CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020) THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT… Compared to the period before World War I, when war was not yet banned, the great benefit of the League of Nations was the commitment of the member states to exhaust the means of peaceful settlement of disputes before reaching out to the use of force. The contribution of the League of Nations was also the effort to participate in the development of international law. In connection with the issues of international peace and security, it was the work on the Protocol on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes (Geneva Protocol) in 1924. The Geneva Protocol was intended to reduce armaments and prevent wars and was an important addition to the Pact. The ideas of the Geneva Protocol were used in later legislative works. An expression of the efforts of the League of Nations in the field of international security was convening the disarmament conference in 1932. The conference sought to address the issue of armaments in a comprehensive manner, i.e. including a ban on the use of certain weapons. The conference failed, but it could be seen as a continuation of the efforts of the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907, which also addressed the issue of arms control. As before World War I and also in the 1930s, there was neither the interest of the states nor the international prerequisite for the conference to be successful. Despite the failure of the disarmament conference, it was the impulse for the international community’s disarmament efforts after World War II. Other ideas of international law that first appeared between the world wars were the system of mandated territories. 46 According to this arrangement, colonies of the defeated powers were administered by the victorious powers for the benefit of their inhabitants instead of being annexed. The extend of the authority, supervision or administration of the mandated territories was defined in each individual case by the Council of the League of Nations (Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations). Mandate administration was established solely in the interests of the territories concerned and not in the interests of the mandated states. The League of Nations also sought to protect minorities. These efforts have not been very successful but have paved the way for later efforts to protect human rights. After the end of World War II, the League of Nations became at least an inspiration for the United Nations (UN), which was founded in 1945. From the point of view of the UN Charter itself, one can see an effort to avoid some of the shortcomings of the League of Nations. After World War II, there was even stronger effort to ensure the international security, this time on a truly global basis (currently the UN has 193 member states). The UN has a number of goals, some of which were the goals of the League of Nations. One of the main goals of the UN is to maintain international peace and security. The UN Charter, unlike the Covenant of the League of Nations, explicitly prohibits the threat or use of force in Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter. The Covenant of the League of Nations did not explicitly exclude war. The prohibition of force in the UN Charter includes other cases of prohibited use of armed force that are not of a war nature. In addition, the UN Charter prohibits the threat of force. The UN is truly a global organization, not limited to its members, which was especially important at the beginning of its operation. The relationship with non-member States is expressed in Article 2, paragraph 6, of the Charter of the United Nations, according to which the Organization shall ensure that States which are not members of it, act in accordance with these principles in so far as is necessary to maintain international peace and security. The UN is thus a truly global collective security organization. The Covenant of

46 Ibid., p. 23.

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