C. 226Tl)M. 166. 1923 Iv
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AMCEIVE8 C. 226tl)M. 166. 1923 iv. ( c . T. F. E. 1 5 5 (2).) [Distributed to th e Council J d Members ot the League.] G e n e v a , March 31st, 1923. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TRAFFIC IN WOMEN AND CHILDREN REPORT ON THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE DURING ITS SECOND SESSION held at Geneva March 22nd * 27th, 1923. (approved by the Council on April 19th, 1923. The Advisory Committee on Traffic in Women and Children, which met for the first time in June 1922, held its second session at Geneva from March 22nd to 27th, 1923. The following members of the Committee were present : Delegates appointed by Governments : Mr. S. W. H a r r is (C hairm an)................... British Empire. Dr. Estrid H e i n (Vice-Chairman)............ Denmark. M. B o u r g o is (substitute for M. R e g n a u l t ) France. M. le Marquis Paulucci d e ’ Ca l b o l i ... Italy. M. O k u y a m a (with M. U s a m i as substitute) Japan. M. Stanislas P o s n e r ............................................... Poland. M. Margaritesco G r e c ia n o ......................... Roumania. M. Avelino Montero Rios y V il l e g a s ... Spain. Miss Grace A b b o t t ............................................... United States of America. Dr. Paulina L u is i ............................................. Uruguay. Assessors appointed by the Voluntary Associations Miss B a k e r International Bureau for the' Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children. Mme. Avril d e S a in t e -C r o ix International Women’s Organisations. Mlle. T h u r l e r (substitute for Association catholique internationale des Mme. de M o n t e n a c h ) oeuvres de protection de la jeune fille. Mme. St u d e r -S teinhauslin ... Fédération des Unions nationales des amies de la jeune fille. Mr. S. C o h e n Jewish Association for the Protection of Girls and Women. Secretary .. Dame Rachel C r o w d y . M. Bourgois again acted as substitute for M. Regnault, the delegate appointed by the French Government. The Japanese delegate (M. Okuyama) was represented by M. Usami, except at the final meeting, and Mile. Thurler took the place of Mme. de Montenach, who was unavoidably prevented from attending the meetings of the Committee. The delegates from Poland (M. Stanislas Posner) and from Uruguay (Dr. Paulina Luisi), who were unable to attend the first session, were present at this session. In its first report, which was adopted by the third Assembly of the League in September 1922, the Advisory Committee recommended that both Germany and the United States of America should be invited by the Council of the League to appoint members to serve on the Advisory Committee. Invitations were accordingly sent by the Council to the Governments pf both these countries. The German Government has not yet notified officially to the League acceptance of this invitation, but the Government of the Ünited States of America nominated Ilss Grace Abbott, Director of the Children’s Bureau at Washington, who was cordially wel comed by the Committee as one of its members. S' a' N' 300 ex. (F-). + 250 ex. (A.). 4/23 + 350 ex. (F) + 300 ex. (A) 5/23. Imp. Réunies S. A. Lausanne. E l e c t io n o f Ch a ir m a n . At its first session the Committee decided that each member of the Committee s h o u ld in turn as Chairman, following the alphabetical order adopted by the Assembly of t h e Sh '6 by which they were appointed. es The following Rule (Rule 2) was accordingly inserted in the Rules of Procedure : “ The members of the Committee shall serve in turn as Chairman of the C o m m itt The Chairman, shall remain in office for one session of the Committee and forth' subsequent period until the Committee next meets. The order of rotation i n v h i h the members shall serve as Chairman shall be the alphabetical order adopted by th Assembly of the League of the States which they respectively represent. ” ~ Under this arrangement the Danish delegate was invited to take the Chair a t th e first session, but as she preferred to postpone this duty until a later occasion, it was agreed that the British delegate should be Chairman and that the Danish delegate should be Vice-Chairman When the decision referred to above was arrived at, it was contemplated that the C o m m itte e would only hold one session during a period of twelve months, but experience has shown that it may sometimes be necessary for the Committee to sit more often. As it seemed undesirable to interfere unduly with the continuity of the work of the Committee by too frequent a change of Chairman, a proposal was placed on the agenda of the second session to amend t h e Rules of Procedure so as to provide that : “ The Chairman shall hold office for one year from the date of his appointment and for the subsequent period until the Committee next meets.” This amendment to the Rules of Procedure was adopted by the Committee, and the British delegate continued to act as Chairman during the present session. A g e n d a . Two subjects were added, with the approval of the Committee, to the provisional agenda, which had been distributed to all members of the Committee, namely, the consideration of the Budget for the next financial year and a proposal by the delegate of the United S ta te s of America that an investigation should be made into the traffic in women and children. P u b l ic it y o f M e e t in g s . The Committee discussed the question whether its meetings should be held in private or whether the public should be admitted. It was decided that for the present session th e dis cussion of the draft report only should take place in public. It was also decided to a s k the Council to express an opinion whether it wished full publicity to be given, in future, to t h e meet ings of the Committee, subject to its discretion. P r o g r e s s R e p o r t . The Secretary submitted to the Advisory Committee a report of the progress made since its last session, which dealt with the following matters : (a) Annual Report. At its first session the Committee recommended that each Member of the League should be invited to furnish an annual report of its work connected with the traffic and a form o report was drafted. It was arranged that these reports should reach the Secretariat b e ta April 1st in the case of Western States and before July 1st for Far Eastern States. It hat been contemplated that the next session of the Committee would not take place until May or June 1923, when the majority of the annual reports would have been received and could be submitted to the Committee. It has been found necessary, however, to hold the present session earlier than was anticipated, in consequence of the resolution on the subject of the employment of foreign women in licensed houses, which was referred to the Committee by the Assembly. As the time for the receipt of any of the annual reports has not yet arrived, and as the next session of the Committee will probably not be held until next year, the Committee decided that the Council should be asked to instruct the Secretariat to prepare a summary of the annual reports for 1922 when they are received, and to arrange for the distribution of this summary. (b) Laws and Regulations. The Committee decided that it would be sufficient if a list of laws and regulations relatin to the traffic in women and children were distributed annually to all Governments instead o twice a year as recommended in its first report. The Secretary reported that the list is st 3 — far from complete, and it was decided to recommend that the attention of Governments should gffain be drawn to this request. The Committee also recommended that the Secretariat should S instructed to prepare a digest of the laws of all countries on this subject. It would then jjy be necessary to circulate each year any additional laws w hich may have been passed during the year. The digest could be periodically revised so as to bring it up to date. (c) Signature and Ratification of the Convention of 1921. In pursuance of the resolution passed at its first session dealing with the signature and rati fic a tio n of the International Convention of 1921, a letter was sent in August 1922 to all Govern m e n ts requesting those who were not already parties to the Convention of 1921 to take the neces sary action without delay. Since that date, only Denmark, Finland, Panama and twenty B ritish Colonies have adhered, while Bulgaria and Greece are taking steps respectively to sign and ratify the Convention. The position therefore is far from satisfactory. The following M e m b e r s of the League at present remain outside the Convention : Argentine, Bolivia, Bulgaria, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Luxemburg, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. The following States have signed the Convention, but have not yet presented their rati fications : Albania, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Esthonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Persia, Poland and Danzig, Portugal, Roumania, Switzerland and Sweden.