The Trust Territory system was established under Chapters XII and XIII of the UN Charter (1945), which created the International Trusteeship System and the Trusteeship Council. It succeeded the League of Nations Mandate System and applied to three categories of territories: former League mandates not yet independent, territories detached from defeated Axis powers after World War II, and territories voluntarily placed under trusteeship by their administering state.
Each trust territory was governed under an individual trusteeship agreement approved by the General Assembly (or, in the case of "strategic" trusts, the Security Council). The administering authority was obliged to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants and their progressive development toward self-government or independence, in line with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned. The Trusteeship Council reviewed annual reports, examined petitions, and conducted periodic visiting missions.
Eleven territories were placed under trusteeship in total. Examples include:
- Tanganyika (administered by the UK; independent 1961)
- Ruanda-Urundi (Belgium; became Rwanda and Burundi in 1962)
- Western Samoa (New Zealand; independent 1962)
- Nauru (Australia, NZ, UK; independent 1968)
- New Guinea (Australia; joined Papua New Guinea in 1975)
- Cameroons (UK and France; independence and partial unification 1960–61)
- Togoland (UK and France; merged with Ghana or became Togo in 1957–60)
- Somaliland (Italy; joined Somalia 1960)
- The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (United States; a strategic trust comprising the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, and the Northern Mariana Islands)
The last trust territory, Palau, achieved independence in 1994 under a Compact of Free Association with the US, after which the Trusteeship Council suspended operations. The Council still exists on paper but has not met substantively since.
Example
In 1961, Tanganyika became the first UN trust territory to gain independence from its administering authority, the United Kingdom, ending a trusteeship that began in 1946.
Frequently asked questions
Mandates operated under the League's Covenant with weaker supervision and no explicit promise of independence; trust territories operated under the UN Charter with a binding objective of self-government or independence and stronger oversight, including petitions and visiting missions.
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