The Trusteeship System and the Trusteeship Council

Article 74. Members agree that their policy in the territories to which the Chapter applies, no less than in respect of their metropolitan areas, must be based on the general principle of good-neighbourliness, due account being taken of the interests and well-being of the rest of the world.

The trusteeship system: articles 75 to 85

Article 75. The United Nations shall establish under its authority an international trusteeship system for the administration and supervision of such territories as may be placed thereunder by subsequent individual agreements, called trust territories.

Note the mechanism. No territory came under trusteeship automatically. Each required a trusteeship agreement, which is why the mandated territory of South West Africa, which its mandatory refused to place under trusteeship, produced decades of litigation and was not resolved within this Chapter.

Article 76, the basic objectives, in accordance with the Purposes in article 1:

(a) to further international peace and security;

(b) to promote the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants, and their progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as provided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement;

(c) 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;

(d) to ensure equal treatment in social, economic, and commercial matters for all Members and their nationals, and equal treatment in the administration of justice, without prejudice to the other objectives and subject to article 80.

Article 76(b) is the decisive advance on the mandates system. It names independence as an object and it makes the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned a criterion. That is self-determination entering the operative provisions, and it connects to article 1(2), which bases friendly relations on equal rights and self-determination of peoples.

Article 77(1), the three categories of territory the system could apply to:

(a) territories then held under mandate;

(b) territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War;

(c) territories voluntarily placed under the system by the States responsible for their administration.

Article 77(2) leaves it to subsequent agreement which territories are brought under the system and on what terms, which is the concession that made the Chapter acceptable to the colonial Powers and the reason no territory in category (c) was ever volunteered.

Article 78. The system shall not apply to territories which have become Members of the United Nations, relations among which are based on sovereign equality.

Article 79. The terms of trusteeship for each territory, including any alteration, shall be agreed upon by the states directly concerned, including the mandatory power, and approved under articles 83 and 85.

Article 80, the safeguarding clause. Until agreements are concluded, nothing in the Chapter shall be construed to alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments. Article 80(2) adds that this is not to be interpreted as giving grounds for delay or postponement of the negotiation and conclusion of trusteeship agreements.

Article 81. The agreement shall include the terms of administration and designate the administering authority, which may be one or more states or the Organization itself. The Organization never administered a trust territory.

Strategic areas: articles 82 to 84

Article 82. A trusteeship agreement may designate a strategic area or areas, which may include part or all of the territory.

Article 83(1). All functions of the United Nations relating to strategic areas, including the approval of the terms of the trusteeship agreements and of their alteration or amendment, shall be exercised by the Security Council.

Article 83(2). The basic objectives in article 76 apply to the people of each strategic area.

Article 83(3). The Council shall, without prejudice to security considerations, avail itself of the assistance of the Trusteeship Council for political, economic, social and educational matters in strategic areas.

Article 84. It is the duty of the administering authority to ensure that the territory plays its part in the maintenance of international peace and security, and it may use volunteer forces, facilities and assistance from the territory for that purpose and for local defence and the maintenance of law and order.

The strategic area device mattered in exactly one case, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and its effect was to move supervision from the Assembly to the Security Council, where the administering authority held a veto.

Article 85. For all areas not designated as strategic, the functions of the United Nations, including approval of the agreements and their alteration, are exercised by the General Assembly, and the Trusteeship Council, operating under the authority of the General Assembly, assists it.

The Trusteeship Council: articles 86 to 91

Article 86(1), the composition, in three classes:

(a) Members administering trust territories;

(b) such of the Members named in article 23, that is the permanent members of the Security Council, as are not administering trust territories; and

(c) as many other Members elected for three-year terms by the General Assembly as may be necessary to ensure that the total is equally divided between those Members which administer trust territories and those which do not.

The parity rule in (c) is the Council's distinguishing feature, and it is also why the Council could not survive the end of trusteeship: when the number of administering Members fell to one and then to none, the arithmetic of parity had nothing left to balance.

Article 86(2). Each member shall designate one specially qualified person to represent it.

Article 87, the supervisory powers. The General Assembly and, under its authority, the Trusteeship Council may:

(a) consider reports submitted by the administering authority;

(b) accept petitions and examine them in consultation with the administering authority;

(c) provide for periodic visits to the trust territories at times agreed upon with the administering authority;

(d) take these and other actions in conformity with the terms of the trusteeship agreements.

Article 87(b) is the innovation. The mandates system had no right of petition of this kind, and the ability of inhabitants to petition an international organ over the head of the administering Power is the feature that made supervision real.

Article 88. The Council shall formulate a questionnaire on the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants, and each administering authority within the Assembly's competence shall make an annual report on the basis of that questionnaire.

Compare article 73(e), which requires information on economic, social and educational conditions only. The questionnaire under article 88 expressly includes political advancement, which is a real difference between a non-self-governing territory and a trust territory.

Article 89. Each member has one vote, and decisions are made by a majority of the members present and voting.

Article 90. The Council adopts its own rules of procedure, including the method of selecting its President, and meets as required, its rules providing for meetings on the request of a majority of its members.

Article 91. The Council shall, when appropriate, avail itself of the assistance of the Economic and Social Council and of the specialized agencies in regard to matters with which they are respectively concerned.

What became of the system

Eleven territories were placed under trusteeship. All eleven attained self-government or independence, either as independent States or by association with a State. The last was Palau, part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, whose trusteeship the Security Council terminated in 1994, Palau becoming independent that year and a Member of the United Nations.

The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994 and amended its rules of procedure to meet only where occasion requires: on its own decision, on the decision of its President, at the request of a majority of its members, or at the request of the General Assembly or the Security Council. It has not been abolished, because abolition would require a Charter amendment under article 108 and the permanent members have never agreed on what, if anything, should replace it.

What survives. Chapter XI is not spent. A list of non-self-governing territories is maintained by the General Assembly, and article 73(e) reporting continues for them. The principle in article 76(b), development towards self-government or independence in accordance with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, has passed into the general law as self-determination.

A worked example

Territory YY was a mandate under the League, administered by State AA. In 1947 State AA concludes a trusteeship agreement placing YY under the system and designating part of it a strategic area. Inhabitants of YY petition the United Nations complaining of the administration. State AA refuses a visiting mission. In 1965 the inhabitants vote in a plebiscite for independence.

Could YY be placed under trusteeship? Yes. Article 77(1)(a) covers territories then held under mandate, and article 79 requires the terms to be agreed by the States directly concerned, including the mandatory power.

Who approves the agreement? For the strategic area, the Security Council under article 83(1). For the rest, the General Assembly under article 85(1), assisted by the Trusteeship Council under its authority.

The petition. Article 87(b) permits the Assembly and the Trusteeship Council to accept petitions and examine them in consultation with the administering authority. The right to petition exists; its examination is consultative.

The refused visit. Article 87(c) provides for periodic visits at times agreed upon with the administering authority, so State AA's agreement is required as to timing, and a flat refusal is a breach of the spirit of the article and of the terms of the agreement, which article 87(d) makes the measure of the organs' powers.

The plebiscite. Article 76(b) makes progressive development towards self-government or independence, according to the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, a basic objective of the system, so the vote is the criterion the Charter itself supplies.

Terminating the trusteeship. For the non-strategic part, by the General Assembly under article 85; for the strategic area, by the Security Council under article 83(1), where State AA, if a permanent member, holds a veto.

Change one fact: State AA never concludes a trusteeship agreement. Then article 77(2) leaves the matter to subsequent agreement, article 80(1) preserves existing rights in the meantime, and article 80(2) denies State AA any ground for delay. That is precisely the situation that produced the long litigation over South West Africa.

Distinctions table

What it does NOT mean

Trusteeship was not automatic. Each territory needed an agreement under articles 77(2) and 79.

The mandates system did not simply continue. Independence became an express objective and petitions and visits were added.

A strategic area is not outside the system. Article 83(2) applies the article 76 objectives to its people; only the supervising organ changes.

Article 73 is not spent. It still binds Members administering non-self-governing territories.

The Trusteeship Council was not abolished. It suspended operation in 1994; abolition needs a Charter amendment.

Trusteeship was not colonialism renamed. Its objectives, its right of petition and its visiting missions were real, though its coverage was narrow.

Limits and criticism

The system covered eleven territories while dozens of colonies remained outside it, because article 77(1) reached only mandates and territories detached from the enemy States, and no Power ever volunteered a colony under article 77(1)(c).

Supervision depended on the administering authority. Petitions were examined in consultation with it, visits took place at times agreed upon with it, and the terms of each agreement, negotiated with it, set the limits under article 87(d).

The strategic area device removed the supervision that mattered from the Assembly to a Council where the administering Power could veto any change, including termination.

Decolonisation happened outside Chapter XII. The great transfer of sovereignty in the 1950s and 1960s was driven by the General Assembly acting on Chapter XI and on the Declaration of 1960, and by the political facts, and not by the trusteeship machinery.

The empty organ is a constitutional embarrassment. The Charter still lists the Trusteeship Council among the principal organs in article 7(1), and it will continue to do so as long as article 108 makes amendment depend on all five permanent members.

Quick revision

Chapter XI, article 73: administering Members recognise that the interests of the inhabitants are paramount and accept a sacred trust; ensure political, economic, social and educational advancement, just treatment and protection against abuses; develop self-government; further peace; promote development; transmit information on economic, social and educational conditions. Article 74: good-neighbourliness.

Article 75: the system operates by individual agreements. Article 76 objectives: peace and security; advancement and progressive development towards self-government or independence according to the freely expressed wishes of the peoples; human rights and interdependence; equal treatment including in the administration of justice.

Article 77: territories held under mandate, detached from enemy states, or voluntarily placed. Article 78: not to Members. Article 79: terms agreed by the states directly concerned including the mandatory. Article 80: existing rights preserved, no ground for delay. Article 81: the administering authority may be one or more States or the Organization.

Articles 82 to 84: strategic areas, all functions exercised by the Security Council, article 76 objectives still applying. Article 85: all other areas, the General Assembly, assisted by the Trusteeship Council under its authority.

Article 86: members are administering States, the article 23 permanent members not administering, and enough elected for three years to make the total equally divided. Article 87: reports, petitions, periodic visits, and action under the agreements. Article 88: a questionnaire covering political advancement and an annual report. Article 89: one vote, simple majority.

Eleven trust territories, all self-governing or independent; the last was Palau, terminated by the Security Council in 1994; the Council suspended operation on 1 November 1994 and has not been abolished.

Test yourself

1. What were the basic objectives of the trusteeship system?

Article 76 states four. To further international peace and security. To promote the political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories and their progressive development towards self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of each territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and as provided by the terms of each trusteeship agreement. To encourage respect for human rights and 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. And to ensure equal treatment in social, economic and commercial matters for all Members and their nationals, and equal treatment in the administration of justice, without prejudice to the other objectives and subject to article 80.

2. How did the trusteeship system differ from the mandates system of the League?

In three ways that matter. Independence was named as an objective in article 76(b), alongside self-government, and was made to depend on the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, whereas the Covenant spoke of a sacred trust of civilisation without a stated endpoint of independence for every category. The inhabitants gained a right to petition, since article 87(b) permits the General Assembly and the Trusteeship Council to accept petitions and examine them in consultation with the administering authority. And article 87(c) provided for periodic visits to the territories, at times agreed with the administering authority, so supervision was no longer confined to reading the administering Power's own reports.

3. Describe the composition of the Trusteeship Council.

Article 86(1) provides for three classes of member: those Members of the United Nations administering trust territories; such of the Members named in article 23, that is the permanent members of the Security Council, as are not administering trust territories; and as many other Members elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms as may be necessary to ensure that the total number is equally divided between Members which administer trust territories and those which do not. Article 86(2) requires each member to designate one specially qualified person to represent it. The parity rule is the Council's distinguishing feature, and it is also why the organ could not continue once trusteeship ended, since the arithmetic requires administering Members to exist.

4. What is a strategic area and why did the designation matter?

Article 82 permitted a trusteeship agreement to designate a strategic area or areas, which might include part or all of the trust territory. The consequence is in article 83(1): all functions of the United Nations relating to strategic areas, including the approval of the terms of the agreement and of any alteration or amendment, are exercised by the Security Council rather than the General Assembly. Article 83(2) preserves the article 76 objectives for the people of the area, and article 83(3) requires the Council to avail itself of the Trusteeship Council's assistance on political, economic, social and educational matters. The designation mattered because it moved supervision, and above all the power to terminate, into an organ where the administering Power, if a permanent member, held a veto.

5. Does Chapter XI still have work to do?

Yes. Chapter XI applies to all territories whose peoples have not attained a full measure of self-government, independently of whether they were ever placed under trusteeship, and article 73 continues to bind Members which administer them. It obliges them to recognise that the interests of the inhabitants are paramount, to accept as a sacred trust the obligation to promote their well-being, to ensure their political, economic, social and educational advancement with due respect for their culture, to develop self-government taking due account of their political aspirations, and to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General information of a technical nature on economic, social and educational conditions. The General Assembly maintains a list of the remaining non-self-governing territories and continues to receive information under article 73(e).

6. Why does the Trusteeship Council still exist?

Because abolishing it would require an amendment to the Charter. Article 7(1) lists the Trusteeship Council among the principal organs and Chapter XIII governs it, so removing it means amending the Charter under article 108, which requires adoption by a two thirds vote of the General Assembly and ratification by two thirds of the Members including all the permanent members of the Security Council. No agreement has been reached on abolition or on any successor function. The Council completed its substantive work when the Security Council terminated the trusteeship over Palau in 1994, the last of the eleven trust territories to attain independence, and it suspended operation on 1 November 1994, amending its rules to meet only where occasion requires.