Manifestations of multilateral efforts in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

 



THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

The first intergovernmental organizations were the Central Commission for the navigation of the Rhine (1815) and the European Commission of the Danube (1856), which were established to guarantee the freedom of navigation. Because these two rivers crossed different national territories and represented an important waterway, river-states had to cooperate with each other for a mutual agreement concerning navigation, transit, tariffs, and facilities.

THE OLDEST INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS STILL STANDING

 When telegraphy was invented, different countries had different telegraphy systems. This made it difficult to send messages around the world. Messages would have to stop at borders and be rewired for delivery. To solve this problem, the International Telegraphy Conference (ITC) was established in 1865 to provide a framework of common norms and rules for easy international communications. Did you know that the International Telegraph Union (1865) and the Universal Postal Union (1874) were among the first organizations founded and are both still part of the United Nations system today? The International Telegraph Union later changed its name to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as we know it today.

MULTILATERALISM FOR UNIVERSAL TIME TELLING.

 Imagine a world where a number of different meridians are used in different countries as a reference for time. In 1884, a meeting was held to make a multilateral decision to adopt the Greenwich Meridian as a basis for the world’s standard time-zone system, a “standard of time reckoning throughout the whole world”. 

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION TO CONTAIN THE SPREAD OF DISEASES.

Diseases know no border. As more people and goods crossed the borders, so did diseases such as cholera, typhus, yellow fever and the plague. Meetings were held about containing the spread of diseases, harmonizing national quarantine regulations, and highlighting the importance of information exchange in case of outbreaks. 

THE OLDEST SPECIALIZED AGENCY – INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION (ILO). 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) was established in 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference on the basis that “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice”. Today, 187 states are members of the ILO. Its main mission is to promote the right to work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.

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