in 1921, albeit under protest. War was again prevented.

Upper Silesia

The Treaty of Versailles had ordered a plebiscite in Upper Silesia to determine whether the territory should be part of Germany or Poland. In the background, strong-arm tactics and discrimination against Poles led to rioting and eventually to the first two Silesian Uprisings (1919 and 1920). In the plebiscite, roughly 59.6% (around 500,000) of the votes were cast for joining Germany, and this result led to the Third Silesian Uprising in 1921. The League was asked to settle the matter. In 1922, a six-week investigation found that the land should be split; the decision was accepted by both countries and by the majority of Upper Silesians.

Memel

The port city of Memel and the surrounding area was placed under League control after the end of the World War I and was governed by a French general for three years. However, the population was mostly Lithuanian, and the Lithuanian government placed a claim to the territory, with Lithuanian forces invading in 1923. The League chose to cede the land around Memel to Lithuania, but declared the port should remain an international zone; Lithuania agreed. While the decision could be seen as a failure (in that the League reacted passively to the use of force), the settlement of the issue without significant bloodshed was a point in the League's favour.

Greece and Bulgaria

Main article: War of the Stray Dog After an incident between sentries on the border between Greece and Bulgaria in 1925, Greek troops invaded their neighbour. Bulgaria ordered its troops to provide only token resistance, trusting the League to settle the dispute. The League did indeed condemn the Greek invasion, and called for both Greek withdrawal and compensation to Bulgaria. Greece complied, but complained about the disparity between their treatment and that of Italy (see Corfu, below).

Saar

Saar was a province formed from parts of Prussia and the Rhenish Palatinate that was established and placed under League control after the Treaty of Versailles. A plebiscite was to be held after fifteen years of League rule, to determine whether the region should belong to Germany or France. 90.3% of votes cast were in