LESSON 28 - THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

Hello, thank you for joining me on my YouTube channel. My name is Christiana Sagie. On this channel, I will be teaching about international law and these teachings will be in the form of short weekly lecture series. Over time, I will be surfacing varied concepts of international law. When and where applicable, these concepts will be analyzed and brought to you as it relates to current trends in international law as they arise. At the end of this lecture, you will find the transcript of the lecture in the link below. Also, for current trend and analysis in international law, you can subscribe to my blog. All the details you will find in the comment section below. For the 28th lecture in this lecture series, we will be addressing the sixth main organ of the United Nations established in Article 7 of the United Nations Charter, the Trusteeship Council. This organ differs from the other five principal organs of the United Nations in the sense that its activities have been suspended. Yes, suspended. So in this lesson, we will speak to why the activities of the Trusteeship Council were suspended, what the objectives of the Trusteeship Council are. Essentially, why was it created? So let's dive in. We will start by answering the question, why was its activity suspended? Here's why. After all of the trust territory administered by the Trusteeship Council became independent states alone or by joining with other territories, the Security Council, determining that there were no more territories under administration, terminated the United Nations Trusteeship Agreement. Having said that, my guess is there are numerous questions arising, such as what is a trust territory and precisely what was the mandate of the Trusteeship Council concerning these? Those are all great questions. So let us unpack all of this one after the other. As always, we will begin with the Charter of the United Nations. And that is because the international trusteeship system gains its legitimacy from the Charter of the United Nations. Chapter 12 of the Charter comprising of Article 75 to 85 provide an overview of the international trusteeship system. According to 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 there under by subsequent individual agreements. These territories are hereinafter referred to as trust territories. In essence, trust territories are non-self-governing territories placed under an administrative authority by the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations. The relationships between trust territories and their administrative authorities were created by trusteeship agreements with the states administering the trust territories. As Article 77 of the United Nations Charter puts it, the trusteeship system shall apply to territories in the following categories. Territories held under mandate, territories which may be detached from enemy states as a result of the Second World War, and territories voluntarily placed under the system by state responsible for the administration. According to Article 81 of the United Nations Charter, these administering states referred to in Article 77 of the United Nations Charter may be one or more states already parties to the United Nations. When a trust relationship has been created, it behooves on the administering state of the trust territory to ensure that the trust territory is playing its part in the maintenance of international peace and security. The objectives of the trusteeship system in accordance with the purposes of the United Nations are as articulated in Article 76 of the United Nations Charter to be A. The forbearance of peace and security. B. The promotion of the political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the trust territories and their progressive development towards self-government or independence. C. The encouragement of respect for human rights and D. The recognition of the interdependence of the peoples of the world. So what exactly was the function of the trusteeship council? The trusteeship council is authorized by the United Nations Charter to examine and discourse reports from the administering authority on political, economic, social, and educational advancement of the peoples of the trust territories. To examine petitions from the territories and to undertake special missions to the territories. In the early years of the United Nations, 11 territories were placed under the international trusteeship system. One after the other, these territories became independent. These territories were Togoland under British administration. This territory united with the Gold Coast, a non-self-governing territory, and gained its independence in March 1957 as Ghana. Cameroon under French administration. This territory gained its independence in January 1960 as Cameroon. Togoland under French administration. This territory gained its independence in April 1960 as Togo. Somaliland under Italian administration. This territory united with British Somalia and gained its independence in July 1960 as Somalia. Cameroon under British administration. Following the pepticides, the northern part of the trust territory joined Nigeria and the southern part joined Cameroon in February 1961. Tanganyika under British administration became independent in December 1961. In 1964, Tanganyika united with Zanzibar as a single state to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Western Samoa under New Zealand administration became independent in January 1962, maintaining its name Western Samoa in January 1962. In 1997, it changed its name to Samoa. Rwanda-Urundi under Belgian administration became the two independent and sovereign states of Rwanda and Burundi in July 1962. Nauru administered by Australia on behalf of the Administrative Authority of Australia. New Zealand and the United Kingdom became independent in January 1968. Papua New Guinea administered by Australia. This territory united with Papua, a non-self-governing territory also administered by Australia to become the independent state of Papua New Guinea in September 1975. The Pacific Islands administered by the United States were four in number. America's trust relationship with this island ceased in October 1990, and they were the Federated States of Micronesia became fully self-governing in free association with the United States. Marshall Islands became fully self-governing in free association with the United States. The Commonwealth of the Northern Marina Islands became fully self-governing as the Commonwealth of the United States, and Palaua became fully self-governing in free association with the United States in October 1990. As earlier mentioned, when no territories left of the agenda, the Trusteeship Council suspended its operation in November 1st, 1994. Suffice to say, however, that though it suspended its activities, the trusteeship continues to exist as an organ of the United Nations and meets us and when occasion requires it. Over the last six weeks, we have explored the main organs of the United Nations, drawing from the UN Charter, their roles and objectives. In today's lesson, we have addressed the international trusteeship system, exploring its mandates and how the organ has functioned since the formation of the United Nations. So I want to say thank you so very much for joining in. 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