CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020) THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT… and munitions of war. In doing so, the needs of states that could not produce ammunition and munitions on their own were meant to be taken into account. The members of the League also undertook to communicate to each other statistical data on their own armaments . States should communicate to each other, in the most honest and complete manner, information about the extent and distribution of their armaments, about their military, naval, and aeronautical programs, and about the conditions in those industries which could be used for war purposes. According to A. Hobza, 29 this was unfortunately the only clearly formulated commitment regarding the disarmament. However, compared to the provisions of the UN Charter on disarmament and arms regulation, Article 8 of the Covenant was relatively specific (see below). In that regard, M. Zimmermann argued that Article 8 did not combine security and disarmament issues in a fairly clear sense, but was based on the idea of the separated meaning of disarmament. 30 This conclusion could be doubted, as the interpretation of Article 8 (1) could lead to the opposite interpretation. However, Article 8 contained rather general topics that required further implementation in specific rules. The Pact therefore provided in Article 9 for the establishment of a standing commission, which would report to the Council how to implement the provisions of Article 8 and would also report the military naval and aeronautical issues in general. The League of Nations Standing Committee was indeed set up and it consisted of military, naval, and air representatives appointed by each member state of the Council. 31 In 1925, the Preparatory Commission for the Disarmament Conference began negotiations. The Commission consisted of the representatives of both member and non-member countries of the League of Nations. Six sessions of this Commission were held and was dissolved in 1930 after it presented a draft Convention on the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments. A. Hobza 32 positively assessed the proceedings in this Commission, but also in other commissions set up by the League of Nations for disarmament issues. They were especially valuable because they clarified many issues by exchanging information and opinions. Joint meetings of states on armaments were a new element. Before World War I, the issue of armaments was a purely internal matter and largely hidden from the public. In the period between the world wars, armaments thus became a matter of public interest and the subject of negotiations at international conferences. In 1932, a long-prepared disarmament conference was launched. It was the only pre-World War II conference which dealt with universal reduction and limitation of all types of weapons. 33 Other conferences on arms control were held, i.e. in Washington in 1922 or in London in 1930, but they only focused on partial issues of the naval armaments. Inadditionto the GeneralCommission , the issuesdiscussedat the Conference onDisarmament were divided into ten special commissions, 34 other subcommissions, and committees. These 29 HOBZA, A. Úvod do mezinárodního práva mírového, Část II . [ Introduction to International Law of Peace. Part II. ] Praha: 1935, p. 448. 30 ZIMMERMANN, M. A. Společnost národů . [ League of Nations. ] Praha: Orbis 1931, pp. 291-292. 31 GOLDBLAT, J. Arms Control . London: Prio SIPRI, Sage Publications, 2002, p. 21. 32 HOBZA, A. Úvod do mezinárodního práva mírového. Část I . [ Introduction to International Law of Peace. Part I. ] Praha: 1933, p. 142. 33 GOLDBLAT, J. Arms Control . London: Prio SIPRI, Sage Publications, 2002, p. 24. 34 HOBZA, A. Úvod do mezinárodního práva mírového. Část I . [ Introduction to International Law of Peace. Part I. ] Praha: Nákladem vlastním, 1933, p. 142.

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