Antoni Slonimski, poet, translator, writer and playwright, was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1895. He graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Arts in 1919. He published poetry and essays in Polish and had his work translated into numerous other languages. Slonimski was also a member of the Skamander poets, “a group of young Warsaw intellectuals” (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online). Over his career, Slonimski was Vice-President of the Polish PEN Club, Editor of the Polish monthly ‘New Poland’ or ‘Nova Polska’ and Adviser to the Polish Delegation to the UN at the General Assembly, London, 1946.
Slonimski joined the Preparatory Commission of UNESCO on 23 April 1946 as Counsellor at Head of the Section of Letters. Effective 28 February 1947, Slonimski resigned from UNESCO to focus on his writing.
“Slonimski converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. He spent the war years in exile, first in France and then in England. In 1951 he returned to Poland and became an outspoken anti-Stalinist who protested censorship and encouraged political and intellectual liberalization” (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online). Slonimski died in Warsaw, 4 July 1976.

James Shotwell, born in 1874 in Strathroy, Canada, was an American historian and diplomat. He studied at Toronto and Columbia where he earned his PhD in 1900. He received a teaching post at Columbia in 1903 and went to Europe for a research trip. He visited many universities and became an active contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica, which allowed him to meet various people who also wrote for the Britannica, such as Bertrand Russell and Henry Ford.

Upon his return to New York, Shotwell received a professorship at Columbia. In his International Relations (IR) research he focused on the impact of science and technology on historical evolution. In 1917 the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, founded in 1909, offered Shotwell the post of research director. He was also a member of “The Inquiry”, a group of foreign policy advisors that prepared Woodrow Wilson for the Peace Conference, focusing on social justice, a topic that he had studied particularly with reference to the Russian revolution of 1917. His work contributed to the establishment of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

At the beginning of the 1920s he opposed the US policy of isolationism, and advocated their entry into the League of Nations (LN). He met the French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand in order to suggest to him a bilateral pact that would outlaw war. This idea formed the basis of what became the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed on 27 August 1928. He was also involved in the founding of IR research institutions, such as the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London (1920) and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York (1921).
In 1930 he returned to his teaching position at Columbia, where he became Bryce Professor of the History of International Relations in 1937. At the same time, he became director of the economic and historical section of the Carnegie Endowment.

Besides his academic career, Shotwell became a member of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) in 1933 and assumed the presidency of the American Committee of Intellectual Cooperation in 1933. In this role, he drafted a memorandum on moral disarmament and international civil society, which was published later as an article in the New York Herald Tribune of 26 February 1933 (cf. UNESCO Archives, Archival Group 1: box 20). At the second conference of national committees of intellectual cooperation, held in Paris in July 1927, Shotwell advocated the idea of an Organisation of Intellectual Cooperation (OIC) independent of the LN with its political imperatives and diplomacy. His contributions also included his participation at the Panamerican Conference of Intellectual Cooperation in Santiago, Chile, in January 1939.

As a consultant of the Carnegie Endowment, he participated at the San Francisco conference in 1945. He played a role in putting the declaration of the human rights charter in the UN statutes. In 1945, when the OIC briefly took up its activities, Shotwell was replaced as President of the American Committee of Intellectual Cooperation by the historian and archivist Waldo G. Leland (1879–1966). In 1948, Shotwell retired from university, and between 1949 and 1950 he served as President of the Carnegie Endowment. During the 1950s he continued to travel and research. He died in 1965 and was praised as “one of the most respected and committed protagonists of American internationalist politics” (obituary in the New York Times).

Hanna Saba was born on 23 July 1909 in Damietta, Egypt. He studied at the Collège des pères jésuites au Caire, as well as the École Libre des Sciences Politiques in Paris and received his Doctorate in Law from the Faculté du droit of Paris.

In 1943, Saba began his diplomatic career as a deputy for the conseiller d’Etat, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1945, he was made conseiller d’ambassade and was part of the Egyptian delegation to the San Francisco Conference during which the foundations of the United Nations were laid. That same year, he was a member of the Egyptian delegation in negotiations leading to the creation of the Arab League, and the following year, he played an important role in addressing disagreements between Iran and the Soviet Union. By the end of 1946, Saba’s career took a new turn as he joined the United Nations Secretariat in New York as Director of the Treaty Section.

Saba’s career at UNESCO began in 1950 when he was appointed Legal Adviser. As such, he played a key role in the development of normative action at the Organization. When the Bureau of Legal Affairs was expanded and renamed the Office for International Standards and Legal Affairs in 1967, he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Director-General. He retired from UNESCO in 1970. That year, the Sixteenth Session of the General Conference paid tribute to him, expressing its appreciation of “the high sense of responsibility which he has demonstrated throughout the years with unfailing loyalty and remarkable competence” (16 C/resolution 0.10, 1971). After his retirement, Saba worked as a consultant and an expert for UNESCO, undertaking, for example, missions for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage in Alger, Burundi, and Nepal.

Among other honours, Saba was named Officier du Nil, Grand officier du Mérite égyptien, and Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur (France). He received the Grand croix du Mérite de l’ordre souverain de Malte. While he was serving UNESCO, Saba also was also promoted to Minister Plenipotentiary of the United Arab Republic.

Hanna Saba authored many publications, including: Certains aspects de l'évolution dans la technique des traités, 1948; Les accords régionaux dans la charte de l'O.N.U, 1952; Limitations to the Growth of Personnel Management in Lebanon and Egypt, 1957; La Convention et la Recommandation de l'U.N.E.S.C.O. concernant la lutte contre la discrimination dans le domaine de l'enseignement, 1960; L'Action normative de l'UNESCO et la paix, 1972; Textes juridiques en matière de protection et de promotion du patrimoine naturel et culturel, 1978; La protection du patrimoine culturel mobilier: Recueil de textes législatifs, 1979; La charte internationale des droits de l'homme, son élaboration et son application dans un monde multiculturel, 1984. The memoir 40 ans qui ont transformé le monde was published posthumously in 2005.

Hanna Saba died on 29 September 1992.

Francesco Ruffini was born in Lessolo Canavese, Italy, in 1863. He was a teacher at Pavia and Genoa, before becoming professor in Turin, first in legal history, then in ecclesiastical law with a particular focus on religious freedom and freedom rights in general. From 1910 until 1913, he served as Rector of the University of Turin. He was appointed a Senator in 1914. From June 1916 until October 1917, he served as Minister of Education. A member of numerous learned societies, he was President of the Academy of Sciences of Turin from 1918 until 1922.

From 1922 until December 1925, Ruffini was a member of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC). In 1925 he was among the signatories of an anti-fascist manifesto of intellectuals. From 1926 until 1930, Ruffini was a member of the Sub-Committee on Intellectual Rights at the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC), which worked on questions of scientific property. Ruffini died in 1934.

Margarete Rothbarth was born in 1887 in Frankfurt (Main). She studied history, German and English at the Universities of Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin and Freiburg. In 1913 she received her doctorate. During the First World War she taught at a high school in Freiburg and also worked at the German archive for folk music. In 1918 she became a political secretary to Friedrich Naumann, and taught at Naumann’s Staatsbürgerschule (citizenry school). After Naumann’s death she became head of the library and archive of the German League of Nations Association. From 1922 until 1926 she worked as a scientific assistant at the foreign archive section of the Federal Ministry of Finance. As a delegate of the German League of Nations Association she participated at international meetings of LN societies.

Rothbarth joined the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) in November 1926, serving in the Information Section. In 1931 she was promoted to the rank of Secretary at the IIIC, a contract that was renewed for a period of 5 years in 1936. While on a trip to Switzerland in 1939, the Second World War broke out and she was unable to return to Paris to complete her tenure until 1941. After the war, she filed a formal complaint with the LN about not having received her payment during that time. She won the ensuing lawsuit. She died in 1953 in Switzerland.

Alfredo Rocco, born in Naples in 1875, was a jurist, close to Mussolini, and considered as one of the principle theorists of the fascist regime. He began his university career as lecturer in commercial law at the University of Urbino in 1899. Between 1902 and 1905, he taught at the University of Macerata. In 1907 he gained a professorship at the University of Parma, and the following year at Parlermo. Between 1910 and 1925 he taught business law at Padua. After the First World War, Rocco became involved with the fascist movement. In 1921 he was elected a deputy of Rome. After the blackshirts’ march on Rome on 28 October 1922, Rocco was appointed Under-Secretary of State at the Treasury, and in 1923 at the Ministry of Finance, a post that he held until March 1929. Between May 1924 and January 1925 he served as President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. In 1925 he was appointed Minister of Justice and Culture, remaining in this position until 1932. In this position he drafted the fascist laws, passed in 1926 and 1927, intended to install a corporative and totalitarian state structure within the constitutional monarchy. Having been made a Senator in 1934, he died the following year in Rome.

Rocco was placed by Mussolini in various key positions of the Organisation of Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations (LN). In 1925, he replaced fellow Italian Francesco Ruffini, who had been removed from his position due to his anti-fascist stance, in the latter’s positions as a member of the ICIC (1925–35), member of the Governing body of the IIIC (1925–), and as President of the Italian Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (1928–1935). In November 1928, he assumed the presidency of the International Cinematographic Institute in Rome which he held until his illness and death in 1935. Between 1934 and 1937 the vacancy at the head of the Cinematographic Institute was filled by Paulucci di Calboli, chief of staff at the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry between 1922 and 1927, and later Under-Secretary General at the LN (1927–1932). In 1937, Balbino Guiliano briefly served as president of the Cinematographic Institute, before it closed its doors in December 1937, following Italy’s withdrawal from the LN. He died in 1935.

"UNESCO’s Administration Sector is to be headed by Khadija Ribes of Tunisia. Currently Director-General in charge of the civil service and administration development in the Office of the Prime Minister of Tunisia, the new Assistant Director-General for Administration has led a series of administrative reform initiatives in her country. Several of these reforms have been undertaken in cooperation with the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. Ms Ribes, a specialist in e-governance, has worked to introduce such measures as the introduction of public/private partnerships, the simplification of administrative procedures and manuals, the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in administration and results-based management" (UNESCO, Press Release 2010-043).

"Born in 1941 in Copenhagen (Kingdom of Denmark), Erik Reitzel was a civil engineer. For many years, he was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and the Technical University of Denmark. Erik Reitzel specialized in the study of minimizing structures, a crossroad between scientific and industrial research. He designed the Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris in 1983 and the Plateau du Louvre in 1987. Erik Reitzel’s Symbolic Globe is a spherical aluminum structure that is 12.8 m high with a diameter of 15m. It is a gift from the Kingdom of Denmark to UNESCO. Consisting of 10 000 rods and aluminum joints, the Globe has been exhibited at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris since 1995" (UNESCO Works of Art Collection database).

Among his publications, Reitzel published The Symbolic Globe (2006) and La Grande Arche: sur l'axe historique de Paris (2011). He was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in France in 1990.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born in Tiruttani, India, in 1888, into a Telugu Brahmin family. At the age of 17, he began to study at the prestigious Madras Christian College from which he graduated in 1906 with a Master in philosophy. His thesis was entitled “The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions.” He went on to gain a PhD in philosophy.
In 1919 Radhakrishnan was accepted at the department of philosophy at the Mardras Presidency College. The following year, he became professor of philosophy at the University of Mysore. At this point he was already a well-known philosopher in India and had published his book on The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (1918), in which he defended the idea that the poet expressed the true spirit of Indian philosophy. In 1921 he was offered the George V chair of moral sciences at the University of Calcutta. In 1929 he was invited to Oxford to deliver the Hibbert Lectures, which resulted in the publication of An Idealist view of Life (1932). He then taught at Harris Manchester College at Oxford where he specialised in comparative religion. He was knighted in 1931 by King George V, and became Vice-Chancellor of the University of Andhra that same year, a position which he held until 1936. Between 1933 and 1935 he was proposed for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In 1936, Radhakrishnan was appointed professor of oriental religions and ethics at the University of Oxford and became a fellow of All Souls College. In 1939 he took over responsibilities as Vice-Chancellor at Banaras Hindu University, where he remained until 1948.

Beyond his academic career, Radhakrishnan played an important role in the diplomatic and intellectual international life. In 1926, he represented the University of Calcutta at the Congress of British Universities, and in September 1926, at the World Congress of Philosophy at Harvard. In 1931, Lord Irwin, Governor-General of India, appointed Radharkrishnan in 1931 to succeed Jagadish Chandra Bose at the ICIC, and Radharkrishnan stayed until 1938. He was particularly interested in questions of education and international cooperation among universities. He played an important role in the establishment of the Indian Committee of Intellectual Cooperation between 1935–1936, which was established by the Inter-University Board, the headquarters of which were at the University of Mysore.

After the Second World War Radharkrishnan involved himself with UNESCO where he represented India from 1946 until 1952. Between 1949 and 1952, he was Indian ambassador in the USSR. During that time, he published an article with the UNESCO journal entitled “The Bonds Uniting India and UNESCO” (1951).

He participated at the constituent assembly of India and was elected Vice-President of India in 1952. Between 1962 and 1967 he served as the second President of India. He died in 1975.

Abdul Qadir was an Indian jurist and politician. Born in 1874, he was the son of Sheikh Fatchaddin de Kasur (Punjab). He completed his high school education at the Forman Christian College in Lahore. From 1895 to1904, he was chief editor of the Indian journals Observer and Makhran, Lahore. He moved to Britain to study law and was called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in London between 1904 and 1907. Qadir then practiced as a lawyer until 1920, then as public prosecutor at Lyallpur, Pakistan. In 1919 he received the title Khan Bahadur, and in 1923 he became a member of the Legislative Council of Punjab in Lahore. The following year he became Deputy President. Between January and September 1925 he served as President of the Legislative Council of Punjab, and in September 1925, he was appointed Minister of Education of Punjab. Qadir was knighted in 1927.

In 1926, Qadir was nominated to represent India (with full powers) at the seventh Assembly of the League of Nations (LN). In January 1939 the ICIC welcomed him as a member for a first period of three years, alongside the Norwegian chemist Ellen Gleditsch, the Latvian chemist Martin Primanis and the Czech assyriologist Bedrich Hrozny. Qadir’s mandate ended with the termination of ICIC activities at the outbreak of the Second World War.

Martin Primanis was born in Livonia, Latvia, in 1878. He studied chemistry at Riga Polytechnical Institute between 1897 and 1908, and received a degree in engineering in 1908. From 1906 to 1908, he worked as assistant to Paul Walden, a Chemistry professor at Riga Polytechnical Institute, before finding employment in the chemical industry in Poland, Riga, and Moscow. In 1919 he began to teach chemistry at the University of Riga, and in 1921 he received an extraordinary professorship at the same university. He received his PhD in 1936, and was elected to a professorial chair the same year.

In January 1929, the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) appointed him a member for a period of three years, alongside the Norwegian chemist Ellen Gledistch, the Czech astrologer Bedrich Hrozny and the Indian legal jurist Sir Abdul Qadir. His mandate ended with the dissolution of the ICIC after the breakout of the Second World War.

Giuseppe Prezzolini was born in Perugia, Italy, in 1882. A journalist, editor and well-known figure in Italy’s literary and scholarly worlds, Prezzolini co-founded the literary journal ‘Leonardo’ in 1903, and in 1908, he founded ‘La Voce’ (The Voice), a popular literary and cultural journal for which he was also the editor. In 1923, he taught in the summer session at Columbia University in New York where, in 1929, he became professor of Italian. Prezzolini taught at Columbia University for more than twenty years, and also held the post of director of Casa Italiana until 1940 when he resigned. His resignation came after after a period during which the centre was accused of propagandizing fascism, which Prezzolini and the university denied (McDowell).

Prezzolini worked with the League of Nations following the First World War. He was the first Chief of the Information Section of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC) from 1925 - 1930. This section sought to make the work of the IIIC known to the public on an international scale through the press; maintained ties to journalists, editors, librarians and authors from various countries; and worked with editors and other experts to investigate larger efforts to spread knowledge, particularly books. Henri Bergson, president of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC), was among his intellectual influences (Sarti, p 500).

In 1971, he received the honour of Cavaliere di Gran Croce Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.

Prezzolini wrote numerous books, essays and articles both in English and Italian throughout his lifetime up until his death in 1982 in Lugano, Switzerland, at the age of one-hundred. His many publications include: ‘L'Italiano inutile’, ‘The Legacy of Italy’, ‘Machiavelli’, ‘Il tempo della "Voce"’, and ‘Manifesto dei conservatori’.

The Conference of the Establishment of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation adopted on 16 November 1945 not only the UNESCO Constitution but also an Instrument establishing a Preparatory Educational, Scientific and Cultural Commission. During the year 1946, the commission held six sessions.
In the first plenary meeting of the Commission Ellen Wilkinson, Minister of Education of Great Britain, was elected as the President of the Commission and the post of the Executive Secretary was held from 1 March 1946 by Julian Huxley until he was elected first Director-General of UNESCO on 6 December 1946.
On 4 November, Greece became the twentieth country to ratify the Constitution of UNESCO and by this act the organisation come legally into being. The first session of the General Conference opened on 20 November in Paris and worked until 10 December. Upon the election of the Director General on 6 December, the mandate of the Preparatory Commission expired and the Commission was dissolved, but its staff continued to work as the Secretariat of UNESCO under its chief administrative officer, the Director General.

Spanish national.

Argentine national.