International > Handbook of international organisations : (associations, bureaux, committees, etc.) / League of Nations

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INTRODUCTION
Other international bureaux within the meaning of Article 24 of the Covenant are
not placed under the direction of the League, but co-operate with it either generally or
in some special field.
(b) The League and Unofficial International Associations.
As the years have gone on, the League's relations with international associations
have increased in scope and variety. With some of them it works in close and permanent
co-operation: certain associations, it will be remembered, are represented on League
committees by assessors or experts.
Official League bodies lend an attentive ear to the wishes and suggestions of private
associations, as witness the reception of their delegations by the President of the Assembly
and by the Conference for the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments. The League’s
administrative services are in constant touch with the international organisations: the
Secretariat sends representatives to their congresses and conferences and keeps up a
continuous correspondence with them, besides frequent personal contacts.
The League’s aim in publishing a Handbook of International Organisations in 1921
and periodically issuing revised and more up-to-date editions has been to provide a source
of information for all who are interested, whether theoretically or practically, in the
international movement. Organisations are classified in the Handbook according to
the subjects with which they deal. There are three indices to facilitate reference. The
League’s own organisations are not mentioned, full information about them being available
in such publications as Essential Facts about the League of Nations, the latest edition of
which was published by the Secretariat in 1937-
The Handbook ignores international organisations which are run solely for profit
as well as those which, though international in their objects, exist on a purely national
basis.
There are gaps in the Handbook, because not all the organisations approached have
answered the Secretariat’s questionnaire, and there may be other omissions or errors.
These, if reported to the Editor, will be corrected in the next edition.
It should be realised that the Handbook is in no sense final; each edition may be
said to mark a new stage in international life. It is hoped that the successive issues
illustrate the continuity of the purpose — to further the development of international
relations by bringing within the reach of the public a fuller knowledge of the work that
goes on in that sphere.