At the conclusion of World War I, and under the leadership of South African statesman Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950), the League of Nations established the mandate system, which gave broad authority to the victorious Allies over the former colonial empires of Imperial Germany and the Ottoman Turks. The mandated territories were divided into three classes and were assigned to individual powers to govern until they were deemed capable of self-rule.
The territories of the Arab world were declared Level A mandates because they were perceived to be at an advanced stage of development that would require only a short period of British (Iraq and Palestine) and French (Lebanon and Syria) oversight before they could choose their own leaders and become autonomous states. Comprising former German colonies in Central Africa and the Pacific, Level B and C mandates were believed to be less advanced areas not yet ready for political independence. They were to be governed for an undetermined period of time as integral parts of the respective empires of Britain (Tanganyika, Togoland, and Cameroons); France (Togoland, Cameroons); Belgium (Ruanda-Urundi); South Africa (South-West Africa); New Zealand (Samoa); Australia (New Guinea, Nauru); and Japan (Pacific Islands north of the equator).
As these powers raised and expended revenues, appointed officials, and enforced laws, the mandates were in many ways little different from colonial regimes. However, as stipulated in Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, an eleven-member Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) had the authority to pressure the colonial powers to promote the material and moral well-being of native peoples, and to protect their inalienable rights. The colonial powers had to present an annual report for acceptance and suggestions by the PMC detailing their efforts in this regard. Thus, mandate was to replace might as the guiding principle in colonial affairs, a notion that also served as the foundation of the United Nations trusteeship system that was established once the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946.
Its primary goal was to help native peoples work toward independence, while respecting their right to permanent sovereignty over their natural resources. Therefore, while the states of Australia (Nauru, New Guinea); Belgium (Ruanda-Urundi); New Zealand (Western Samoa); Britain (Tanganyika, Cameroons, and Togoland); France (Cameroons, Togoland); Italy (Somalia); and the United States (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands) possessed full legislative, administrative, and judicial authority, they had to administer the territories they held in trust for the benefit of the inhabitants and not for their own aggrandizement.
To ensure that trust territory guidelines were followed, the UNTC—comprised of the five permanent members of the Security Council: China, France, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, and the United States—met once a year to consider petitions from inhabitants of the territories, to examine detailed reports on measures to increase self-governance and educational opportunities, and to adopt recommendations by majority vote (not subject to veto), such as taking special missions to trust territories. As with the PMC, the UNTC observed and placed a limit on colonial governance and formally guaranteed an end to colonialism.
There was opposition to the trusteeship system however, as the one territory not turned over to the United Nations was South-West Africa, which South Africa insisted remain under the League of Nations mandate. In particular, South Africa objected to trust guidelines that stipulated that lands prepared for independence be subject to majority rule; a stance that was a tacit indictment of their own apartheid regime (South Africa and the United Nations would contest the status of South-West Africa until 1990, when it was finally granted its independence and became Namibia).
In 1949 the United Nations General Assembly, by virtue of the League of Nations mandate over Palestine, declared Jerusalem a trust territory. However, because the two occupying states, Israel and Jordan, opposed this move, implementation of this recommendation was postponed indefinitely.
Of the earlier trusteeships, Italian Somaliland joined British Somaliland, becoming Somalia in 1960; British Togoland joined Ghana in 1956 and French Togoland became Togo in 1960; the French Cameroons became Cameroon in 1960, joined by the British Cameroons in 1961; Tanganyika gained independence in 1961; Western Samoa became Samoa in 1961; Ruanda-Urundi became the states of Rwanda and Burundi in 1962; Nauru gained independence in 1968; New Guinea joined with Papua to become Papua New Guinea in 1975; and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands gained independence under a compact of free association with the United States in 1986. The last trust territory, Palau, gained independence in 1994, and the UNTC ceased operation that same year.
