Trusteeship Council Research Articles

Liberal Democracy Promotion and the Observation of Democracy

ABSTRACT This article suggests that the observation of democracy is at the core of liberal democracy promotion. Broadly conceived, the observation of democracy is evident in the democracy reports published by international organisations and non-state actors and common meaning making about “target” states in democracy promotion. Based on an historical inquiry focused on developments in the Permanent Mandates Commission, Trusteeship Council and, to lesser degree, Freedom House, I argue that the observation of democracy stems from practices invented in colonial contexts and includes long-lasting epistemic and political hierarchies. Though organisations develop varying styles, observations of democracy show similar components and a common orientation towards Western understandings of representative democracy. My argument contributes to research on how contemporary practices are enabled by and reproduce (post-) colonial patterns and historical reflection on epistemic and political hierarchies in democracy promotion.

Defying Predictions: Global Bureaucracy and the Art of not Making Guesses about Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACTPapua New Guinea's story of decolonisation has never meshed very well with standard visions of nationalist struggle. Focused exclusively on the coloniser and the colonised, these narratives ignore the role played by post‐war global groups and organisations whose decolonial work has largely been forgotten. In this article, I examine the role of the United Nations Trusteeship Council in pushing Australia and Papua New Guinea towards decolonisation through their bureaucratic demands for particular forms of information flow. Australia responded to these demands for information – in particular demands for target dates for independence – by claiming that the Trust Territory of New Guinea was a space in which it was impossible to make any kind of predictions. Through annual reports and careful stage‐management of UN Trusteeship Council Visiting Missions, Australia presented their own failures of governance to the UN as natural facts of the Territory of New Guinea's geographic and cultural ‘fragmentation’ rather than as a political fact of Australia's own resources and management. This set the stage for the kinds of contemporary discourses of fragmentation and division that are hallmarks of complaints about Papua New Guinea as a failed state.

Saving the Earth for Future Generations: Some Reflections

Most legal systems recognize trusteeship functions of individuals or institutions to act on behalf and in the interest of those who cannot legally act for themselves. They can be advanced for the effective protection of future generations and the Earth. Guidance for Earth Trusteeship exist in the form of two agreements created by global civil society, the 2000 Earth Charter and the 2018 Hague Principles. Current opportunities include the UN Secretary General’s call for “repurposing the Trusteeship Council”, the UN Summit of the Future and ongoing developments in many countries towards implementing ecological integrity and rights of nature into their legal systems.

Towards a World of Peace and Development: Expansion and Inclusion

This paper analyzes the problems existing in the current UN Security Council mechanism: the mechanism is rigid, the binding force is limited, and the representative is lacking. The authors propose corresponding reforms to better constrain the use of force between states: increase the membership of the Security Council within the existing framework, create new permanent seats, and devolve some of the Council's powers to UN trusteeship bodies. As the topic of our paper says: "Expansion and inclusion" is the core of the whole article and the value we want to convey. After combining the innovative membership expansion proposals put forward by regional powers such as Germany, Italy, Japan and India, we put forward a new set of proposals with our own views. Based on the legal provisions put forward by these countries, we add a point of view: We will give full play to the functions of the Trusteeship Council so that this body will no longer be idle. The successful implementation of these ideas will do more good than harm for countries to restrain the use of force. Countries will be more effectively restrained in the use of force, and the tragedies of Ukraine and Syria will not be repeated again. In the context of globalization, the effective implementation of these proposals will lead the world to peace and development.

Introduction: Resistance and Survival – The Nuclear Era in the Pacific

ABSTRACT For many decades, historians, researchers, and participants have documented the history of the nuclear era in the Pacific Islands. They have highlighted the legacy of health and environmental impacts of 50 years of nuclear testing by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France between 1946 and 1996. Most official histories of Pacific nuclear testing present extensive technical detail of the development of nuclear weapons, evidence of inter-departmental rivalries, and vivid portraits of the scientists who built the Bomb. This state-sponsored literature, however, makes limited reference to the lived experience of the civilian and military personnel who staffed the test sites, or the Indigenous peoples whose land and waters were used for the testing programmes in Oceania. Despite a growing international literature on the health and environmental impacts of nuclear testing, the history of Pacific Islander resistance to the nuclear testing programmes is more fragmentary. In response, the authors in this special issue have foregrounded the agency of Indigenous activists, rather than the Western allies who campaigned alongside the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement. Their contributions add to a growing body of personal testimony by Indigenous nuclear survivors and resisters from around Oceania. This special issue includes a 1954 petition from Marshall Islanders to the UN Trusteeship Council, an example of the protests by Islanders that began in the 1950s, pre-dating the rise of the wider NFIP movement in the 1970s. Other articles highlight Fiji’s early foreign policy and the importance of the debate over nuclear testing in the formation of the South Pacific Forum; the importance of culture in Pacific anti-nuclear activism, through song, poetry, graphic design, and community theatre; the role of the regional NFIP movement in linking local struggles to the wider regional context, through pan-Pacific, Indigenous-led activism around self-determination; and connections between the NFIP movement and solidarity movements in the Global North.

MANUSCRIPT XLIII: Petition to the United Nations Trusteeship Council from the Marshallese People, 20 April 1954

ABSTRACT Anti-nuclear protests in the Pacific Islands began in the 1950s. There were a series of petitions throughout the decade as Islanders living under colonial administration sought assistance from the United Nations Trusteeship Council, the newly created Non-Aligned Movement, and international ecumenical networks such as the World Council of Churches. At the height of the 1950s Cold War between the United States and USSR, these calls were mostly brushed aside by the nuclear weapons states. Despite this, Islanders from French Polynesia, Fiji, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Western Samoa, and other colonial dependencies spoke out against nuclear weapons and especially the US and British nuclear programmes in the Pacific, petitioning for an end to nuclear testing. This document is a striking example of these petitions, inspired by the March 1954 atmospheric nuclear test, codenamed Bravo, in the Marshall Islands.

THE UNITED NATIONS TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL AND THE TRUSTEESHIP SYSTEM: JUSTIFICATIONS FOR REVIVAL AND LEGAL OBSTACLES

The Trusteeship Council as a principle organ of the United Nations has its functions to supervise territories in the United Nations Trusteeship system. However, since 1994, the Trusteeship Council had been inactive. This does not heed to its history, where the Council had helped 11 trust territories in gaining independence. Interestingly, a handful of thee territories that had been assisted by the Council had in recent years encountered problems especially in its own governance systems. Those States had lost its capacity to govern itself, not able to withstand internal and external pressures of the modern world. Aside from former trust territorieas, there had been many instances of other States experiencing instability, that could be forwarded as to be included in the job description of the Trusteeship Council. A revival seems to befit the Council, taking into account recent development. Nonetheless, a litany legal and political hurdles must be passed before the Council could rise once again.

The Repurposed UN Trusteeship Council for the Future+

The idea of the revival and repurpose for the United Nations Trusteeship Council (UNTC) is pragmatic one to meet the needs of the changed times. Such repurpose entails entrustment of a new mandate to the revived UNTC that constitutes evolution of the trust in the global domain. It will be crucial restructuring and evolution of the UN with an understanding that there are places, territories, and areas known as ‘global commons’ that require special and careful nurturing for our better future. In a new avatar (form), the TC would in essence reflect the ‘sacred trust’ with a ‘new mandate.’ From a scholarly perspective, such a move eminently makes sense since it could bring to life an entity within the UN and provide a big push to make the UN relevant for the needs of the present and future generations. It will essentially serve as a guardian of the global ‘common concerns’, ‘common heritage of mankind’ and the global environment. In the changed context, the UNTC need to serve as a trustee for betterment of the humankind and for the survival of the planet earth. The new mandate for the environment and the global commons could strengthen the UN and vindicate one of the core purposes for which the ‘United Nations’ came together in 1945 with a solemn resolve “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”.

THE STRUCTURE OF UNITED NATIONS AND ITS MANDATE: A REVIEW

The creating of United Nations is to keep global security and international peace. The United Nations Charter outlined detailed guidelines for resolving international disputes and foreshadowed the potential of the UN providing collective security. The United Nations has six organs: the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and Secretariat United. There are fifteen specialised agencies, four linked organisations as well as three convention secretariats and two United Nations trust funds affiliated with the United Nations. This paper systematically reviews and examines the structure of United Nations and its mandate within the framework of international relations. finally, the study found that the structure of United Nations has contributed a lot regarding to international security and peace, however, there is need for the notion behind veto power to be restructured due to the interest of fulfilling the Council’s purpose and goals.

A New Mandate for the Revived UN Trusteeship Council1

Reviving the United Nations Trusteeship Council (UNTC) and the evolution of the idea of trust in the global domain underscores that there are places, territories, and areas known as ‘global commons’ that require special and careful nurturing. The TC under the UN Charter sought to continue the spirit and essence of the ‘sacred trust’ with a ‘new mandate,’ even as it now lies dormant since 1994. From a scholarly perspective, such a move eminently makes sense since it could bring to life an entity within the UN. It will essentially serve as a guardian of the global ‘common concerns’ and ‘common heritage of mankind’ as well as the global environment. It would serve as a trustee for the present and future generations of humankind. A revived TC with a new mandate (for the environment and the global commons) could strengthen the UN and vindicate one of the core purposes for which the ‘United Nations’ came together (in 1945) with a solemn resolve “to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”

The Trusteeship Council and state failure – Trusteeship systems and the forgotten UN organ in the 21st century

This paper shows the historical path of the different types of trusteeship systems. It describes the evolution of the League of Nations’ Mandate System, the United Nations’ Trusteeship Council and their application to different regions. The paper identifies the problems facing the creation of a trusteeship system nowadays and tries to offer possible answers to them as well. The United Nations Trusteeship System supervised the relationships between non-self-governing territories and their colonial masters. The purpose of the organisation was purely the implementation of decolonisation measures. That is the reason why the Council suspended its activities in 1994. Thanks to the globalisation, the Negative Spillover Effects (NSEs) of the 21st century may make the trusteeship systems desirable once again. Security problems like state failure demand a more effective response from the international com-munity. The cases of Somalia, East Timor and Kosovo show that the UN Security Council was ready to create missions tasked with similar responsibilities as a trusteeship in the past. During the discussion about the war-torn Syria, creation of a “safe zone” was mentio-ned as well. The ultimate solution for these chaotic places could be a new type of trusteeship system. The paper argues in favour of the Trusteeship Council to be revitalized as the main organ responsible for the management of these problems.

On the Revival of the UN Trusteeship Council with a New Mandate for the Environment and the Global Commons

On the Revival of the UN Trusteeship Council with a New Mandate for the Environment and the Global Commons

West Papua Exposed: An Abandoned Non-Self-Governing or Trust Territory

This paper examines the shift in legal status that should have occurred, under the United Nations (‘UN’) Charter, with the transfer of West Papua from the Netherlands to the United Nations in 1962 via the ‘Indonesia and Netherlands Agreement (with annex) concerning West New Guinea (West Irian)’. It advances that this agreement must be a Trusteeship Agreement shifting West Papua’s legal status from a Non-Self-Governing Territory of the Netherlands to a Trust Territory of the United Nations. As such, the United Nations via the Trusteeship Council was, and remains, responsible to ensure the West Papuan people attain self-government or independence as required under Article 76(b) of the Charter. The argument is based upon Chapters XI, XII, and XIII of the UN Charter governing decolonisation and is further supported by admissions contained in now-declassified secret American, Australian, and United Nations documents from the period. A legal path to assist the people of West Papua to attain their rightful independence is also advanced utilising the Rules of Procedure of the Trusteeship Council where any UN Member can add an agenda item, and inhabitants from the Territory or other parties can present petitions, to draw the Council’s attention to a breach of the International Trusteeship System. This will allow the Trusteeship Council to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice as available under Article 96 of the UN Charter and authorised by General Assembly Resolution 171(III) Part B. This legal opinion should also empower the World community to come to the assistance of the West Papuan people as encouraged under General Assembly Resolution 2621(XXV).

UN ON THE PATH TO REFORM

UN ON THE PATH TO REFORM

On the Revival of the United Nations Trusteeship Council with a New Mandate for the Environment and the Global Commons

The Trusteeship Council (TC) is one of the main organs of the United Nations (UN). It was established under Chapter XIII of the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter) in 1945.1 The International Trusteeship System (ITS) was established under Chapter XII of the UN Charter for the trust territories placed under the supervision of the TC by individual agreements with the administering states. The main objective of the system was to promote political, social, and economic advancement of the respective trust territories. It also sought to ensure the development of the trust territories through the modus vivendi of self-government and self-determination. It encouraged respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as recognition of the independence of the people.2 The main task of the TC was to supervise the administration of the trust territories to ensure that the administering powers took adequate measures to prepare the territories to be able to stand on their own feet. The TC was authorized to examine and discuss reports received from the administering authorities on political, economic, social, and educational issues of the trust territories. It also played a crucial role in examining all of the petitions and undertaking special missions to the territories. As a result of the work of the TC, within a period of fifty years, all of the trust territories achieved their independence or attained self-government either as a separate state or by merging with the administering states. Eventually, the TC suspended its operation on 1 November 1994 after the last remaining trust territory of Palau gained independence (on 1 October 1994). In fact, the TC amended its rules of procedure to waive the need to meet annually. Instead, it agreed to meet as and when the occasion required. Now it is a dormant organ of the UN. Although the original function of the TC has been suspended, it remains an integral part of the UN Charter. Thus, if required, the TC may start functioning again by amending its rules and procedures within the same infrastructure.3

A Striking Juxtaposition: Hand-Woven Textiles in the United Nations Conference Building Interiors

This article considers the history and significance of three major hand-woven textile projects commissioned for the United Nations Conference Building, which opened in 1952: the room dividing screens by Dorothy Liebes for the Delegates Dining Room, the tapestry curtain by Marianne Richter for the Economic and Social Council Chamber, and the drapes by Paula Trock for the Trusteeship Council Chamber. In each case, the textiles played pivotal roles in these interiors. They provided visual focus, softened glare, carved out private spaces within exposed open plan interiors, and provided tactile and visual richness within the building’s somewhat hard surfaces. The work of Richter, Trock, and Liebes contributed a much-needed vocabulary of warmth, texture, and humanity to United Nations complex. Caustic fireproofing materials damaged these textiles and changing tastes minimized their significance within the building’s historical narrative. This essay seeks to redress this lack of knowledge about the works, expanding the history of modernist architecture.

‘THE CHIEFS, ELDERS, AND PEOPLE HAVE FOR MANY YEARS SUFFERED UNTOLD HARDSHIPS’: PROTESTS BY COALITIONS OF THE EXCLUDED IN BRITISH NORTHERN TOGOLAND, UN TRUSTEESHIP TERRITORY, 1950–7

AbstractThis article examines the use of tradition by minority groups whose territorial incorporation into British Northern Togoland under UN trusteeship was marked by political exclusion. This contrasts with the more typical pattern of productive and inclusive relations developing between chiefs and the administering authority within the boundaries of what was to become Ghana. In East Gonja, marginalized groups produced their own chiefs while simultaneously appealing to the UN Trusteeship Council to protect their native rights. The article contributes to studies on the limits of the ‘invention of tradition’ by showing the influence of external structures on African agency and organization. As the minority groups sought UN support on the basis of their native status, the colonial power affirmed alternative versions of tradition that were perceived locally as illegitimate and thereby rendered ineffective.

Greening the United Nations Charter: World Politics in the Anthropocene

A revised version of this working paper has been published as: Biermann, Frank. 2012. Greening the United Nations Charter: World Politics in the Anthropocene. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development. May / June 2012. A constitutional turn is needed to bring the UN system in line with the urgent needs of planetary stewardship and earth system governance in the 21st century. Yet how this could be organized in practice remains a challenge and subject to political and scholarly debate. This paper contributes to this debate by outlining four reforms of the UN system that would advance global decision-making by addressing major shortcomings in the current system: Lack of integration of economic and environmental policies in the UN system; institutional fragmentation and weakness of the environmental pillar of sustainable development; lack of high-level regulatory competence and oversight regarding areas beyond national jurisdiction; and insufficient integration of scientific insights into political decision-making. The reforms proposed would together create an Earth Alliance in the UN system, consisting of a high-level UN Sustainable Development Council, a World Environment Organization, a UN Trusteeship Council for Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, and an UN Global Environmental Assessment Commission.

Role of UN in Maintenance of International Peace & Security

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions.There are currently 193 member states, including every internationally recognized sovereign state in the world but the Vatican City. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year. The organization has six principal organs: the General Assembly (the main deliberative assembly); the Security Council (for deciding certain resolutions for peace and security); the Economic and Social Council (for assisting in promoting international economic and social cooperation and development); the Secretariat (for providing studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN); the International Court of Justice (the primary judicial organ); and the United Nations Trusteeship Council (which is currently inactive). Other prominent UN System agencies include the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Program (WFP) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). One of the primary purposes of the United Nations is the maintenance of international peace and security. Since its creation, the UN has often been called upon to prevent disputes from escalating into war, to persuade opposing parties to use the conference table rather than force of arms, or to help restore peace when armed conflict does break out. Over the decades, the UN has helped to end numerous conflicts, often through actions of the Security Council — the primary organ for dealing with issues of international peace and security.The Security Council, the General Assembly and the Secretary-General all play major, complementary roles in fostering peace and security. . United Nations activities cover the principal areas of conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping, enforcement and peace building.

Can the United Nations adapt to the 21st century?

IT IS VITALLY IMPORTANT TO TAKE SERIOUSLY question of whether UN can cope with security problems of 21st century or not. We are seeing, over and over again, how international problems eventually come back to UN because it provides last, and sometimes best, hope of resolving them. And we have some unusually ominous problems to solve.Canada has been one of most consistent, supportive, and unflappable members of United Nations. It has stood with organization in good times and in bad. It also has a tradition of encouraging new ideas and new thinking about international affairs. Not many countries do this. In 1950s, we had Lester Pearson as champion of technique that is now called peacekeeping. A Canadian general, E.L.M. (Tommy) Burns, was first-ever commander of a UN peacekeeping force and did a great deal to set tradition and form that would be followed in later operations. More recently, in 2001, Canada sponsored international commission on intervention and state sovereignty that introduced at least one very important new concept, the responsibility to protect: international responsibility to protect peoples anywhere in world whose government has abandoned them and is in some cases persecuting them. The commission put responsibility for humanitarian intervention squarely in UN security council. The council discussed it at length but reached no determination before terrible events of 11 September 2001, which distracted attention from principle and practice of humanitarian intervention.Another Canadian who has done, or caused to be done, much innovative thinking about international affairs is David Malone, past president of International Peace Academy in New York. David Malone has managed to make a small but extremely active organization into a major catalyst for innovative practical thinking about international problems by diplomats, academics, UN secretariat, and people from different parts of private sector. He has just now returned to Canadian foreign service.Canada has always seen UN not as ideological problem, as some nations do, but as a matter of practical necessity that has to be imaginatively developed in response to many challenges of international world. Dag Hammarskjold once said that United Nations was an experiment in progress towards international community living in peace under laws of justice. That short sentence gives a concise but comprehensive picture of what UN actually isan experiment in progress.EARLY ASSUMPTIONSWhen I joined UN secretariat in 1945, I had been in army for six years and had little adult experience of civilian life. I was amazed at diplomats, a breed I had never encountered, and I was particularly amazed at general confidence that UN charter, which had been approved in San Francisco six months before, would actually work as it was written. The war had been so horrible that no one wanted to doubt that peace organization would work. With war still fresh in people's minds, it seemed obvious that victorious leaders of alliance in World War II should become five permanent members of security council who would supervise and, if necessary, enforce peace. We would thus have a system of collective security that would allow most nations to disarm to a large degree. World disarmament was much discussed at that time and was a high priority in charter. And because Great Depression was a major factor in producing fascism and nazism in Italy and Germany, there would be a UN economic and social council to ensure that there were no more depressions. The trusteeship council would be a kind of way station on road to independence for colonies of world, which covered a third of world's land surface at that time.This system made so much sense that it seemed almost impossible that it wouldn't work . …