TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

one of the principal organs of the United Nations (UN), responsible for supervising the government of trust territories and for leading them to self-government or independence. The council consists of member states administering trust territories, permanent members of the Security Council that do not administer trust territories, and other members elected by the General Assembly for three-year terms. The council meets once a year; each member has one vote, and decisions are made by a simple majority of those present. The concept of international supervision of colonial territories was introduced by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; his assertion that there should be no annexations resulting from the victory over Germany and Turkey eventually produced the mandate system of the League of Nations. The trusteeship system of the UN, like the mandate system of the League of Nations, was established on the principle that colonial territories taken from defeated enemies should not be annexed by any victorious nation but should be administered by a mandatory, or trust, power under international supervision until they were able to determine their own future status. The trusteeship system differed from the mandate system in its provision for the submission of petitions and for periodic visits to the trust territories by UN missions. In 1945 only 12 League of Nations mandates remained: Nauru, New Guinea, Ruanda-Urundi, Togoland and Cameroon (French administered), Togoland and Cameroon (British administered), Pacific Islands (Carolines, Marshalls, and Marianas), Western Samoa, South West Africa, Tanganyika, and Palestine. All of these became UN trust territories except South West Africa (now Namibia), which South Africa refused to enter into the trusteeship system, despite vigorous international criticism over the years. By 1994 some form of self-government had been achieved by all the trust territories. See also mandate.