By Akhmad Zamroni
Source: Anadolu Agency
The
League of Nations (LBB) was founded on January 10, 1920, almost exactly a year
after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference was held. The Paris Peace Conference was
a conference held by the winners of World War I, namely the Allies, to
negotiate a peace treaty with the losing side of the war, namely the Central
Powers. The Paris Peace Conference was held on January 18, 1919, at the Palace
of Versailles, Paris, France.
The
formation of the League of Nations is closely related to World War I which
lasted for four years, namely 28 July 1914–11 November 1918. The establishment
of the League of Nations was intended to restore international security and
peace that was torn apart by World War I. President of the United States
Woodrow Wilson, was the figure who first came up with the idea of establishing
the League of Nations. Ironically enough, the United States itself was never a
member of the League of Nations. When it was formed, the League of Nations had
42 member states.
The
role and functions of the League of Nations, among others, are to disarm,
prevent the outbreak of war through collective security, resolve conflicts
between countries through negotiation and diplomacy, and improve the welfare of
the international community (global). Initially UN was quite successful in
carrying out its functions, but then failed to prevent the Axis (Germany, Italy
and Japan) invasion. The Axis Block attack triggered the outbreak of World War
II which lasted for six years (1 September 1939–2 September 1945).
World
War II is estimated to have killed more than 73 million people (61 million
people on the Allied side; 12 million people on the Axis side) and is currently
the deadliest war that claimed the largest casualties in the history of human
civilization. The inability of the League of Nations to prevent the outbreak of
World War II reflects its failure as a world institution tasked with and
responsible for creating world peace and order. This triggered concerns that if
new actions were not taken regarding the existence of the League of Nations,
World War III could break out in the future, so that this institution was
officially dissolved (on April 18, 1945).
As a
substitute for the League of Nations, a new organization which was given the
title United Nations (United Nations or UN) was formed on October 24, 1945. The
United Nations was formed to promote international cooperation and prevent
conflicts. Headquartered in New York, United States, the United Nations had 51
member states when it was first founded. Apart from New York, other UN offices
were established in Geneva (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), and Nairobi
(Kenya). The UN is funded by fees and contributions from member countries.
The
United Nations was founded on the basis of the United Nations Charter signed on
June 26, 1945 in San Francisco, United States. The UN Charter is a UN
constitution signed by 50 countries. The UN Charter was declared to come into
force on 24 October 1945 after being ratified by the five founding members of
the United Nations, namely the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain,
France, and China, as well as many other countries. The UN Charter consists of
a preambule and articles which are grouped into 19 chapters.
After
the dissolution of the League of Nations, the formation of the United Nations
became the hang of the international community in its efforts to create world
peace, security and order. The League of Nations was dissolved because it was
proven that it failed to prevent the world from major war and was unable to
bring peace. After its dissolution, the international community has pinned its
hopes on the United Nations. The United Nations itself was established with the
following objectives:
•
maintaining world peace and security;
•
promote and promote brotherly relations
among nations through respect for human rights;
•
fostering international cooperation in
economic, social, cultural and environmental development;
•
become the center for harmonizing all
collective actions against countries that endanger world peace; and
•
provide humanitarian assistance in the
event of famine, natural disasters and armed conflict.
The
principles of the United Nations are as follows:
•
All members have equality and
sovereignty.
•
Each member will resolve all conflicts
in a peaceful manner without jeopardizing peace, security and justice.
•
Each member provides assistance to the
United Nations in accordance with the UN Charter.
•
The UN may not interfere in the
domestic affairs of a country (other countries).
