UNIT I: Human Rights & UN
Module 6: UN Trusteeship Council
The main objectives of this lecture are-
• to understand the background of Trusteeship system
• to compare League’s mandate and UN Trusteeship System
• to find out legalities of the Trusteeship Council
• to explicate the role of Trusteeship Council in de-colonization
• to discuss the cases of interventions by Trusteeship Council
Introduction
The Trusteeship Council is among the most important organs of the United
Nations. It was established to supervise the government of trust territories and to
gradually lead them to self-government and independence. The Trusteeship Council
originally consisted of States administering trust territories, permanent members of the
Security Council that did not administer trust territories, and other members elected by
the General Assembly. The history of Trusteeship Council goes back to the international
supervision of colonial territories which was initiated in 1919 by U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference which gave birth to the League of
Nations.
At the outset it is pertinent to understand the concept of Trusteeship. The concept
of ‘Trust Territories’ under the Trusteeship Council can be compared with the “mandate
system” of the League of Nations. Quite similar to the mandate system, the trusteeship
system was established on the ground that colonial territories taken from countries
defeated in war should not be forcibly taken over or annexed by the victorious powers.
Theoretically speaking, according to the trusteeship system dependent territories were
ought to be administered by a ‘Trust Country’ under the international supervision until
their future political status was determined. In contrast to the mandate system, the
trusteeship system allowed the provision to invite petitions from the trust territories on
their independence. At the same time it also made it mandatory to have periodic
international monitoring missions.
Transformation of mandate system to Trusteeship
The council met once in a year. Maintaining a democratic spirit, members enjoyed
a single voting system. The decision-making system was also made easier as policies
were taken through a simple majority. Since 1994 the Council is no longer required to
meet annually, though it may meet on the decision of the Trusteeship Council’s President
or on a request by a majority of its members, by the General Assembly, or by the Security
Council.
With the end of the Second World War in 1945, there were only 12 mandate
territories left behind by the legacy of League of Nations. The mandate territories
included Nauru, New Guinea, Ruanda-Urundi, Togoland and Cameroon, Togoland and
Cameroon, the Pacific Islands, Western Samoa, South West Africa, Tanganyika, and
Palestine. There had been a close link between League’s mandate system and
Trusteeship. For example, all the mandates became Trust territories except South West
Africa (now Namibia) due to the refusal of South Africa to enter into the Trusteeship
system. In 1949, the General Assembly, by virtue of the League of Nations’ mandate
over Palestine, declared Jerusalem a trust territory under the administration of the whole
United Nations. The UN also faced stiff opposition from Israel and Jordan which were
the two occupying states, which resulted in the deferring of UN’s wish to make Jerusalem
a trust territory.
The Trusteeship Council since then began to function as an important agency to
supervise the administration of Trust territories until they achieved self-determination. In
setting up an International Trusteeship System, the UN Charter assigns the Council with
the main task of supervising the administration of Trust Territories placed under the
Trusteeship System. The main objectives of the System included promoting the
advancement of the inhabitants of Trust Territories and their progressive development
towards self-government or independence.
The ultimate idea and philosophy of Trusteeship system allowed a temporal
arrangement for continuing dependency system of many territories whereas it also
emphasized the protection of political freedom, self-governance and human rights in the
long run. According to the Article 76 (a-c), objectives of the Trusteeship system have
been laid down in accordance with the main objectives of the United Nations to enhance
international peace and security. The Article 76 (c) is particularly significant in terms of
its commitment to human rights. It reads;
“to encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion, and to encourage recognition of
the interdependence of the peoples of the world”.
In addition, under Article 77 of the Charter, the Trusteeship System applied to:
• Territories held under Mandates established by the League of Nations after the
First World War
• Territories detached from “enemy States” as a result of the Second World War
• Territories voluntarily placed under the System by States responsible for their
Administration
The basic objective of the System was to promote the political, economic and social
advancement of the Territories and their development towards self-government and
selfdetermination.
It also encouraged respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and
recognition of the interdependence of peoples of the world. Similarly, the Article 78
advocates that the trusteeship system shall not apply to territories which have become
Members of the United Nations, relationship among which shall be based on respect for
the principle of sovereign equality. The idea of respecting Sovereignty was, thus, key to
Trusteeship system.
Composition and Legal standings
The guidelines on composition, power and function of the Trusteeship Council are
laid down in the chapter XIII of the UN Charter. The Council is made up of the five
permanent members of the Security Council that includes China, France, Russian
Federation, United Kingdom and United States. The aims of the Trusteeship System
would be considered to have been fulfilled once all the Trust Territories have attained
self-government or independence. The status of self-government or independence would
either mean to become a separate State or by joining neighbouring independent countries.
Various sections of UN charter specify structural and functional parameters of the
Trusteeship Council. The following select Articles of the UN Charter can be discussed in
this regard. According to the Article 86 (1) the Trusteeship Council shall consist of the
following Members of the United Nation:
• those Members administering trust territories
• such of those Members mentioned by name in Article 23 and are not
administering trust territories
Regarding the representation of members, according to the Article 86 (2) each
member State of the Trusteeship Council shall designate one specially qualified person to
represent it therein. The Article 87 is equally important as it deals with the powers and
functions of the Trusteeship. The Trusteeship enjoys the power to reconsider
administrative reports. The Article 87 (c) provides the Council the power to conduct
periodic visits to the respective trust territories at times agreed upon with the
administering authority. Under the Article 88, the Trusteeship Council shall formulate a
questionnaire on the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the
inhabitants of each trust territory, and the administering authority for each trust territory
within the competence of the General Assembly. Decision making processes in the
Trusteeship Council are carried out as per the Article 89.
The Trusteeship enjoys crucial legal empowerment to work with other important
organs of the UN. The Article 91 makes the Trusteeship Council avail itself to the
assistance of the ECOSOC and of the specialized agencies.
Interventions of Trusteeship Council
The UN charter originally established the Trusteeship Council as a main organ of
the UN and entrusted it with the administration of territories placed under the trusteeship
system meaning those territories that were not self-governing. As already noted above,
the Trusteeship system replaced the mandates of the League of Nations. Under the
chapter 12 and 13 of the UN Charter, the trusteeship system was intended to promote the
welfare of the native inhabitants and to finally advance them toward their right to
selfgovernment.
Historically speaking, the ‘Trust territories’ were carved out of former
‘mandate territories’ of the League of Nations. However, there had been some
exceptional cases with regard to the experiences of South West Africa which remained
under mandate until it achieved independence as Namibia in 1990. On the other hand,
some dependent territories also known as ‘colonies’ remained outside the Trusteeship
system but came under the jurisdiction of chapter 11 of the Charter of the United Nations,
obligating members responsible for dependencies to promote the welfare of their
inhabitants.
In the deliverance of Trusteeship system, the supervision of the Trusteeship
Council has been extremely important while ensuring commendable contributions from
the General Assembly and Security Council. Unlike territories under mandate, trusteeship
territories could be fortified. The powers of the ‘administering state’ included several
privileges such as; full legislative, administrative, and judicial authority and, in certain
cases, the right to treat the territory as if it were part of the administering state.
The intervention process of the Council required submitting of a detailed
questionnaire concerning each territory to the responsible State governing that governs
them with special emphasis on measures taken to increase self-governance and provisions
on educational opportunities. The council acts upon the petitions from inhabitants of the
concerned territories.
From being non-Self-Governing to Self-Governing Territories
In about 50 years of Trusteeship Council’s active existence, it experienced both
ups and downs. It had helped in the fuller independence of erstwhile Trust territories. In
between 1945 to 1999, the following Territories have been subject to United Nations
Trusteeship Agreements or were listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-Governing.
The ‘Administering States’ that enjoyed ‘Trust power’ were Australia, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Italy, Netherland, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, United
Kingdom and United States.
The gradual evaporation of trusteeship system began to unfold one after another.
For example, Italian Somaliland joined British Somaliland finally becoming Somalia in
1960; British Togoland joined Ghana in 1956, and French Togoland became Togo in
1960; French Cameroons became Cameroon in 1960, joined by the southern British
Cameroons in 1961; and the northern British Cameroons joined Nigeria in 1961.
Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) gained its independence in 1961, and Ruanda-Urundi
became the states Rwanda and Burundi in 1962. Similarly, Nauru became independent in
1968, and New Guinea joined with Papua to become Papua New Guinea in 1975.
In the subsequent years, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands became
independent one after another. For example, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands also
known as Palau administered by the United States came to an end after it decided
selfgovernment in a 1993 plebiscite. Thus, Palau became independent in 1994, joining the
United Nations as its 185th Member State.
Conclusion
Over the years, there is no doubt that Trusteeship Council has been one of the key
organs of the UN that dealt with human rights and freedoms of several political entities
that more or less desired for independence. The Council is so significant for having
contributed so much in the world’s quest for better and proper decolonization of hitherto
occupied territories. It is equally important to note that the Trusteeship system was
brought to an end through diplomacy and democratization of the rights of peoples in nonself-
governing territories.
According to a resolution adopted on 25th May 1994, the Council amended its
rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion
required by its decision or the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of
its members or the General Assembly or the Security Council.
Today, we have travelled to such a stage of Trusteeship’s existential time as its
operation was suspended on 1st November 1994, with the independence of Palau. All the
trust Territories have either become independent States or have voluntary become a part
of a State. With no Territories left in its agenda, atleast from the perspective of UN, the
Trusteeship System had completed its historic task.
The Council decided to suspend its work in 1994 and resolved to meet only when
needed. However, the actual and official elimination of the Trusteeship Council would
call for a complete revision of the UN Charter, which is why it has not been pursued.
Other functions for the Trusteeship Council have been considered. On the other hand,
the Commission on Global Governance’s 1994 report recommends an expansion of the
trusteeship council. Their theory is that an international regulatory forum is needed to
protect environmental integrity and the global commons on the two-thirds of the world’s
surface that is outside national jurisdictions. Although, reflecting upon a different
dynamics of a similar concern, in March 2005, the former UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan proposed a sweeping reform of the United Nations, including an expansion of
the Security Council.
As this restructuring would involve significant changes to the UN charter, Annan
proposed the complete elimination of the Trusteeship Council as part of these
reforms. Present status of the United Nations Trusteeship Council is temporarily inactive
because there is no request to resume the designated activities of the United Nations
Trusteeship Council.
Nevertheless, the question of emerging new nation-states has remained an
ongoing subject-matter rather than a closed chapter in the world’s politics. The
emergence of East Timor, South Sudan and several on-going people’s struggles
demanding independence and freedom are strong cases in point. It seems that the
Trusteeship Council’s role could be brought back in securing a peaceful world while
resolving political conflicts over creation and emergence of new states even today.
Therefore, there could possibly come a time when the world might have to seriously
ponder over rejuvenation of the Trusteeship Council in a new way to address several
political conflicts that elude the world from a peaceful destiny.
Glossary:
Mandate System: Mandate system can be traced back to League of Nations. After the
First World War several states which were not properly independent then were
administered by the League of Nations. Such an authority of the League came to known
as mandate system.
Trust Territories: According to the trusteeship system dependent territories, also called
“Trust Territories” were ought to be administered by a ‘Trust Country’ under the
international supervision until their future political status was determined.
Self-Governing: The concept of ‘Self-Governing’ refers to a political status accorded to
a particular state. From the perspective of international law, a territory could be regarded
as self-governing if it exercises its sovereignty without any external intimidation.
Faq’s
Q1. In what ways the UN Trusteeship can be compared with the Mandate System
under the League of Nations?
Ans. The concept of ‘Trust Territories’ under the Trusteeship Council can be compared
with the “mandate system” of the League of Nations. Quite similar to the mandate
system, the trusteeship system was established on the ground that colonial territories
taken from countries defeated in war should not be forcibly taken over or annexed by the
victorious powers.
Q2. What is Trusteeship system?
Ans. The Trusteeship system was established in the wake of several colonial territories
which carved out of countries defeated in the Second World War. The philosophy of UN
Trusteeship is that no country should not be forcibly taken over or annexed by the
victorious powers. According to the trusteeship system dependent territories were ought
to be administered by a ‘Trust Country’ under the international supervision until their
future political status was determined.
Q3. What is main objective task of Trusteeship Council?
Ans. In setting up an International Trusteeship System, the UN Charter assigns the
Council with a main task of supervising the administration of Trust Territories placed
under the Trusteeship System. The main objectives of the System included promoting the
advancement of the inhabitants of Trust Territories and their progressive development
towards self-government or independence.
Q4. How many mandate states were there in the initial years of UN?
Ans. With the end of the Second World War ended in 1945, there were only 12 mandate
territories left behind by the legacy of League of Nations. The mandate territories
included Nauru, New Guinea, Ruanda-Urundi, Togoland and Cameroon, Togoland and
Cameroon, the Pacific Islands, Western Samoa, South West Africa, Tanganyika, and
Palestine.
Q5. Discuss the function of Trusteeship system with reference to Article 76.
Ans. According to the Article 76 (a-c), objectives of the Trusteeship system have been
laid down in accordance with the main objectives of the United Nations to enhance
international peace and security. The Article 76 (c) is particularly significant in terms of
its commitment to human rights.
Q6. Discuss the idea of enemy states as mentioned in the Article 77 of the UN
Charter.
Ans. According to the Article 77 of UN Charter, the Trusteeship System applied to
Territories held as ‘mandates’ as established by the League of Nations after the First
World War. The idea of enemy States refers to those territories which were separated
from the axis bloc of the Second World War. Since then these territories which were not
completely independent came to place under UN’s authority. Such an authority exercised
by UN officially culminated into what we today call Trusteeship system.
Q7. Why did some territories which were otherwise ought to become Trust
territories failed to become a part of the Trusteeship System?
Ans. The post-second World War period is considered to be the phase of decolonisation.
Although some dependent territories which typically resembled ‘colonies’ remained
outside the Trusteeship system. Instead of completely liberating them UN Trusteeship
delayed their independence and put these territories under the jurisdiction of chapter 11
of the Charter of the United Nations. On the whole, it guided the members to responsibly
work for the promotion of welfare of such territories.
Q8. Name the countries which were brought within the ambit of Trusteeship system
in between 1945 to 1999.
Ans. In between 1945 to 1999, the following Territories have been subject to United
Nations Trusteeship Agreements or were listed by the General Assembly as Non-Self-
Governing. The ‘Administering States’ that enjoyed ‘Trust power’ were Australia,
Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherland, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa,
Spain, United Kingdom and United States.
Q9. Discuss in what ways the UN Trusteeship Council decreased its importance.
What were the main factors?
Ans. The gradual evaporation of trusteeship system began to unfold one after another.
The up-gradation of Trust Territories into full-fledged states decreased the role and
importance of the Council. To name some states that evolved to become new states are;
Italian Somaliland which joined British Somaliland finally becoming Somalia in 1960;
British Togoland joined Ghana in 1956, and French Togoland became Togo in 1960;
French Cameroons became Cameroon in 1960, joined by the southern British Cameroons
in 1961; and the northern British Cameroons joined Nigeria in 1961. The emergence of
these states into proper nation states decreased the relevance of the Council.
Q10. ‘The Trusteeship Council can still play a good role in enhancing world’s peace
while resolving several on-going political conflicts’. Give your opinion.
Ans. The question of emerging new nation-states has remained an ongoing subject-matter
rather than a closed chapter in the world’s politics. The emergence of East Timor, South
Sudan and several on-going people’s struggles demanding independence and freedom are
strong cases in point. It seems that the Trusteeship Council’s role could be brought back
in securing a peaceful world while resolving political conflicts over creation and
emergence of new states even today. The debate on revitalisation of Trusteeship is a
continuing one even today.
References:
J. N. Murray, Jr., The United Nations Trusteeship System (1957);
C. E. Toussaint, The Trusteeship System of the United Nations (1957);
A. G. Mezerik, ed., Colonialism and the United Nations.1964.
Tom Parker, The Ultimate Intervention: Revitalising the UN Trusteeship Council for the
21st Century. Centre for European and Asian Studies at Norwegian School of
Management, Norway. 2003.
United Nations, General Assembly Of. “Jerusalem/International Regime - Trusteeship
Council Report to the GA (14 June 1950).”
Jerusalem/International Regime - Trusteeship Council Report to the GA. United Nations,
14 June 1950.
Links:
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/trusteeshipterritorial.html#ixzz2xXKUh
pTM
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001306.html#ixzz2xXJzfMGV
http://www.un.org/en/decolonization/selfdet.shtml
http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/00862D2CA15A99EC85256257006DC39E
