✅ Its strength
It was the first time the world's governments agreed a list of rights for everyone. Later treaties and campaigners used it as a standard to measure governments against.
Setting Up the United Nations Organisation and Its Work to 1964 » Human Rights, Refugees and the ILO
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B5, Key topic 3
- Why the UN set up a Human Rights Commission and what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) said
- How the ILO and the refugee organisations carried on work begun by the League of Nations
- What happened to the League's Mandates Commission and how the UN tried to deal with disarmament
- What changed and what stayed the same between the League and the UN
The UN Charter set up the main bodies, but the UN also took on many other jobs. Some were new. Others carried on work the League of Nations had begun. This lesson looks at human rights, labour, refugees, the future of colonies and the attempt to cut weapons.
Key terms:
- Human rights: the basic rights and freedoms every person is meant to have, such as life, liberty and a fair trial.
- Declaration: a formal statement of principles. It is not a law and cannot be enforced.
- Specialised agency: an international organisation with its own job (such as labour or health) that works with the UN.
- Trusteeship Council: the UN body that supervised former League mandates and similar territories until they governed themselves.
- Disarmament: cutting down, or getting rid of, weapons.
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Unlock This CourseThe Human Rights Commission and the Universal Declaration, 1948
The Second World War ended with the world learning the full horror of Nazi persecution and the Holocaust. The Charter said the UN should encourage respect for human rights, and in 1946 a Human Rights Commission was set up to turn that aim into a document. It was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of the American president Franklin Roosevelt.
On 10 December 1948 the General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The vote was 48 in favour, none against and eight abstentions (the USSR and its allies, South Africa and Saudi Arabia did not vote for it). It has 30 articles. It says that all people are born free and equal, and lists rights such as life, liberty, a fair trial, freedom of thought and religion, and education.
❌ Its weakness
It was only a declaration, so it was not legally binding. The UN had no power to force a government that ignored it to change.
The ILO: the League's work carries on
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) was founded in 1919 and was one of the League's agencies. It brought together governments, employers and workers to agree standards for things like working hours, safety and child labour. Unlike the League itself, it survived the Second World War. In 1946 it became the first specialised agency of the UN, still based in Geneva. Its job stayed the same: to improve working conditions around the world. Its agreements only applied to the member states that chose to adopt them. The ILO won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969.
The refugee organisations
The war left millions of people far from home. The Allies first set up the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), which helped many return. But many refused to go back, often because their homelands were now under Communist rule. So in 1946 the UN set up the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). It looked after these displaced people in camps and helped to resettle over a million of them in new countries, including the USA, Australia, Canada and Britain.
The IRO was meant to be temporary, and it closed in 1952. In December 1950 the Assembly created the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which began work on 1 January 1951 from Geneva. The 1951 Refugee Convention then set out who counts as a refugee and what rights they should have. At first the UNHCR was given a three-year mandate and a small budget, mainly for Europe. But refugee crises did not end, and its work was renewed again and again. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954. This echoed the League, which had also appointed a High Commissioner for refugees, but the UN's agencies were bigger and lasted longer.
The Mandates Commission and the Trusteeship Council
After the First World War the League gave Britain, France and other powers mandates: control of former German and Turkish colonies, which they were supposed to prepare for self-government. The League's Mandates Commission checked their reports. After 1945 the UN replaced this with the Trusteeship Council, which took over the work. It supervised most of the former mandates (South Africa refused to hand over South West Africa) and some other territories, called trust territories. It could receive petitions from the people living there and send visiting missions to inspect. The aim was independence, and some territories achieved it, such as Tanganyika in 1961 and Western Samoa in 1962. The Council's weakness was that the powers running each territory could ignore its advice.
The Disarmament Commission, 1952
The UN also tried to control weapons. The Atomic Energy Commission (1946) and the Commission for Conventional Armaments (1947) both failed to produce agreement because the USA and the USSR distrusted each other. In January 1952 the Assembly combined them into a single Disarmament Commission, but it made little progress either. Each side wanted disarmament on its own terms, and nuclear arsenals kept growing. The one important test ban of the period, in 1963, was signed in Moscow by the USA, the USSR and Britain, not through the Commission.
Change and continuity: the League and the UN
Much stayed the same: the ILO, refugee work and supervision of colonies were all begun by the League and carried on. The UN changed things by making these bodies part of a larger permanent system, and by publishing a statement of human rights that the League never had. What did not change was the lack of power: in each case the UN could advise and encourage, but depended on states to act. Disarmament showed this most clearly.
Common mistakes
- Saying the Declaration of Human Rights was a law. It was a statement of principles and could not be enforced.
- Saying the ILO was created by the UN. It began in 1919 under the League and became a UN agency in 1946.
- Mixing up the IRO and the UNHCR. The IRO came first (1946) and was temporary; the UNHCR followed from 1951.
- Saying the Mandates Commission still existed after 1945. Its work passed to the Trusteeship Council.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO causes of the setting up of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950-51. [8 marks]
Remember: one cause on its own can only score half marks, so explain both.
Model answer
One cause was that the International Refugee Organisation was due to close. The IRO had been set up in 1946 to care for the millions of displaced people left by the Second World War, and it had helped to resettle over a million of them. But it was always meant to be temporary, and by 1950 it was nearing its end in 1952. Many refugees were still without a home, so the UN needed a new body to take over the job, which led the Assembly to create the UNHCR.
A second cause was that refugees needed legal protection, not just practical help. Many had no country willing to protect them, and some did not wish to return to Communist-ruled homelands. The UN also had the example of the League, which had appointed a High Commissioner for refugees. So the UN created a High Commissioner with a duty to protect refugees, and the 1951 Convention defined who counted as a refugee and what rights they had.
What lifts this to the top level: each cause is backed by specific dates and facts, and each paragraph explains how the cause led to the UNHCR being set up.
Exam tip
For a "two causes" question, start each paragraph with the cause, add a precise fact (a date, name or number), then finish with "this led to..." so the link to the outcome is clear.
Recap
- The Human Rights Commission, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, produced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved on 10 December 1948. It was not legally binding.
- The ILO began under the League in 1919 and became a UN specialised agency in 1946.
- The IRO (1946) was temporary; the UNHCR began on 1 January 1951 and the 1951 Convention defined refugees.
- The Trusteeship Council took over the work of the League's Mandates Commission.
- The Disarmament Commission (1952) made little progress because of Cold War distrust.