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Further to the Treaty of Neuilly between the Allied Powers and Bulgaria, a Convention was signed in Neuilly on 27 November 1919 in order to settle the problem of mutual and voluntary emigration of ethnical minorities of religion or language in Greece and Bulgaria.

Further to article eight of the Convention, a Mixed Emigration Commission was set up, which was responsible for implementing the principles of the Convention and settle in particular the "clearing" of real estate.

The Convention of Neuilly organized the free emigration of people with their personal estate and a sort of "clearing" for their real estate. But it was not at all dealing with financial help or loan.

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The Intellectual Cooperation and International Bureaux Section represented the Secretariat of the Intellectual Cooperation Organisation of the League of Nations. It had also relationships with the different international bureaux and associations and was the secretariat for the Assembly or the Council which requested cooperation with international bureaux.

1) International Bureaux Section:

The International Bureaux Section was created in 1919 to carry out the obligations stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 24 of the Covenant: "Each international office set up by collective treaties will be placed under the League of Nations authority, subject to its agreement". But most of the existing international bureaux (sometimes already existing for more than a century) didn't agree to be absorbed by the League of Nations apart from some such as the International Assistance Bureau, the International Hydrographical Bureau, the International Central Bureau for the Liquors Trade Control in Africa, the International Exhibition Bureau and the International Commission for Air Navigation, as well as the Nansen Office for Refugees, when it became autonomous. These Bureaux were in permanent relationships with the International Bureaux Section or with the corresponding technical Section of the Secretariat.

The International Bureaux Section could almost have become obsolete if it had not become a correspondence service with various international bureaux, whether or not under the League of Nations supervision (and even associations), and especially if educational and youth questions, as well as intellectual cooperation, had not become more and more important.

Up to 1925, this Section was called the International Bureaux Section. From 1927 to 1939, it was the Intellectual Cooperation and International Bureaux Section. In 1939, the Intellectual Cooperation and International Bureaux Section was incorporated into Department I and in 1940 into Department III.

2) Intellectual Cooperation Organisation:

Although it was not clearly mentioned in the Covenant, the League of Nations was concerned not only with the exchange of political ideals and material goods, but also with reinforcing intellectual relationships between States. The League of Nations could hardly fail therefore, to put intellectual "rapprochement" in the forefront of its activities, and in so doing it was bound to make an appeal to those who devoted themselves to educational and intellectual work in each nation.

Therefore, already in 1920 the Assembly was considering the possible setting-up of a technical organization attached to the League of Nations: the Intellectual Cooperation Organisation.

It was composed of:

  • the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation set up in 1922, which was the advisory organ of the Assembly and the Council. It directed the work of intellectual cooperation, was in charge of promoting intellectual work and international relationships between scientists, researchers, teachers, artists and members of intellectual professions and improving working conditions of intellectual workers. Taking into account the composition of the Committee by such distinguished people as Henri Bergson, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Béla Bartók, Thomas Mann, Paul Valery etc., the intellectual contacts which it helped to restore after the war, and the mutual understanding and goodwill it symbolized, it became apparent that the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation in itself represented an act of "rapprochement" between the nations.

  • Committees of Experts appointed on a needs basis, to answer special questions. The International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation collaborated with these different Committees of Experts, such as the Permanent Committee on Arts and Letters, the International Commission on Historical Monuments, the Committee of Scientific Advisers, the Committee of Architectural Experts, the Committee of Library Experts, the Committee of Expert Archivists, the Committee on Intellectual Rights, etc.

  • and three working bodies:

  • the Intellectual Cooperation Section: the main objective of this Section was to encourage international intellectual cooperation (protection of scientific property, library questions, university and school matters, education, youth questions, the future of culture, international collaboration in arts and literature, protection of historical monuments, cooperation between museums or libraries, copyrights, etc.) in order to promote international understanding between States as a means to preserve peace. This Section was the Secretariat of the Intellectual Cooperation Organisation and its related bodies for which it prepared the work and meetings. It also was the administrative Secretariat of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, in its relations with the Council and the Assembly and for official communications with Governments. Furthermore, it was the channel of communication with the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation and the Educational Cinematographic Institute.

  • the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, set up in Paris in 1924 by, and at the expense of, the French Government. It began work in 1926. As the executive organ of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, it carried out the Committee's decisions and recommendations. The International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, in association with the Intellectual Cooperation and International Bureaux Section, was in charge of preparing the work and documents of the sessions of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation and of Expert Committees. The archives of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation are kept in Paris at UNESCO.

  • the International Educational Cinematographic Institute. Radio and cinema were also considered as a means to reinforce intellectual cooperation between States. For this purpose, the International Educational Cinematographic Institute was created in Rome in 1928, by the Italian Government. It worked in close collaboration with the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation in Paris. Its main objective was to encourage the production, distribution and exchange of educational films.

The Intellectual Cooperation Organisation, whose principal organ was the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, operated from 1922 to 1946. Its work has been carried on by UNESCO.

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The Communications and Transit Section, also called Transit Section was the Secretariat of the "Communications and Transit Organisation" of the League of Nations. Its work was mainly technical not economic. This Organization was better structured and more autonomous than the other technical organizations.

Even before the onset of the First World War, the necessity of instituting a unified communications and transit organization had already been established. The League of Nations was, moreover, explicitly entrusted with a variety of duties in the matter of communications and transit by the Treaties of Peace, such as: international road traffic, rail transport and inland navigation, ports and maritime navigation, unification of road signals and maritime signals, simplification of passports and visa procedures, transmission of electric power across national frontiers, etc.

The "Communications and Transit Organisation" worked through the Advisory and Technical Committee, established by the first General Conference on Communications and Transit held in Barcelona in 1921 and was made up of four components:

  • a) the Committee for Communications and Transit (or Advisory and Technical Committee), which work was to study different communication and transit technical problems, to assist the Assembly and the Council, to ascertain progress made with the ratification of Conventions, to undertake the task of conciliation and enquiry in certain disputes, etc.

  • b) permanent or temporary committees on Air Navigation, Electric Power, Transport by Rail, Inland Navigation, Maritime Ports and Navigation, Road Traffic, legal questions;

  • c) conferences;

  • d) and a permanent secretariat, the Communications and Transit Section, provided by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations.

The Communications and Transit Section's task was, primarily, one of legislation, Article 23 (e) of the Covenant having made it incumbent upon Members of the League of Nations, to "make provision to secure and maintain freedom of communications and transit". On this principle, which was designed to promote intercourse and trade between countries separated from each other by other States, the League of Nations had to build up a body of international law recognized by all States alike, and ruling out all possibility of discrimination against any one of them. This was the work of the first two General Conferences on Communications and Transit, held in Barcelona in 1921 and Geneva in 1923 in order to conclude the Conventions on the International Regime of Maritime Ports and Railways. The purpose of the 1930 Lisbon Conference was to reach agreements on the unification of maritime signals; in 1931, a Convention on the Unification of Road Signals was drawn up.

In addition to this fundamental work of legislation and codification, the Communications and Transit Section did its utmost to simplify administrative formalities, such as passport and visa procedures, in respect of international communications, and to introduce something like order into the heterogeneous mass of regulations more or less empirically introduced by the various countries. This lack of uniformity was a constant source of additional expense and delay in both passenger and goods traffic.

The "Communications and Transit Organisation's" most important constituent body, the Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit, acted as a mediator between States disagreeing on the interpretation or application of those instruments. Its functions were the same in the case of disputes regarding the interpretation and application of the communications clauses of the Peace Treaties of 1919-1920. States could also of their own accord apply to the Committee for an advisory opinion on any dispute with which it was competent to deal.

In 1939, the Communications and Transit Section was merged into the Economic and Financial Section, that formed Department II, which was transferred for most of its activities to Princeton.

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Within the Secretariat of the League of Nations, relationships with Latin America were always specific.

The League of Nations' peaceful and humanitarian objectives corresponded well with those of the Latin American States belonging to the 1889 Pan-American Union. Consequently, most Latin American States, except Ecuador, belonged to the League of Nations, either as signatory members of the Versailles Treaty or of the League of Nations Covenant.

It was originally decided to establish, in Rio de Janeiro or Montevideo, an external "bureau" or "Liaison with Latin America", more or less similar to the offices located in Paris or London. However, the "Bureau for liaison with Latin America" was established in Geneva in 1922. At the beginning it worked more or less as an autonomous office within the Information Section. But from 1924, it operated as a kind of "letter box" or "correspondence office" for the liaison with Latin America. It was, then, in charge of Latin American affairs dealt with by different sections of the Secretariat having no representatives in Latin America, such as political affairs, conflicts between Latin American countries, disarmament, financial and economic issues, opium traffic, health, intellectual cooperation, etc. It also prepared the work and stay of the delegates. It seems, however, that the most important questions were dealt with by the Information Section or the Political Section, in particular by
J. Nogueira, who was member of both sections.

In 1937, the "liaison" or "bureau" was merged into the High Direction (which was an auxiliary office of the Secretariat including the office of the Secretary General, as well as offices of deputy secretaries general in charge of different Sections) and shortly after ceased its activity. The Liaison with Latin America was under C. Rodriguez' responsibility, who worked for the High Direction. Because of the war situation,
A. Loveday and P. Deperon, located in Princeton, became responsible for the Bureau of Latin America.

The High Direction was one of the three divisions within the League of Nations staff. It included the Secretary General, deputy secretaries general and under secretaries general (including a judicial adviser), and 12 Directors of Sections including the Treasurer.

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The Publications Service and Reproduction of Documents was made of all the services in charge of the physical preparation of all the documents and publications from the various League of Nations organs and units (printing, publishing, reproduction, page-setting, mailing, distribution, sales or supply of documents, binding, classification, cataloguing and indexing of League of Nations publications, stationery, etc.). The Publications Service and Reproduction of Documents was not at all responsible for the writing or editing of texts.