The United Nations trust territories were the successors of the remaining League of Nations mandates, and came into being when the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946. All the trust territories were administered through the United Nations Trusteeship Council and authorised to a single country. The concept is distinct from a territory temporarily and directly governed by the United Nations.
The one League of Nations mandate not succeeded by a trust territory was South West Africa, at South Africa's insistence. South Africa's apartheid regime refused to commit to preparing the territory for independence and majority rule, as required by the trust territory guidelines, among other objections. South-West Africa eventually gained independence in 1990 as Namibia.
All trust territories have either attained self-government or independence. The last was Palau, formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which became a member state of the United Nations in December 1994.
Trust territories (and administering powers)
Former German All these territories previously were League of Nations mandates.
Trust territories United Nations Trusteeship Power Prior name Prior sov. Comments Current state British Cameroon United KingdomKamerun German colonial empire Following a plebiscite, Northern Cameroons became part of Nigeria in May 1961 and Southern Cameroons joined Cameroon in October 1961. Nigeria Republic of Cameroon French Cameroon France Achieved independence as Cameroon in 1960. Territory of Nauru Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom German New Guinea Granted independence from Australia (administering authority) in 1968. Nauru Territory of New Guinea AustraliaIn 1975, it was legally unified with the Territory of Papua and granted independence as Papua New Guinea.Papua New Guinea Independence Act 1975 (Cth) The western half of the island, formerly Dutch and now part of Indonesia, was never part of either territory. Papua New Guinea Ruanda-Urundi Belgium German East Africa Separately gained independence in 1962 as Republic of Rwanda and Kingdom of Burundi. Republic of Rwanda Republic of Burundi Tanganyika Territory United KingdomGranted independence in 1961. Federated with the former British protectorate Zanzibar in 1964 to form Tanzania. United Republic of Tanzania French Togoland FranceTogolandBecame independent as Togo in 1960. Togo British Togoland United KingdomThis territory was merged in 1956 with the British colony of the Gold Coast, which was granted independence as Ghana in 1957. Ghana Western Samoa New ZealandGerman Samoa Granted independence in 1962, known since 1997 simply as Samoa. Independent State of Samoa
Former Japanese possessions Trust territories United Nations Trusteeship Power Prior name Prior sov. Current state Comments Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands United StatesSouth Seas MandateEmpire of JapanNorthern Mariana Islands Became US Commonwealth in 1986.Marshall IslandsBecame an associated state of the United States after signing a Compact of Free Association in 1986. Federated States of MicronesiaBecame an associated state of United States after signing a Compact of Free Association in 1986. PalauBecame an associated state of United States after signing and ratifying a Compact of Free Association going into effect in 1994.
Former Italian possessions Italy was the only country to keep its former possession upon becoming a trust Territory. Trust territories United Nations Trusteeship Power Prior name Prior sov. Current state Comments Territory of Somaliland Italy Italian East Africa Italian Empire Somalia In 1960, the Trust Territory merged with the State of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic
Proposed trust territories Jerusalem: Under the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Jerusalem would have become a corpus separatum territory under United Nations Trusteeship Council administration. Both Palestinian Arabs and the Yishuv opposed this solution. Korea: In wartime talks, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed that Korea be placed under an American–Soviet trust administration. The plan was eclipsed after Roosevelt's death on 12 April 1945, although it was expressed in the December Moscow Conference, and caused considerable civil unrest in Korea.Gang Man-gil (1994). "한국사 17: 분단구조의 정착 1" ["17 Korean history: the settlement of the division structure 1"], pp. 133–137. 한길사 [Hangilsa], French Indochina: Roosevelt also proposed that the French Indochinese Federation be placed under an international trusteeship as an alternative to French colonial rule and immediate independence. However, the US under Truman changed its stance and recognized French sovereignty over Indochina. French rule in Indochina ended when France recognized the independence of the State of Vietnam on 4 June 1954.https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945v06/d386 Italian Libya: Between 1945 and 1947, the Soviet Union made various proposals that Tripolitania be placed under Soviet trusteeship for ten years, or a joint trusteeship with the United Kingdom and the United States, or that Libya as a whole become an Italian trusteeship. Mandatory Palestine: The United States government under Harry Truman proposed a UN trusteeship status for the Mandatory Palestine in 1948. Ryukyu Islands and Bonin Islands: the Treaty of San Francisco included provisions which provided the United States the right to convert its administration over the Ryukyu and Bonin Islands into a trust territory, but it never did so before sovereignty was voluntarily reverted to Japan.
See also
List of territories governed by the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
References
Bibliography The United Nations and Decolonization: Trust Territories that Have Achieved Self-Determination WorldStatesmen – Index of Possessions and Colonies
External links