Stamps without borders

Supra-national organisations began after the first world war, with the Treaty of Versailles. Its first 26 clauses formed the Covenant of the League of Nations, which had three main aims: to stop wars, to encourage disarmament and to make the world a better place by improving working conditions and combating disease.

It would accomplish this through an assembly, which met every year and a council which met more often to handle crises. There was a small secretariat to handle the paperwork, a Court of International Justice plus a number of committees to handle the humanitarian side. These included the International Labour Organisation and the Health Committee.

The League of Nations is widely seen as a failure. But it had its triumphs, notably on the humanitarian side. It took half a million prisoners home and provided food and shelter to Turkish refugees. It mobilised opposition to the drug trade and the slave trade and supported measures against malaria and leprosy; this work has been continued by the UN.

It could also broker peace, but only there was a will to peace on both sides of a border dispute, as