Chronography of International Organisations; key historical events
Page last
modified 11/6/2022
See
separate page for European Union
1) Graphic of Crude Birth / Death rates,
selected countries, evolution over time.
2) Choropleth map of world fertility rates
by country 1970 & 2005
3) Choropleth map of world population %
growth by country 1950-2009
4) Choropleth map of world life
expectancy by country, 1960 & 2010
5) Chart of changing global age structure
1950 - 2100
6) Choropleth map of world literacy rate by
country, 1960 & 2005
7) Male-Female
Literacy Differential Map Choropleth map
of male-female differential literacy rates (% male compared to % female
literacy)
8) Choropleth map of world % agricultural
employment by country, 1960 & 2005
9) Choropleth map of world GDP by country, relative
to USA, national and per capita, 1960-2005
Local regional level
population within countries, http://www.citypopulation.de/
Socio-demographic world
clocks, https://www.worldometers.info/
�It tends to be people with something to lose, and not
merely something to gain, who think most eagerly of improving the existing
state of society� (and start a Revolution), David Thomson, p.25, Europe since
Napoleon, Penguin, 1983.
See
appendix 0 below for Red Cross
See Appendix 2 below for
NATO
See Appendix 3 below for
United Nations and League of Nations
Colour key:
People
Africa
Demography
League of
Nations
Europe
International
Trade
Organisations
International Financial
Organisations
International Environmental Organisations
International Humanitarian and Justice Organisations
International
military organisations
31/10/2011, The global population officially
reached 7 billion.
25/2/2006, The global
population officially reached 6.5 billion.
2/7/2005, Live8 Concerts, to raise funds for Africa, were
held in Berlin, Edinburgh, London, Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome, and other
cities.
2002, The
International Criminal Court (ICC) was established. Replacing earlier ad-hoc
United Nations tribunals, the ICC was set up to try individuals accused of
crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes. It is located in The Hague,
Netherlands.
9/7/2002, The African Union (AU) was founded, as a
successor to the Organisation of African
Unity(founded 1963, dissolved 2002).�
The AU was idealistically modelled upon the European Union, with plans
for a supranational government, administration, a Court of Justice, financial
institutions and a peace and security council. There was also to be a
pan-African Parliament, based in South Africa. However the required
co-operation between African states has not so far been achieved,
30/11/2000, Major
demonstrations in Seattle against the World Trade Organisation meeting there.
8/9/2000, Albania officially joined the WTO.
30/4/1999, Cambodia
joined the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), bringing the total number of members to ten.
12/10/1999, According to the UN, the world population reached 6 billion.
18/6/1999,
Anti-Globalisation protests in many cities around the world, some of which
became riots.
1/1/1995, The World Trade Organisation was created
to replace GATT.
8/12/1994, US President Clinton
signed for the USA to agree to the Uruguay Round of the GATT trade
liberalisation agreement, This replaced GATT by the WTO in 1995.
1993, NAFTA, North American Free
Trade Association, was founded.
15/12/1993. Completion of the GATT Uruguay Round (began 1986 in
Punta del Este, Uruguay). 117 countries signed the economic liberalisation
agreement in Marrakesh, Morocco.
9/11/1993. The
UN said the number of refugees worldwide rose from 2.5 million in 1973 to 19.7
million today
21/3/1992, The
US Census Bureau officially estimated the world population to be 5.4 billion,
of whom 1.2 billion were Chinese. It projected a world population of over 8
billion by 2020.
1989, APEC, Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation, was founded.
1989, The
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was set up, following a G7 Summit. It is an
inter-governmental organisation aimed at preventing money-laundering. After the
9-11 attacks of 2001, the FATF also took on the role of preventing funds
reaching terrorist groups.
11/7/1987, The world population was officially
stated to have attained 5 billion.
21/9/1986. The Stockholm
Accord was signed, at a 35-nation conference. Advance warning of troop
movements by NATO or the Warsaw pact was agreed.
25/12/1985, Comic Relief, a
global poverty relief charity, was founded.
7/7/1982, Hungary
became a member of the World Bank.
6/5/1982, Hungary
joined the International Monetary Fund.
1981, World
population reached 4.5 billion, of whom 960 million were Chinese.
1975, The �G7� was founded. A group of seven
countries, later to become 8 with the addition of Russia, who met to decide
economic policy and sometimes to co-ordinate strategy.
28/5/1975, 15 West African
states signed the Treaty of Lagos,
setting up the Economic Community of
West African States.
1974, World population reached 4 billion.
1972, The UK charity Action Aid was founded, to help improve living
conditions in Global South countries.
8/8/1967, ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) was founded. The
original members were Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand. Brunei joined in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Myanmar in
1997,� and Cambodia in 1999. East Timor
attempted to join, post-independence, but was blocked by Indonesia.
11/1966, The Asian Development Bank was set up.
1963, The African Development Bank was founded. Based in
Abidjan, Cote d�Ivoire, its function was to make loans at preferential rates
for African development schemes. Funded by both individual countries and other
multinational organisations, it began operations in 1966.
25/5/1963, The OAU
(Organisation of African Unity) was founded at Addis Ababa.
30/9/1961, The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) was founded in Paris.
28/5/1961. Amnesty International was
founded in London.
14/9/1960, OPEC �was set up by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
and Venezuela.
supply to Tunisia by the USSR; France feared
Tunisian support for Algerian Nationalists.
26/10/1956, The United Nations approved the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
1955, CENTO
(Central Treaty Organisation) was
formed. It was a political/military alliance, comprising the UK along with
Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan, whose purpose was to defend against any
possible aggression from the USSR. Iraq withdrew in 1958 and CENTO ceased to
exist when Iran also withdrew after the 1979 Revolution.
27/4/1955, The First Bandung Conference
ended (started 18/4/1955). This was a meeting of 29 newly-independent African
and Asian countries who were keen to distance themselves from the USA/USSR superpower
rivalry. Nations in attendance included China
(Zhou Enlai), India (Nehru), Cambodia (Sihanouk),
Burma (U Nu),
and Egypt (Gamal
Abd-al-Nasser). The presence of China signalled that country�s
determination to pursue its own brand of Communism, independent of Russia, The
Summit, held in Bandung, Indonesia, was a major foreign policy triumph for Indonesian
President Sukharno.
8/9/1954, The Treaty setting up SEATO (South East Asia
Treaty Organisation) was signed at Manila.
18/5/1954. The European
Convention on Human Rights came into force.
31/12/1951, The Organisation of
American States was founded in Washington DC.
1/7/1951. The Colombo Plan was
founded in Sri Lanka, to aid the development of south east Asia.
6/6/1950, Trygve Lie was appointed to a new term as United
Nations Secretary General. He announced a 20-year peace programme, more
meetings with foreign ministers, creation of a permanent UN military force,
admission of new members, and more aid for poorer countries.
27/4/1949, The Commonwealth was founded in London.
25/1/1949. COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) was
founded in Moscow.
2/9/1947, The Organisation of American States (OAS) was set up.
1945, Christian Aid
was set up, to provide relief operations in developing countries.
1945, The International Monetary Fund was founded. The World
Bank was founded. The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) was founded.
11/1939, The Nobel Peace Prize
Committee decided that the annual Nobel Peace Prize would not be awarded this
year.
1930, The Bank for International Settlements was founded.
17/6/1925, Geneva arms Conference closed.
4/5/1925, Geneva Conference on arms traffic and the use of
poison gas in� war opened.
15/2/1922. The first session of the Permanent Court of International
Justice was held in The Hague, Netherlands.
16/12/1920. Permanent Court of International Justice established at
The Hague.
11//4/1919. The International
Labour Organisation was established.
1913, Plans were drawn up for a worldwide map at a scale of 1:1,100,000. The project was
interrupted by World War One, but the United
Nations revived the project in 1953. The entire map series was never
completed.
18/10/1907, Plans were announced for an International Court of
Justice, to be set up in The Hague.
29/7/1899. At The Hague, a conference of 26 countries established a
permanent international court of arbitration.
2/10/1889, The first
Pan-American Congress met, in Washington. Its aim was to create closer
relations between the States of the Americas.
6/6/1882, The three-mile limit for territorial waters was
established by the Hague Convention.
16/4/1855, The Declaration of Paris was signed.
Appendix
0 � Red Cross
30/10/1910. Henri Durant, Swiss founder of the Red Cross in 1863, died.
1904, The Chinese Red Cross was founded.
1896, The Canadian Red Cross was founded.
1881, The American Association of the Red Cross was founded.
1877, The Japanese Red Cross was founded.
1876, The Danish Red Cross was founded.
5/8/1870, At a public meeting in London, a resolution was passed calling for the
formation of a British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War.
This was the forerunner to the British
Red Cross. This was seven years after the founding of the International Red Cross.
1867, The Austrian Red Cross was
founded.
1865, The Swedish Red Cross was
founded.
1865, The Norwegian Red Cross was
founded.
29/10/1863. Swiss philanthropist Henri Dunant founded the International Red
Cross after witnessing the tending of the wounded at the Battle of Solferino,
near Mantua, north Italy. Its fundamental principles were to aid wounded soldiers and oteyhr
victims of war.
17/2/1863, Swiss
philanthropist Jean
Henri Dunant proposed the International
Red Cross in Geneva.
1859, Henri Dunant travelled through the site of the
Battle of Solferino, a few days
after the actual battle in June; 15,000 lay dead and wounded, and many of the
wounded lay for days before anyone came to care for them. Many of these died of
their wounds before medical attention arrived. This sight led him to establish
the Red Cross.
8/5/1828. Jean Henri
Dumont, Swiss philanthropist and founder of the International Red Cross, was born in Geneva.
Appendix 2
� NATO
1/4/2009, Albania and Croatia
were admitted to NATO.
29/3/2004, NATO was
expanded to include Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia,
and Slovenia.
22/11/2002, NATO agreed to invite Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,
Slovakia and Slovenia to join in 2004.
12/3/1999, Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic joined NATO.
30/4/1998, The US Senate voted to admit Hungary, Poland
and the Czech republic to NATO.
8/7/1997, NATO invited the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance.
22/5/1990, NATO
Ministers cut defence spending, the so-called �Peace Dividend�.
31/3/1967, The Supreme Headquarters of NATO moved from France to Casteau, Belgium.
28/9/1960, NATO
introduced a unified system of air command.
3/10/1954, A Nine-Power conference in London agreed that in the interests of European
unity, Germany could join NATO.
4/4/1949, The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in
Washington. NATO was set up on 18/3/1949, by Britain and seven other European
countries. Denmark had agreed to join on 25/3/1949. Eleven countries signed in
total.
25/3/1949, Denmark
agreed to join NATO.
Appendix 3
� United Nations and League of Nations
United Nations
Statistics, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/databases.htm
7/3/2012, The UN presented its
report on violations of the human rights of gay people worldwide.
Representatives of several African and Arab States walked out.
14/9/2009, The UN
adopted the principles of �Responsibility to Protect� or R2P. This says that the sovereignty of
States is not absolute in that the UN can choose to intervene when a state
fails to protect its citizens from mass atrocities and human rights violations.
26/8/2002. The
start of a ten-day �Earth Summit� held by the UN in South Africa. Delegates
promised �action not words�. The Summit was snubbed by President George Bush, who refused to attend.
21/9/2001, The United Nations
designated this day every year as International
Day of Peace, and called for a ceasefire in all conflicts on this day.
1999, Nauru
joined the United Nations.
13/12/1996, Kofi Anan became the
7th Secretary General of the UN.
1992, Kazakhstan was admitted to the
United Nations.
1992, Armenia was admitted to the
United Nations.
22/5/1992, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia joined the United
Nations
1/1/1992, Butros Butros Ghali, a 69-year-old Egyptian,
became the 6th General Secretary of the United Nations.
1991, South Korea joined the United Nations.
11/11/1981, Antigua and Barbuda joined the United Nations.
25/11/1974, U Thant, Burmese diplomat and
Secretary-General to the UN 1962-71, died.
18/9/1973, The UN admitted East and West Germany.
21/12/1971, Kurt Waldheim succeeded U Thant as Secretary-General to
the UN.
23/3/1964, The first United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) opened at Geneva.
14/5/1963, Kuwait
was admitted to the United Nations.
25/10/1962, Uganda was admitted to the United Nations, as
the 110th member.
3/11/1961, The Burmese diplomat U Thant was elected UN Secretary-General.
27/10/1961, Mauritania and Mongolia were admitted to the
United Nations.
18/9/1961, Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish Secretary General of
the United
Nations and Nobel Prize Winner, was killed a plane crash near Ndola in
Northern Rhodesia.� He had been flying
from
26/9/1957, Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden was re-elected
Secretary-General of the United Nations for a further 5 years.
14/12/1955. Ireland joined the United Nations.
7/4/1953, Swedish civil servant Dag Hammarskold succeeded Trygve Lie
as secretary of the United Nations.
31/3/1953, Swedish
diplomat Dag
Hammarskjold was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.��
4/2/1952, The United
Nations Disarmament Commission first met.
28/9/1950, Indonesia was admitted to the UN.
10/1/1950, In the
UN, the Soviet envoy walked out in protest at the Chinese Nationalists
retaining the UN seat.
9/4/1949, The
International Court of Justice of the UN handed down its first judgement. It
held Albania responsible for incidents in the Corfu Channel, 1946, and awarded
damages to the UK.
10/12/1948, The United Nations issued the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights.
30/9/1947, Pakistan and Yemen joined the UN.
1946, Afghanistan
joined the United Nations.
14/12/1946, The UN accepted a US$ 8.5
million donation from John D Rockefeller to finance the construction of its
headquarters in East River, New York, USA.
11/12/1946, The UN
International Children�s Emergency Fund was set up to provide aid to children
in war-torn countries.
5/12/1946. New York was chosen as the permanent site of the
UN.
19/11/1946, The first General Conference of UNESCO was held at Paris.
4/11/1946. UNESCO, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, was
established, with headquarters in
23/10/1946, The first New York meeting of the General Assembly of the United
Nations Organisation took place.
18/4/1946. The League of Nations was formally dissolved, after
the United Nations had been set up on 24/10/1945. See 26/6/1945.
25/3/1946, The UN Security Council met in New York.
30/1/1946. UN General Assembly met for the first time, in London.
10/1/1946, The League of Nations was officially
dissolved, after 26 years, and replaced by the United Nations.
24/10/1945. The United Nations Charter came into force,
see 18/4/1946.
26/6/1945, The
Charter for the United Nations was signed by the US.
25/6/1945. The
Charter for the United Nations was drawn up in San Francisco, and signed by 50
countries. This was the successor to the League of Nations. See 18/4/1946.
25/4/1945, An international conference to establish a world
security organisation, the �United
Nations�, opened in San Francisco.
20/10/1943, The United Nations
War Crimes Commission was formed.
18/5/1943, UNRRA was founded.
14/8/1941, The UK Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the US
President, Woodrow
Wilson signed the Atlantic Charter, a further step towards the
establishment of the United Nations.
12/6/1941, The Allies signed the Inter-Allied Declaration,
setting the scene for the future United Nations.
8/4/1938, �Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, was born.
20/2/1937. Paraguay
left the League of Nations.
1936, Italy left the
League of Nations.
1934, The USSR joined the League of Nations.
11/6/1934, The League of
Nations Disarmament Conference at Geneva ended in failure.
1933, Germany left the
League of Nations.
27/3/1933, Japan announced it would leave
the League of Nations, effective 1935.
16/3/1933, At the
League of Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Britain�s
plan for a reduction in the size of national armies failed, because of Germany�s
insistence that its Stormtroopers not be included in the totals.
3/10/1932, Iraq joined the League of Nations.
2/2/1932, The World
Conference on Disarmament opened in Geneva,
12/9/1931, Mexico was
admitted to the League of Nations.
10/2/1926, Germany applied
to join the League of Nations, Brazil and Spain blocked Germany�s admission, in
protest at the plan to give Germany a seat on the Council, which they thought
they should have instead.
10/9/1923. The Irish Free
State was admitted to the League of Nations.
22/9/1921. The Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia
joined the League of Nations.
17/12/1920, Albania joined the League of Nations.
16/12/1920. Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Finland and
Latvia joined the League of Nations.
3/12/1920, Austria joined the League of Nations.
13/11/1920. The first full
session of the
27/10/1920, The League of Nations headquarters moved to Geneva,
16/6/1920. At
25/5/1920, The Hague was
chosen as the permanent seat of the League of Nations.
10/3/1920, The Netherlands
joined the League of Nations.
8/3/1920. Denmark joined
the League of Nations.
5/3/1920, Norway joined the
League of Nations.
1/2/1920, The first full
session of the League of Nations opened at St James Palace, London, overseen by
the British Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour. Plans were made for an
International Court of Justice.
13/2/1920, Switzerland
joined the League of Nations.
19/1/1920, Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary of the
United Nations from 1982, was born.
13/1/1920, Argentina joined
the League of Nations.
10/1/1920. The League of Nations, whose function was
defined on 28/4/1919, legally came into being at
25/1/1919. The
22/1/1917, US
President Woodrow
Wilson delivered a speech to the Senate, �Peace Without Victory�,
condemning European imperialism and militarism and calling for a League of
Nations.
27/5/1916, In the
USA, a peacekeeping League of nations was proposed, to be created at the end of
the Great War.
22/1/1909, U Thant, diplomat and Secretary General to the
United Nations, was born in
