Permanent Mandates Commission

The Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) was the commission of the League of Nations responsible for oversight of mandated territories. The commission was established on 1 December 1920 and was headquartered at Geneva.

The existence of the Commission was stipulated in Article 22 of the League of Nations Covenant: "A permanent Commission shall be constituted to receive and examine the annual reports of the Mandatories and to advise the Council on all matters relating to the observance of the mandates."

Even though the PMC was composed of members from imperial and foreign policy establishments, and the Commission introduced regular reporting and questioning procedures that placed mandate administrations under international review, it had no power to enforce its recommendations. The organization did act independently of states and established norms that constrained the behaviors of colonial powers. The PMC represented one of the first multilateral international mechanisms through which Britain and France were formally required to account for their colonial administration to an external body. The PMC played a key role in establishing that the mandates could not be annexed by the colonial powers. The PMC helped to establish that the mandates had a unique status under international law.