Nations hopefully still united

THIS year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. The UN was not the first attempt to form an international or intergovernmental organization in modern history. Way back in the 1860s, the precursor of what has since become the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was already formed among some nations in Europe and the Americas to facilitate the standardization of the then-burgeoning telegraphic services across national borders. Granted, that was not a truly “universal” body, but it was nevertheless a first attempt to form an international alliance for peaceful, constructive and nonwarlike, nondestructive purposes.

This was followed by the formation of the League of Nations from the ashes of the First World War with national representations from almost every continent on earth. The League was first headquartered in the Palais Wilson on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. When I worked in Geneva nearly two decades ago, I lived for some time in the backstreets of Palais Wilson and would pass through the majestic building (now housing the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights). Admiring the building, I would often feel a sense of melancholy, as eventually the League turned out to be an abject failure to preserve world peace, as it was later mercilessly torn apart by the Second World War.