United Nations Trusteeship Council

A principal organ of the United Nations that supervised trust territories and promoted their progress toward self-government or independence. It suspended regular operations in 1994 after the last trust territory became independent.

International trusteeship system: A United Nations framework for administering designated territories toward self-government or independence. The Council was the system’s principal supervisory organ.
League of Nations mandate system: A League of Nations arrangement placing former German and Ottoman territories under the administration of designated powers. The United Nations trusteeship system adapted and replaced this earlier framework.
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands: A strategic trust territory administered by the United States across much of Micronesia after World War II. It was the last trust territory and ended the Council’s regular work in 1994.
Decolonization: The process by which colonies gain political independence or other forms of self-government. The independence of trust territories was a major part of the Council’s intended outcome.
Trust territory: A territory placed under the United Nations trusteeship system and administered under an approved agreement. These territories were the direct objects of the Council’s supervision.
San Francisco Conference: The 1945 conference at which delegates negotiated and signed the United Nations Charter. Its negotiations established the Trusteeship Council in the new UN structure.
Palau: An island country in the western Pacific that became independent in 1994. Its independence terminated the final active trusteeship agreement.
Independence of Palau: Palau’s attainment of sovereign independence on October 1, 1994. This event ended the last trusteeship agreement and prompted suspension of regular Council operations.
Trusteeship agreement: A United Nations-approved instrument setting out how a trust territory would be administered. Each agreement defined obligations the Council reviewed.
United Nations General Assembly: The United Nations’ deliberative body in which all member states are represented. It elected some Council members and received reports on non-strategic trust territories.

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