Unlike the other main organs of the UN, the Trusteeship Council was established for the purpose of executing a closely defined system of operations. This is the trusteeship system, which was devised to adapt the League of Nations mandate system to meet the requirements of a new era.

The 1990s witnessed the graduation of the last of the Trusteeship Territories to independence or free association status. This historic achievement represents the official end of colonization as an official political system. In only 50 years the Trusteeship Council presided over the orderly, democratic transfer of power from developed nations to their former colonies.

The Trusteeship Council voted in 1994 to convene only at the request of its President, a majority of its member states, the General Assembly or the Security Council.

The Mandate System of the League of Nations

In its political aspect, the history of the...