Difference between revisions of "United Nations Trusteeship Council" - New World Encyclopedia
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The '''United Nations Trusteeship Council''', one of the principal organs of the [[United Nations]], was established to help ensure that non-self-governing territories were administered in the best interests of the inhabitants and of international peace and security. The [[United Nations Trust Territories|trust territories]] – most of them former [[League of Nations mandate|mandates]] of the [[League of Nations]] or territories taken from nations defeated at the end of [[World War II]] – have all now attained self-government or [[independence]], either as separate nations or by joining neighboring independent countries. The last was [[Palau]], which became a [[United Nations member states|member state of the United Nations]] in December 1994. Subsequently, having successfully fulfilled its own mandate, the Trusteeship Council was suspended. | The '''United Nations Trusteeship Council''', one of the principal organs of the [[United Nations]], was established to help ensure that non-self-governing territories were administered in the best interests of the inhabitants and of international peace and security. The [[United Nations Trust Territories|trust territories]] – most of them former [[League of Nations mandate|mandates]] of the [[League of Nations]] or territories taken from nations defeated at the end of [[World War II]] – have all now attained self-government or [[independence]], either as separate nations or by joining neighboring independent countries. The last was [[Palau]], which became a [[United Nations member states|member state of the United Nations]] in December 1994. Subsequently, having successfully fulfilled its own mandate, the Trusteeship Council was suspended. | ||
| − | The Trusteeship Council did not have any direct involvement in the [[decolonization]] process. although colonial powers were required to report annually to the [[United Nations Secretariat|Secretary-General]] on progress towards granting self-determination, which the United Nations' Charter enshrined as a "principle". Some had wanted all non-Controversy swirled around both the Trusteeship system and decolonialism | + | The Trusteeship Council did not have any direct involvement in the [[decolonization]] process. although colonial powers were required to report annually to the [[United Nations Secretariat|Secretary-General]] on progress towards granting self-determination, which the United Nations' Charter enshrined as a "principle". Some had wanted to place oversight towards independence of all non-self governing territories under the Council but this was too radical for the great powers to accept. Controversy swirled around both the Trusteeship system and decolonialism. |
==History== | ==History== | ||
| Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
===Philosophy=== | ===Philosophy=== | ||
| − | The Trusteeship system was in many respects a carry over from the League of Nations. However, the League had allowed colonial powers to procrastinate "in giving up" their colonies.<ref>Phillpott, 192.</ref> The notion of "trusteeship" assumed that the people who were in "trust" were further down the ladder of social [[evolution]]. [[Race|racist]] patronizing ans paternalistic assumptions were behind such notions as "grooming" "trusteeship" and the "civilizing mission" of the great powers, which saw the Europeans at the top, followed by [[Asia|Asians]] with [[Africa|Africans]] at the bottom.<ref>Phillpott, page 172.</ref> At the end of World War II, some of the powers thought despite their acceptance in principle that self-determination was indeed a "right" that independence was still a long way off for many of their colonies and trust territories.<ref>Philpott, page 175.</ref> France walked out of UN meetings when its Maghreb possessions were under discussion and engaged in anti-independence wars in such places as [[Algeria]] and [[Vietnam]]. | + | The Trusteeship system was in many respects a carry over from the League of Nations. However, the League had allowed colonial powers to procrastinate "in giving up" their colonies.<ref>Phillpott, 192.</ref> The notion of "trusteeship" assumed that the people who were in "trust" were further down the ladder of social [[evolution]]. [[Race|racist]] patronizing ans paternalistic assumptions were behind such notions as "grooming" "trusteeship" and the "civilizing mission" of the great powers, which saw the Europeans at the top, followed by [[Asia|Asians]] with [[Africa|Africans]] at the bottom.<ref>Phillpott, page 172.</ref> Those whose governance was entrusted to others were "minor wards of the human family".<ref>Philpott, page 179.</ref> At the end of World War II, some of the powers thought despite their acceptance in principle that self-determination was indeed a "right" that independence was still a long way off for many of their colonies and trust territories.<ref>Philpott, page 175.</ref> France walked out of UN meetings when its Maghreb possessions were under discussion and engaged in anti-independence wars in such places as [[Algeria]] and [[Vietnam]]. Louis says that most [[history|historians]] regard the post-World war II trusteeship system as a "device to block the takeover of a colonial territory by a rival" power.<ref>Louis, page 205.</ref> |
| − | [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had wanted the UN to "hasten the process by which all colonies would eventually attain independence" and would like to have seen more specific reference to this in the UN Charter. He was insistent that the Atlantic Charter of August 14, 1941, which paved the way for the post-World War II world order, "contain a self-determination clause" which it did, although [[Winston Churchill]] had resisted this. This clause expressed the "right of all people to choose the form of [[government]] under which they will live."<ref>Philpott, page 180. See [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/atlantic.asp The atlantic Charter.] Yale Law School Avalon Project. Retrieved December 20, 2008.</ref> As an anti-[[imperialism]], Roosevelt saw the [[United States]] as fighting for the "independence of all people of the world" as he told the Sultan of [[Morocco]]<ref>Phillpott, page 179.</ref> However, [[France]] as well as Great Britain resisted the inclusion of the same clause in the UN Charter. Instead, the Charter speaks of respect for the "principle of self-determination" but falls short of affirming this as a "right." The relevant Articles, 1, 55 and 56 were drafted by [[Ralph Buncie]] who, like Roosevelt, would like to have vested the UN with a stronger role in supervising decolonization.<ref>[http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/ The United Nations Charter.] United Nations. Retrieved December 20, 2008.</ref> Louis comments that many people had high hopes when they heard that Buncie, who went on to become the first black man to win the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was working on the self-determination clauses.<ref>Louis, page 586.</ref> Philpott, page 157; Louis, page 285.</ref> The Trusteeship Council was not therefore assigned direct responsibility for colonial territories outside the trusteeship system, although the Charter did establish the principle that member states were to administer such territories in conformity with the best interests of their inhabitants. In 1960, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. This stated that all people have a right to self-determination and proclaimed that [[colonialism]] should be speedily and unconditionally brought to an end.<ref>[http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/c_coloni.htm Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , Geneva. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> The requirement for colonial powers to report on progress to the Secretary-General, though, was rather vague | + | [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] had wanted the UN to "hasten the process by which all colonies would eventually attain independence" and would like to have seen more specific reference to this in the UN Charter. He was insistent that the Atlantic Charter of August 14, 1941, which paved the way for the post-World War II world order, "contain a self-determination clause" which it did, although [[Winston Churchill]] had resisted this. This clause expressed the "right of all people to choose the form of [[government]] under which they will live."<ref>Philpott, page 180. See [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/atlantic.asp The atlantic Charter.] Yale Law School Avalon Project. Retrieved December 20, 2008.</ref> As an anti-[[imperialism]], Roosevelt saw the [[United States]] as fighting for the "independence of all people of the world" as he told the Sultan of [[Morocco]]<ref>Phillpott, page 179.</ref> However, [[France]] as well as Great Britain resisted the inclusion of the same clause in the UN Charter. Instead, the Charter speaks of respect for the "principle of self-determination" but falls short of affirming this as a "right." The relevant Articles, 1, 55 and 56 were drafted by [[Ralph Buncie]] who, like Roosevelt, would like to have vested the UN with a stronger role in supervising decolonization.<ref>[http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/ The United Nations Charter.] United Nations. Retrieved December 20, 2008.</ref> Louis comments that many people had high hopes when they heard that Buncie, who went on to become the first black man to win the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was working on the self-determination clauses.<ref>Louis, page 586.</ref> Philpott, page 157; Louis, page 285.</ref> The Trusteeship Council was not therefore assigned direct responsibility for colonial territories outside the trusteeship system, although the Charter did establish the principle that member states were to administer such territories in conformity with the best interests of their inhabitants. Designated "non-self governing territories" there were 72 of these when the Council was established. Some had wanted all colonies to be placed under the oversight of the Council. In 1960, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. This stated that all people have a right to self-determination and proclaimed that [[colonialism]] should be speedily and unconditionally brought to an end.<ref>[http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/c_coloni.htm Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , Geneva. Retrieved December 8, 2008.</ref> The requirement for colonial powers to report on progress to the Secretary-General, though, was rather vague. |
| − | The British and the French took the view that it was up to them to decide how and when their colonies would be granted independence. Both saw their colonies as symbolic of their status as world powers; France especially took the view, as [[George Bidot]] said, that "France would be her own trustee" and that the United Nations did not have the right to criticize or censure her colonial policy. According to France, "progress towards statehood" was not a "matter for international statehood"<ref>Phillpott, page 234; see Louis, page 285.</ref> France stressed the unity of empire and the metropole and [[Charles de Gaule]] saw trusteeship as "a facade meant to conceal the true interests of its sponsors" which was to frustrate and embarrass France.<ref>Philpott, page 233.</ref> Britain thought that the UN did not truly understand colonial responsibility, and rejected "any further oversight of its colonial policy as an unlawful interference in its internal affairs."<ref>Philpott, page 182.</ref> France probably did have some notion in mind of a permanent union between the metropole and French territory overseas. Britain, however, never had any intention "to make its colonists British citizens" yet saw colonies as a source of national greatness."<ref>Phillpott, page 172.</ref> As newly independent countries became members of the UN, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] became a venue for censuring the colonial powers for failure to speed up decolonization. Britain, as did France and the USA, used its position in the [[United Nations Security Council]] to " | + | The British and the French took the view that it was up to them to decide how and when their colonies would be granted independence. Both saw their colonies as symbolic of their status as world powers; France especially took the view, as [[George Bidot]] said, that "France would be her own trustee" and that the United Nations did not have the right to criticize or censure her colonial policy. According to France, "progress towards statehood" was not a "matter for international statehood"<ref>Phillpott, page 234; see Louis, page 285.</ref> France stressed the unity of empire and the metropole and [[Charles de Gaule]] saw trusteeship as "a facade meant to conceal the true interests of its sponsors" which was to frustrate and embarrass France.<ref>Philpott, page 233.</ref> Britain thought that the UN did not truly understand colonial responsibility, and rejected "any further oversight of its colonial policy as an unlawful interference in its internal affairs."<ref>Philpott, page 182.</ref> France probably did have some notion in mind of a permanent union between the metropole and French territory overseas. Britain, however, never had any intention "to make its colonists British citizens" yet saw colonies as a source of national greatness."<ref>Phillpott, page 172.</ref> As newly independent countries became members of the UN, the [[United Nations General Assembly]] became a venue for censuring the colonial powers for failure to speed up decolonization. Britain, as did France and the USA, used its position in the [[United Nations Security Council]] to "dilute the United Nation's bile."<ref>Philpot, page 181.</ref> As the process dragged on, the General Assembly went beyond "condemnation to stand for a process of 'liberation'."<ref>Whittaker, page 22.</ref> |
| − | The British commented that criticism in the General Assembly seemed to be led by "anti-colonial countries" with [[India]] at the helm.<ref>Philpott, page 182</ref> | + | |
| + | The British commented that criticism in the General Assembly seemed to be led by "anti-colonial countries" with [[India]] at the helm.<ref>Philpott, page 182</ref> The United States was also routinely criticized by the [[Soviet Union]] for procrastinating granting independence to its [[Pacific Ocean]] trust territories, although under a provision passed by the Security Council, which the Soviets had accepted, this qualified as a | ||
| + | The end of the [[Cold War]] thus impacted on the end of the trusteeship system when Palau, a major US nuclear base, became independent. | ||
===Trusteeship: a "sacred trust"=== | ===Trusteeship: a "sacred trust"=== | ||
| − | + | The United Nations saw the task of promoting "the well-being" and "advancement" of people in non-self governing territories as a "sacred trust."<ref>Whittaker, page 8.</ref> Colonial powers would also "lift the yoke of 'alien subjugation, domination and subjugation'."<ref>Whittaker, page 22.</ref> The Un | |
Revision as of 02:57, 20 December 2008
The United Nations Trusteeship Council, one of the principal organs of the United Nations, was established to help ensure that non-self-governing territories were administered in the best interests of the inhabitants and of international peace and security. The trust territories – most of them former mandates of the League of Nations or territories taken from nations defeated at the end of World War II – have all now attained self-government or independence, either as separate nations or by joining neighboring independent countries. The last was Palau, which became a member state of the United Nations in December 1994. Subsequently, having successfully fulfilled its own mandate, the Trusteeship Council was suspended.
The Trusteeship Council did not have any direct involvement in the decolonization process. although colonial powers were required to report annually to the Secretary-General on progress towards granting self-determination, which the United Nations' Charter enshrined as a "principle". Some had wanted to place oversight towards independence of all non-self governing territories under the Council but this was too radical for the great powers to accept. Controversy swirled around both the Trusteeship system and decolonialism.
History
The Trusteeship Council was formed in 1945 to oversee the decolonization of those dependent territories that were to be placed under the international trusteeship system created by the United Nations Charter as a successor to the League of Nations mandate system. Ultimately, eleven territories were placed under trusteeship: seven in Africa and four in Oceania. Ten of the trust territories had previously been League of Nations mandates; the eleventh was Italian Somaliland.
Under the Charter, the Trusteeship Council was to consist of an equal number of United Nations Member States administering trust territories and non-administering states. Thus, the Council was to consist of (1) all U.N. members administering trust territories, (2) the five permanent members of the Security Council, and (3) as many other non-administering members as needed to equalize the number of administering and non-administering members, elected by the United Nations General Assembly for renewable three-year terms. Over time, as trust territories attained independence, the size and workload of the Trusteeship Council was reduced and ultimately came to include only the five permanent Security Council members (China, France, the Soviet Union/Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States).
Philosophy
The Trusteeship system was in many respects a carry over from the League of Nations. However, the League had allowed colonial powers to procrastinate "in giving up" their colonies.[1] The notion of "trusteeship" assumed that the people who were in "trust" were further down the ladder of social evolution. racist patronizing ans paternalistic assumptions were behind such notions as "grooming" "trusteeship" and the "civilizing mission" of the great powers, which saw the Europeans at the top, followed by Asians with Africans at the bottom.[2] Those whose governance was entrusted to others were "minor wards of the human family".[3] At the end of World War II, some of the powers thought despite their acceptance in principle that self-determination was indeed a "right" that independence was still a long way off for many of their colonies and trust territories.[4] France walked out of UN meetings when its Maghreb possessions were under discussion and engaged in anti-independence wars in such places as Algeria and Vietnam. Louis says that most historians regard the post-World war II trusteeship system as a "device to block the takeover of a colonial territory by a rival" power.[5]
Franklin D. Roosevelt had wanted the UN to "hasten the process by which all colonies would eventually attain independence" and would like to have seen more specific reference to this in the UN Charter. He was insistent that the Atlantic Charter of August 14, 1941, which paved the way for the post-World War II world order, "contain a self-determination clause" which it did, although Winston Churchill had resisted this. This clause expressed the "right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live."[6] As an anti-imperialism, Roosevelt saw the United States as fighting for the "independence of all people of the world" as he told the Sultan of Morocco[7] However, France as well as Great Britain resisted the inclusion of the same clause in the UN Charter. Instead, the Charter speaks of respect for the "principle of self-determination" but falls short of affirming this as a "right." The relevant Articles, 1, 55 and 56 were drafted by Ralph Buncie who, like Roosevelt, would like to have vested the UN with a stronger role in supervising decolonization.[8] Louis comments that many people had high hopes when they heard that Buncie, who went on to become the first black man to win the Nobel Peace Prize was working on the self-determination clauses.[9] Philpott, page 157; Louis, page 285.</ref> The Trusteeship Council was not therefore assigned direct responsibility for colonial territories outside the trusteeship system, although the Charter did establish the principle that member states were to administer such territories in conformity with the best interests of their inhabitants. Designated "non-self governing territories" there were 72 of these when the Council was established. Some had wanted all colonies to be placed under the oversight of the Council. In 1960, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. This stated that all people have a right to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be speedily and unconditionally brought to an end.[10] The requirement for colonial powers to report on progress to the Secretary-General, though, was rather vague.
The British and the French took the view that it was up to them to decide how and when their colonies would be granted independence. Both saw their colonies as symbolic of their status as world powers; France especially took the view, as George Bidot said, that "France would be her own trustee" and that the United Nations did not have the right to criticize or censure her colonial policy. According to France, "progress towards statehood" was not a "matter for international statehood"[11] France stressed the unity of empire and the metropole and Charles de Gaule saw trusteeship as "a facade meant to conceal the true interests of its sponsors" which was to frustrate and embarrass France.[12] Britain thought that the UN did not truly understand colonial responsibility, and rejected "any further oversight of its colonial policy as an unlawful interference in its internal affairs."[13] France probably did have some notion in mind of a permanent union between the metropole and French territory overseas. Britain, however, never had any intention "to make its colonists British citizens" yet saw colonies as a source of national greatness."[14] As newly independent countries became members of the UN, the United Nations General Assembly became a venue for censuring the colonial powers for failure to speed up decolonization. Britain, as did France and the USA, used its position in the United Nations Security Council to "dilute the United Nation's bile."[15] As the process dragged on, the General Assembly went beyond "condemnation to stand for a process of 'liberation'."[16]
The British commented that criticism in the General Assembly seemed to be led by "anti-colonial countries" with India at the helm.[17] The United States was also routinely criticized by the Soviet Union for procrastinating granting independence to its Pacific Ocean trust territories, although under a provision passed by the Security Council, which the Soviets had accepted, this qualified as a The end of the Cold War thus impacted on the end of the trusteeship system when Palau, a major US nuclear base, became independent.
Trusteeship: a "sacred trust"
The United Nations saw the task of promoting "the well-being" and "advancement" of people in non-self governing territories as a "sacred trust."[18] Colonial powers would also "lift the yoke of 'alien subjugation, domination and subjugation'."[19] The Un
The Last Mandates: Mission Accomplished
With the independence of Palau, formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, in 1994, there presently are no trust territories, leaving the Trusteeship Council without responsibilities. (Since the Northern Mariana Islands was a part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and became a commonwealth of the USA in 1986, it is technically the only area to have not joined as a part of another state or gained full independence as a sovereign nation.)
Present status
Its mission fulfilled, the Trusteeship Council suspended its operation on 1 November 1994, and although under the United Nations Charter it continues to exist on paper, its future role and even existence remains uncertain. The Trusteeship Council is currently (as of 2005) headed by Michel Duclos, with Adam Thomson as vice-president [20], although the sole current duty of these officers is to meet with the heads of other UN agencies on occasion. Initially they met annually, but according to a UN press release from their session in 2004:
The Council amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as the occasion required. It now meets by its own decision, the decision of its President, at a request from a majority of its members, or at a request from the General Assembly or Security Council.
Future prospects
The formal elimination of the Trusteeship Council would require the revision of the UN Charter, which is why it hasn't been pursued. Amendment has to be passed by two thirds of the General Assembly of the United Nations and also by two-thirds of the total UN membership at national level. If amendment does proceed it is likely to be part of a larger reform program probably also extending or changing the membership of the Security Council.
he Commission on Global Governance's 1994 report recommends an expansion of the trusteeship council{. Their theory is that an international regulatory body is needed to protect environmental integrity on the two-thirds of the world’s surface that is outside national jurisdictions [21].
In March 2005, however, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed a sweeping reform of the United Nations, including an expansion of the Security Council. As this restructuring would involve significant changes to the UN charter, Annan proposed the complete elimination of the Trusteeship Council as part of these reforms [22].
See also
- United Nations Trust Territories
- United Nations Charter
- United Nations System
- UN General Assembly
- UN Security Council
- UN Secretariat
- International Court of Justice
- United Nations Interpretation Service
Notes
- ↑ Phillpott, 192.
- ↑ Phillpott, page 172.
- ↑ Philpott, page 179.
- ↑ Philpott, page 175.
- ↑ Louis, page 205.
- ↑ Philpott, page 180. See The atlantic Charter. Yale Law School Avalon Project. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
- ↑ Phillpott, page 179.
- ↑ The United Nations Charter. United Nations. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
- ↑ Louis, page 586.
- ↑ Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights , Geneva. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
- ↑ Phillpott, page 234; see Louis, page 285.
- ↑ Philpott, page 233.
- ↑ Philpott, page 182.
- ↑ Phillpott, page 172.
- ↑ Philpot, page 181.
- ↑ Whittaker, page 22.
- ↑ Philpott, page 182
- ↑ Whittaker, page 8.
- ↑ Whittaker, page 22.
- ↑ Trusteeship Council elects President, Vice-President; Adopts agenda for 64th session, United Nations Press Release TR/2426, 20 October 2004
- ↑ Shaw, John: UN Adviser Says World Must Focus On Sustainable Development, The Washington Diplomat
- ↑ Main points of Annan's new UN reform plans, Reuters, 20 March 2005
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Baehr, P. R., Leon Gordenker, and P. R. Baehr. 2005. The United Nations: reality and ideal. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781403949042
- Brown, Judith M., and William Roger Louis. 1999. The Twentieth century. The Oxford history of the British Empire, vol. 4. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198205647
- Louis, William Roger. 2006. Ends of British imperialism: the scramble for empire, Suez and decolonization : collected essays. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781845113094
- Mohamed, S. 2005. "From Keeping Peace to Building Peace: A Proposal for a Revitalized United Nations Trusteeship Council". COLUMBIA LAW REVIEW. 105 (3): 809-840. ISSN 0010-1958
- Philpott, Daniel. 2001. Revolutions in sovereignty: how ideas shaped modern international relations. Princeton studies in international history and politics. Princeton N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691057460
- Sears, Mason. 1980. Years of high purpose: from trusteeship to nationhood. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America. ISBN 9780819110534
- Smith, Roy H. 1997. The Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement : after Moruroa. London: Tauris Academic Studies. ISBN 9781860641015
- Talbott, Strobe. 2008. The great experiment: the story of ancient empires, modern states, and the quest for a global nation. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780743294089
- Taylor, Paul Graham, and A. J. R. Groom. 2000. The United Nations at the millennium: the principal organs. London: Continuum. ISBN 9780826447784
- United Nations. 1995. Rules of procedure of the Trusteeship Council (as amended up to and during its sixty-first session). New York: United Nations. ISBN 9789211005936
- Whittaker, David J. 1997. United Nations in the contemporary world. The making of the contemporary world. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415153171
External links
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