International Criminals

Abstract

While historians have taken considerable interest in efforts by the League of Nations concerning the traffic in women, media-related aspects of these efforts have yet to be examined. This article examines the threat of international criminals within the League's social agenda and particularly the campaign against the traffic in women. In 1923, the League commissioned a worldwide inquiry into the traffic in women that proved controversial. A New York newspaper ran a series of articles questioning the facts in the final report and the methods used to obtain them. Ostensibly, the purpose of the inquiry was to replace exaggerations in the press, but as the newspaper coverage pointed out, the report contained distortions of its own. The League promoted the threat of international criminals as a significant part of the rationale for its continued existence.

KEYWORDS:

• crime
• trafficking
• white slave trade
• League of Nations

Notes

1. Christie, Orient Express, 131–2.

2. Macmillan, Paris 1919, 83.

3. Pedersen, ‘League of Nations.’

4. Bristow, Prostitution and Prejudice; Dalley, ‘Fresh Attractions’; De Vries, ‘Josephine Butler’; Donovan, White Slave Crusades; Keire ‘The Vice Trust’; and Walkowitz, City of Dreadful Delight.

5. Gorman, ‘Empire’; Legg, ‘Life of Individuals’; Metzger, ‘International Human Rights Regime’; and Rodríguez García, ‘League of Nations.’

6. Koenen, Saul, and Averbeck-Lietz, ‘Mobilising Public Support.’

7. Van Houten, ‘International Co-operation,’ 482.

8. Van Houten, ‘International Co-operation.’

9. Fitz-Maurice, ‘Convention,’ 548.

10. Schober, ‘Letter to League.’

11. Schober, ‘Letter to Social Section.’

12. Jäger, ‘International Police Co-operation.’

13. Steiner, The Lights that Failed, 371.

14. League of Nations Union, Traffic in Women.

15. Balfour, Speech, 2–3.

16. Balfour, Speech, 3–4.

17. Lyttleton, ‘Big Little Jobs,’ 448.

18. Lyttleton, ‘Big Little Jobs,’ 448.

19. Shaw, What I Really Wrote, 401, 407.

20. Ambler, The Mask of Dimitrios.

21. Delevinge, ‘Dangerous Drugs,’ 48.

22. Opium Advisory Committee, Traffic in Opium, 80.

23. Opium Advisory Committee, Traffic in Opium, 80.

24. Bristow, Prostitution and Prejudice; and Limoncelli, The Politics of Trafficking.

25. Boeckel, ‘Women in International Affairs,’ 234.

26. Billington-Greig, ‘White Slavery.’

27. Leppänen, ‘Movement of Women.’

28. Special Body of Experts, Report on the Traffic Part 1.

29. Pedersen, ‘League of Nations,’ 1092.

30. Rodríguez García, ‘League of Nations.’

31. Costin, Two Sisters.

32. Special Body of Experts, Report on the Traffic Part 1, 5.

33. Special Body of Experts, Report on the Traffic Part 2, 4.

34. Koenen, Saul, and Averbeck-Lietz, ‘Mobilising Public Support,’ 3.

35. Advisory Committee, ‘Second Session,’ 27.

36. Advisory Committee, ‘Third Session,’ 24.

37. Advisory Committee, ‘Third Session,’ 24.

38. Advisory Committee, ‘Third Session,’ 24.

39. Advisory Committee, ‘Third Session,’ 25.

40. Advisory Committee, ‘Third Session,’ 35.

41. Advisory Committee, ‘Third Session,’ 35–6.

42. Smith, ‘Richard Oswald.’

43. Diffee, ‘Sex and the City.’

44. Special Body of Experts, ‘Report of the Fifth Meeting,’ 2.

45. Special Body of Experts, ‘Report of the Fifth Meeting,’ 5.

46. Christie, Blue Train; and Greene, A Gun for Sale.

47. Special Body of Experts, Report on the Traffic Part 1, 9.

48. Special Body of Experts, Report on the Traffic Part 1, 9–10.

49. League of Nations, Report on the Traffic Part 2, 3.

50. League of Nations, Report on the Traffic Part 2, 4.

51. Crowdy, ‘Humanitarian Activities,’ 156.

52. Crowdy, ‘Humanitarian Activities,’ 156.

53. Crowdy, ‘Humanitarian Activities,’ 156–7.

54. Limoncelli, The Politics of Trafficking; and van Offen, ‘Ghenia Avril de Saine-Croix.’

55. The Survey, ‘Trade Routes,’ 487.

56. Special Body of Experts, ‘Sixth Session,’ 165.