[ 1946-47 ] part 1 chapter 5 the trusteeship council including the...

A D M I N I S T E R I N G A U T H O R I T I E S

V. The Trusteeship Council Including the

United Nations Functions under Chapter XI of the Charter

The Charter of the United Nations containsthree chapters concerned with the destiny ofpeoples who have not yet attained their inde-pendence or self-government. Chapter XI ofthe Charter deals with Non-Self-Governing

Territories in general, and Chapters XII andXIII deal in particular with the InternationalTrusteeship System, which is applicable toonly some of the Non-Self-Governing Terri-tories.

A. INFORMATION FROM NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES

1. PROVISIONS OF THE CHARTER

Chapter XI, the Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories, is a contributionto the general principles of international ac-countability in respect of peoples who have nofull measure of self-government. The Declara-tion reads:

Article 73

Members of the United Nations which haveor assume responsibilities for the administra-tion of territories whose peoples have not yetattained a full measure of self-governmentrecognize the principle that the interests ofthe inhabitants of these territories are para-mount, and accept as a sacred trust the obli-gation to promote to the utmost, within thesystem of international peace and security es-tablished by the present Charter, the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories,and, to this end:

a. to ensure, with due respect for the cul-ture of the peoples concerned, their political,economic, social, and educational advance-ment, their just treatment, and their protec-tion against abuses;

b. to develop self-government, to take dueaccount of the political aspirations of thepeoples, and to assist them in the progressivedevelopment of their free political institu-tions, according to the particular circum-stances of each territory and its peoples andtheir varying stages of advancement;

c. to further international peace and se-curity;

d. to promote constructive measures ofdevelopment, to encourage research, and toco-operate with one another and, when andwhere appropriate, with specialized inter-national bodies with a view to the practicalachievement of the social, economic, andscientific purposes set forth in this Article;and

e. to transmit regularly to the Secretary-General for information purposes, subject tosuch limitation as security and constitu-tional considerations may require, statisticaland other information of a technical naturerelating to economic, social, and educationalconditions in the territories for which theyare respectively responsible other than thoseterritories to which Chapters XII and XIIIapply.

Article 74Members of the United Nations also agree

that their policy in respect of the territories towhich this Chapter applies, no less than inrespect of their metropolitan areas, must bebased on the general principle of good-neigh-bourliness, due account being taken of the in-terests and well-being of the rest of the world,in social, economic, and commercial matters.

2. THE BACKGROUND OF CHAPTER XIThe history of Chapter XI goes back to the

last century, to a gradually developing sense ofresponsibility on the part of the internationalcommunity toward those peoples who were notyet independent. The struggle against slaveryand the slave trade, growing out of this samesense of responsibility, led to international co-operation in colonial affairs. The Congo BasinTreaties signed at the Berlin Conference of1885 and the Mandates System establishedunder the League of Nations at the end of theFirst World War marked new steps in thisdirection. However, international responsibil-ity remained confined to a mere fourteen terri-tories in Africa, Asia and in the Pacific ofwhich Germany and Turkey had been deprivedat the end of the war.

During the Second World War the conceptof international responsibility took on more

570 Yearbook of the United Nations

definite shape. The Atlantic Charter, in 1941,expressed concern for the well-being of "allmen of all lands." At the Yalta Conference, in1945, it was agreed to undertake discussionson the principles and machinery of trusteeship.The United Nations Conference on Interna-tional Organization held at San Francisco inthe spring of 1945 considered articles on de-pendent territories. Their discussion resultedin the Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Gov-erning Territories which is now an integralpart of the Charter of the United Nations.

3. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CHAPTER XIThe General Assembly of the United Na-

tions, during the first part of its first sessionin London, in February 1946, with a view toimplementing the Declaration Regarding Non-Self-Governing Territories, passed unanimouslyResolution 9 (I) entitled "Non-Self-GoverningPeoples." This drew attention to the fact thatthe obligations assumed under Chapter XIwere already in full force and not contingentupon the conclusion of Trusteeship Agree-ments or the creation of the Trusteeship Coun-cil (Chapters XII and XIII of the Charter).The resolution read :

NON-SELF-GOVERNING PEOPLESThe United Nations, meeting in its first Gen-

eral Assembly, is keenly aware of the problemsand political aspirations of the peoples whohave not yet attained a full measure of self-government and who are not directly repre-sented here.

Chapters XI, XII and XIII of the Charterrecognize the problems of the non-self-govern-ing peoples as of vital concern to the peace andgeneral welfare of the world community.

By Chapter XI, all the Members of theUnited Nations which have or assume responsi-bilities for the administration of territorieswhose peoples have not yet attained a fullmeasure of self-government recognize the prin-ciple that the interests of the inhabitants ofthese territories are paramount. They accept,as a sacred trust, the obligation to promote tothe utmost the well-being of the inhabitants ofthese territories. To that end they accept cer-tain specific obligations, including the obliga-tion to develop self-government and to assistthe inhabitants in the progressive developmentof their free political institutions.

By Chapters XII and XIII, the Charter pro-vides for the establishment of an internationaltrusteeship system, the basic objectives ofwhich are, among others, to promote the politi-cal, economic, social and educational advance-

ment of the inhabitants of trust territories,and to promote their progressive developmenttowards self-government or independence.

The General Assembly regrets that the Trus-teeship Council cannot be brought into beingat this first part of the first session, not be-cause of any lack of desire to do so but be-cause, before the Trusteeship Council can beestablished, trusteeship agreements must beconcluded.

The General Assembly holds the view thatany delay in putting into effect the system ofinternational trusteeship prevents the imple-mentation of the principles of the trusteeshipsystem, as declared in the Charter, and de-prives the populations of such territories asmay be brought under the trusteeship systemof the opportunity of enjoying the advantagesarising from the implementation of theseprinciples.

With a view to expediting the conclusion ofthese agreements and the establishment of theTrusteeship Council, the Preparatory Commis-sion recommended that the General Assemblyshould call on those Members of the UnitedNations which are now administering terri-tories held under mandate to undertake prac-tical steps, in concert with the other States di-rectly concerned, for the implementation ofArticle 79 of the Charter.

Without waiting for the recommendation ofthe Preparatory Commission to be consideredby the General Assembly, the Members of theUnited Nations administering territories heldunder mandate took the initiative in makingdeclarations in regard to these territories.

THEREFOREWITH RESPECT TO CHAPTER XI OF THE CHAR-TER, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY:

1. DRAWS ATTENTION TO the fact that theobligations accepted under Chapter XI ofthe Charter by all Members of the UnitedNations are in no way contingent upon the con-clusion of trusteeship agreements or upon thebringing into being of the Trusteeship Coun-cil and are, therefore, already in full force.

2. REQUESTS the Secretary-General to in-clude in his annual report on the work of theOrganization, as provided for in Article 98 ofthe Charter, a statement summarizing such in-formation as may have been transmitted tohim by Members of the United Nations underArticle 73 (e) of the Charter relating to eco-nomic, social and educational conditions in theterritories for which they are responsibleother than those to which Chapters XII andXIII apply.WITH RESPECT TO CHAPTERS XII AND XIII OFTHE CHARTER, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY:

3. WELCOMES the declarations, made bycertain States administering territories now

The Trusteeship Council 571

held under mandate, of an intention to negoti-ate trusteeship agreements in respect of someof those territories and, in respect of Trans-jordan, to establish its independence.

4. INVITES the States administering terri-tories now held under mandate to undertakepractical steps, in concert with the other Statesdirectly concerned, for the implementation ofArticle 79 of the Charter (which provides forthe conclusion of agreements on the terms oftrusteeship for each territory to be placed un-der the trusteeship system), in order to submitthese agreements for approval, preferably notlater than during the second part of the firstsession of the General Assembly.IN CONCLUSION,THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY :

5. EXPECTS that the realization of the ob-jectives of Chapters XI, XII and XIII willmake possible the attainment of the political,economic, social and educational aspirations ofnon-self-governing peoples.

The General Assembly thus requested theSecretary-General to include in his annual re-port on the organization a statement sum-marizing such information as might have beentransmitted to him by Members of the UnitedNations under Article 73 (e) of the Charterrelating to economic, social and educationalconditions in Non-Self-Governing Territoriesother than those which might fall under theTrusteeship System as stated in Chapters XIIand XIII.

In reply to a letter by the Secretary-General,written in compliance with this directive, anumber of Member Governments1 stated theirviews regarding certain problems raised in theletter which arose out of the General Assem-bly's action. The replies received from Mem-bers up to September 20, 1946, as well as ageneral exposition of the problems of trans-mission and organization of information, wereset forth in a report by the Secretary-Generalwhich was submitted to the General Assemblyduring the second part of its first session inNew York in October 1946.

These problems of transmission of informa-tion under Article 73 (e) were discussed by aSub-Committee2 of the Fourth (Trusteeship)Committee of the General Assembly, as wellas by the full Committee and by the Assemblyitself in plenary session.

It was agreed to refrain, for the time being,from attempting a definition of the term "Non-Self-Governing Territories", but to note theterritories which the governments themselveshad enumerated as coming within the scopeof Chapter XI.

The territories enumerated by the govern-ments were the following:

AUSTRALIA1. Papua

BELGIUM2. Belgian Congo

DENMARK3. Greenland

FRANCE4. French Equatorial Africa5. French Establishments in India6. French Establishments in Oceania7. French Guiana8. French Somaliland9. French West Africa

10. Guadeloupe and Dependencies11. Indochina12. Madagascar and Dependencies13. Martinique14. Morocco15. New Caledonia and Dependencies16. New Hebrides (under Anglo-French

Condominium)17. Reunion18. St. Pierre and Miquelon19. Tunisia

NETHERLANDS20. Curacao21. Netherlands Indies22. Surinam

NEW ZEALAND23. Cook Islands24. Tokelau Islands

UNITED KINGDOM25. Aden (Colony and Protectorate)26. Bahamas27. Barbados28. Basutoland29. Bechuanaland Protectorate30. Bermuda31. British Guiana32. British Honduras33. Brunei34. Cyprus35. Dominica36. Falkland Islands37. Fiji38. Gambia39. Gibraltar40. Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony41. Gold Coast (Colony and Protectorate)42. Grenada43. Hong Kong44. Jamaica45. Kenya (Colony and Protectorate)46. Leeward Islands47. Malayan Union48. Malta49. Mauritius

1 Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica,Czechoslovakia, the Dominican Republic, Egypt,France, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico, theNetherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Syria, Tur-key, the United Kingdom, the U.S.S.R., the UnitedStates and Venezuela.

2 The following were members of the Sub-Commit-tee: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China,Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, India, the Nether-lands, New Zealand, Norway The Philippines,Poland, Union of South Africa, the U.S.S.R., theUnited Kingdom and the United States.


60. Nigeria51. North Borneo52. Northern Rhodesia53. Nyasaland54. Pitcairn Islands55. St. Helena and Dependencies56. St. Lucia57. St. Vincent58. Sarawak59. Seychelles60. Sierra Leone61. Singapore62. Solomon Islands Protectorate63. Somaliland Protectorate64. Swaziland65. Trinidad and Tobago66. Uganda Protectorate67. Zanzibar Protectorate

68. Alaska69. American Samoa70. Guam71. Hawaii72. Panama Canal Zone73. Puerto Rico74. Virgin Islands

It was further agreed that the informationtransmitted should reach the Secretary-Gen-eral by June 30 of each year, and should beof such a nature as to cover economic, socialand cultural conditions as requested in Article73 (e), while information on political progress,although not mandatory, would be desirableand of great importance. Such informationwas to be summarized, classified and analysedby the Secretary-General, and to be examinedby an ad hoc committee of representatives ofMembers transmitting information and of rep-resentatives of Members elected by the Gen-eral Assembly. The ad hoc committee, electedfor one year, was to be convened by the Secre-tary-General before the next opening sessionof the General Assembly.

Resolution 66 (I) adopted by the GeneralAssembly was entitled "Transmission of In-formation under Article 73 (e) of the Charter."After noting the Territories in respect ofwhich information had been transmitted orpromised (see above), it continued as follows :

The value of the association of Non-Self-Governing Territories in the work of the spe-cialized agencies as a means of attaining theobjectives of Chapter XI of the Charter hasbeen stressed.

The procedures to be followed by the Organi-zation in connection with the informationtransmitted by Members regarding Non-Self-Governing Peoples have been carefully ex-amined.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THEREFORE,1. INVITES the Members transmitting in-

formation to send to the Secretary-General by30 June of each year the most recent informa-tion which is at their disposal;

2. RECOMMENDS that the information trans-mitted in the course of 1947 by Members ofthe United Nations under Article 73 (e) ofthe Charter should be summarized, analysedand classified by the Secretary-General and in-cluded in his report to the second session ofthe General Assembly, in order that, in thelight of the experience gained, the General As-sembly may be able to decide whether anyother procedure may be desirable for dealingwith such information in future years;

3. RECOMMENDS that the Secretary-Gen-eral communicate to the specialized agenciesthe information transmitted, with a view tomaking all relevant data available to their ex-pert and deliberative bodies;

4. INVITES the Secretary-General to con-vene, some weeks before the opening of the sec-ond session of the General Assembly, an ad hocCommittee composed in equal numbers of repre-sentatives of the Members transmitting infor-mation under Article 73 (e) of the Charter andof representatives of Members elected, by theGeneral Assembly at this session, on the basisof an equitable geographical distribution;

5. INVITES the Secretary-General to re-quest the Food and Agriculture Organization,the International Labour Organisation, theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organization, and the World HealthOrganization and the International Trade Or-ganization, when constituted, to send represen-tatives in an advisory capacity to the meetingof the ad hoc committee;

6. INVITES the ad hoc Committee to ex-amine the Secretary-General's summary andanalysis of the information transmitted underArticle 73 (e) of the Charter with a view to aid-ing the General Assembly in its considerationof this information, and with a view to makingrecommendations to the General Assembly re-garding the procedures to be followed in thefuture and the means of ensuring that the ad-vice, expert knowledge and experience of thespecialized agencies are used to the bestadvantage.

The General Assembly then elected Brazil,China, Cuba, Egypt, India, the Philippines, theU.S.S.R. and Uruguay to serve on the ad hoccommittee together with Australia, Belgium,Denmark, France, the Netherlands, New Zea-land, the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates, the latter group of States having trans-mitted or having expressed their intention of

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


transmitting information in respect of Non-Self-Governing Territories under their juris-diction.

The ad hoc Committee was to meet for thefirst time before the opening of the second ses-sion of the General Assembly of the UnitedNations in New York in September 1947. TheSecretary-General, as directed by the GeneralAssembly, invited the specialized agencies tosend representatives who, in an advisory ca-pacity, would attend the meeting.

The task of the ad hoc Committee was to be

to examine the information transmitted byMember Governments, as summarized and an-alyzed by the Secretary-General. The Com-mittee was to examine the summaries andanalyses with a view to aiding the GeneralAssembly in its own consideration of such in-formation; to recommend procedures to be fol-lowed in the future; and to attempt to find thebest means of ensuring to Non-Self-GoverningTerritories the full use of the advice, experi-ence and expert knowledge which the special-ized agencies could put at their disposal.

B. THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

The principles of Chapter XI are applicableto all Territories "whose peoples have not yetattained a full measure of self-government."For some of these Territories, however, widerobligations are provided by the InternationalTrusteeship System as outlined in ChaptersXII and XIII of the Charter.

1. CHARTER PROVISIONS1 FORTHE INTERNATIONAL TRUSTEESHIP SYSTEM

The basic objectives of the InternationalTrusteeship System are :

(a) to further international peace and se-curity;

(b) to promote the political, economic, so-cial and educational advancement of the in-habitants of the Trust Territories, and theirprogressive development towards self-govern-ment or independence as may be appropriate tothe particular circumstances of each Territoryand its peoples and the freely expressed wishesof the peoples concerned, and as may be pro-vided by the terms of each TrusteeshipAgreement;

(c) to encourage respect for human rightsand for fundamental freedoms for all withoutdistinction as to race, sex, language or religion,and to encourage recognition of the interde-pendence of the peoples of the world; and

(d) to insure equal treatment in social, eco-nomic and commercial matters for all Membersof the United Nations and their nationals, andalso equal treatment for the latter in the ad-ministration of justice, without prejudice tothe attainment of the foregoing objectives. .. .

The Trusteeship System applies to such ter-ritories in the following categories as may beplaced thereunder by means of individualTrusteeship Agreements :

(a) territories now held under mandate;(b) territories which may be detached

from enemy states as a result of the SecondWorld War; and

(c) territories voluntarily placed underthe system by States responsible for theiradministration.The terms of trusteeship for each territory

to be placed under the Trusteeship System, in-cluding any alteration or amendment, are to beagreed upon by the States directly concerned,including the mandatory power in the case ofterritories held under mandate by a Member ofthe United Nations. They must be approved bythe General Assembly or, in the case of stra-tegic areas, by the Security Council. EachTrusteeship Agreement includes the terms un-der which the Trust Territory is to be admin-istered and designates the authority which willexercise the administration of the Trust Ter-ritory. Such authority is called the Admin-istering Authority and may be one or moreStates or the United Nations itself.

In any Trusteeship Agreement there may bedesignated a strategic area or areas which mayinclude part or all of the Trust Territory towhich the agreement applies. All functions ofthe United Nations relating to strategic areas,including the approval of the terms of Trus-teeship Agreements and of their alteration oramendment, are exercised by the SecurityCouncil. The objectives of the TrusteeshipSystem, as prescribed in Article 76 of theCharter, apply equally to the peoples of strate-gic areas. In performing its functions relating

1 The main provisions are contained in ChapterXII, Articles 75-86, which establishes an Inter-national Trusteeship System; and Chapter XIII,Articles 86-91, which defines the composition, func-tions and powers, voting and procedure of theTrusteeship Council. Other provisions are to befound in Articles 7,18, 98, 101 of the Charter.


to political, economic, social and educationalmatters in the strategic areas, the SecurityCouncil, subject to the conditions of theTrusteeship Agreements and without prejudiceto security considerations, is to avail itself ofthe assistance of the Trusteeship Council.

It is the duty of the Administering Author-ity to ensure that the Trust Territory plays itspart in the maintenance of international peaceand security. To this end the AdministeringAuthority may make use of volunteer forces,facilities and assistance from the Trust Terri-tory in carrying out its obligations towards theSecurity Council, as well as for local defenceand the maintenance of law and order withinthe Trust Territory.

The functions of the United Nations with re-gard to Trusteeship Agreements for all areasnot designated as strategic, including the ap-proval of the terms of the Trusteeship Agree-ments and of their alteration or amendment,are exercised by the General Assembly. TheTrusteeship Council, operating under the au-thority of the General Assembly, assists theGeneral Assembly in carrying out thesefunctions.

2. CHARTER PROVISIONS FOR THETRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

The Trusteeship Council consists of the fol-lowing Members of the United Nations :

(a) those Members administering TrustTerritories;

(b) such of those permanent members ofthe Security Council as are not administer-ing Trust Territories; and

(c) as many other Members elected forthree-year terms by the General Assemblyas may be necessary to ensure that the totalnumber of members of the TrusteeshipCouncil is equally divided between thoseMembers of the United Nations which ad-minister Trust Territories and those whichdo not.Each member of the Trusteeship Council

designates one specially qualified person torepresent it therein.

The principal functions and powers of theTrusteeship Council, under the authority ofthe General Assembly are :

(a) to consider reports submitted by theAdministering Authority;

(b) to accept petitions and examine themin consultation with the Administering Au-thority;

(c) to provide for periodic visits to therespective Trust Territories at times agreedupon with the Administering Authority;and

(d) to take these and other actions in con-formity with the terms of the TrusteeshipAgreements.The Trusteeship Council is to formulate a

questionnaire on the political, economic, socialand educational advancement of the inhabi-tants of each Trust Territory, and the Admin-istering Authority for each Trust Territorywithin the competence of the General Assem-bly is to make an annual report to the GeneralAssembly upon the basis of such questionnaire.

The voting and procedure of the TrusteeshipCouncil are defined as follows :

Each member of the Trusteeship Council hasone vote. Decisions of the Trusteeship Coun-cil are made by a majority of the memberspresent and voting.

The Trusteeship Council adopts its own rulesof procedure, including the method of selectingits President. The Trusteeship Council meetsas required in accordance with its rules, whichinclude provision for the convening of meet-ings on the request of a majority of itsmembers.

The Trusteeship Council is to avail itself,when appropriate, of the assistance of the Eco-nomic and Social Council and of the specializedagencies in regard to matters with which theyare respectively concerned.

3. THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND THEMANDATES

In accordance with Article 22 of the Cove-nant of the League of Nations, a number ofterritories had been placed under mandate inthe early years following the First World War.By 1945 some of the territories had achievedindependence; the following twelve, however,were still under mandate :

Under mandate toUnited Kingdom, NewZealand and Australia(administered byAustralia)AustraliaBelgiumFrance

Japan

New ZealandUnion of South AfricaUnited Kingdom

Name of territory

Nauru1

New GuineaRuanda-UrundiCameroonsTogolandCaroline, Marshall andMarianas Islands2

Western SamoaSouth-West Africa1

Cameroons, Togoland,Tanganyika, Palestine1

1 No Trusteeship Agreements exist as yet for

these territories.2 By 1945, these islands were under United StatesNaval Administration.


At its final session m Geneva in 1946 theAssembly of the League of Nations discussedthe question of the fulfilment by the Leagueof its responsibilities to the peoples of themandated territories. On April 18, 1946, theAssembly adopted unanimously, with Egyptabstaining, the following resolution:

THE ASSEMBLY,RECALLING that Article 22 of the Covenantapplies to certain territories placed under man-date the principle that the well-being and de-velopment of peoples not yet able to stand alonein the strenuous conditions of the modernworld form a sacred trust of civilization :

1. EXPRESSES its satisfaction with the man-ner in which the organs of the League haveperformed the functions entrusted to themwith respect to the Mandates System and inparticular pays tribute to the work accom-plished by the Mandates Commission;

2. RECALLS the role of the League in assist-ing Iraq to progress from its status under an"A" Mandate to a condition of complete inde-pendence, welcomes the termination of themandated status of Syria, Lebanon and Trans-jordan, which have, since the last session of theAssembly, become independent members of theworld community;

3. RECOGNIZES that, on the termination of theLeague's existence, its functions with respectto the mandated territories will come to anend, but notes that Chapters XI, XII and XIIIof the Charter of the United Nations embodyprinciples corresponding to those declared inArticle 22 of the Covenant of the League;

4. TAKES NOTE of the expressed intentions ofthe Members of the League now administeringterritories under mandate to continue to ad-minister them for the well-being and develop-ment of the peoples concerned in accordancewith the obligations contained in the respectivemandates, until other arrangements have beenagreed between the United Nations and the re-spective mandatory Powers.

4. THE INTERIM PERIODThe meetings of the Executive Committee,

the Preparatory Commission and the first partof the first session of the General Assembly ofthe United Nations all reflected the desire ofthe Members of the United Nations to set upthe Trusteeship Council at the earliest possibledate. It was generally recognized that themandated territories would probably be amongthe first to be transferred to the InternationalTrusteeship System by means of individualTrusteeship Agreements.

In the resolution on Non - Self - GoverningPeoples of February 9, 1946, cited above, theGeneral Assembly expressed regret that theTrusteeship Council could not be brought intobeing at that time; recognized that any delayin putting into effect the International Trus-teeship System would prevent the implemen-tation of the principles of the system andwould deprive the populations of the TrustTerritories of its advantages; and noted thatthe Preparatory Commission had recommendedthat the General Assembly should call uponthose Members of the United Nations now ad-ministering territories held under mandate toundertake practical steps in concert with theother States directly concerned to place themunder the International Trusteeship System.Before the recommendation of the PreparatoryCommission had been considered by the Gen-eral Assembly, several of the mandatory Stateshad in fact declared their intention to nego-tiate Trusteeship Agreements for the purposeof placing mandated territories under the In-ternational Trusteeship System.

The resolution of the General Assembly wel-comed these declarations, and invited all theStates administering mandated territories toundertake the necessary steps to negotiate theTrusteeship Agreements by means of whichthe mandated territories would be placed underthe International Trusteeship System, with aview to the submission of these agreements forapproval, preferably not later than during thesecond part of the first session of the GeneralAssembly.

In view of the unequivocal expression, in theresolution on Non-Self-Governing Peoples, ofthe General Assembly's desire that the estab-lishment of the Trusteeship Council should beexpedited, letters, dated June 29, 1946, wereaddressed by the Secretary-General to theStates administering territories then held un-der mandate, i.e., Australia, Belgium, France,New Zealand, the Union of South Africa andthe United Kingdom, calling their attention tothe resolution.

In reply, the Governments of Australia, Bel-gium, France, New Zealand and the UnitedKingdom stated that they had either alreadyprepared draft Trusteeship Agreements, orwere in process of preparing the terms of suchAgreements, with respect to the mandated ter-ritories under their control, and expressed the


hope that they would be able to submit suchTrusteeship Agreements to the General Assem-bly before or during the second part of its firstsession. The Government of the Union of SouthAfrica requested that a statement on the out-come of its consultations with the peoples ofSouth-West Africa as to the future status ofthe mandated territory, and as to the imple-mentation to be given to the wishes thus ex-pressed be included in the agenda for thesecond part of the first session of the Gen-eral Assembly.

5. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRUSTEESHIPCOUNCIL

The essential conditions for the establish-ment of the Trusteeship Council and for bring-ing the International Trusteeship System intooperation, as envisaged in Chapters XII andXIII of the Charter, were fulfilled in the courseof the second part of the first session of theGeneral Assembly.

a. The First Trust Territories

As a result of the approval by the GeneralAssembly on December 13, 1946, of the eightTrusteeship Agreements which had been sub-mitted by five of the mandatory Powers withregard to territories administered by themunder mandate, the International TrusteeshipSystem came into effect. The responsibility forsupervising the administration of the firsteight Trust Territories was thereby vested inthe General Assembly and, under its authority,in the Trusteeship Council.1

The Territories thus far placed under Trus-teeship by means of individual TrusteeshipAgreements are:2

a) New Guinea, administered by Australia;

b) Ruanda-Urundi, administered by Bel-gium;

c) Togoland and Cameroons, administeredby France;

d) Western Samoa, administered by NewZealand; and

e) Tanganyika, Togoland and Cameroons,administered by the United Kingdom.

In each of these first eight TrusteeshipAgreements a single State was designated asthe Administering Authority. It is to be noted,in this connection, that the Charter, in Article81, also makes provision whereby a Trustee-

ship Agreement may designate more than oneState, or the United Nations itself, as the Ad-ministering Authority.

With respect to the first Trust Territories,the former mandatory powers, which had ad-ministered them under League of Nationsmandates, had proposed Trusteeship Agree-ments for consideration and approval by theGeneral Assembly, during the second part ofits first session. The General Assembly, throughits Fourth Committee (Trusteeship) and Sub-Committee 1 of that Committee, examined theproposed Agreements with great care. Numer-ous proposals for modification of the terms ofthe Trusteeship Agreements were presented byMembers of the United Nations. Some of thesuggested modifications were acceptable to themandatory powers and were incorporated inthe Agreements. In some instances the manda-tory powers themselves proposed modificationsin the light of the discussions in Sub-Commit-tee 1. In other instances, proposed modifica-tions were not acceptable to the mandatorypowers and were not included in the Agree-ments.

A controlling factor in the General Assem-bly's consideration and approval of the Trus-teeship Agreements was the provision inArticle 79 of the Charter making it essentialthat the mandatory power, as a State directlyconcerned, approve the terms of Trusteeship.Certain of the mandatory powers had submit-ted proposed Trusteeship Agreements, but theywere not obliged to accept any specific modifi-cations thereto. The General Assembly, on theother hand, could propose modifications of thedraft Agreements, and could, in its final deci-sion, determine the conditions on which itwould approve them. There was no limitationwhatsoever on the authority of the GeneralAssembly to approve or reject the proposedAgreements.

With regard to the terms of the eight Agree-ments already in effect, a number of issueswere raised in the course of the General As-sembly's discussions. These issues were thor-oughly discussed prior to the final approval of

1 See pp. 184 ff.2 On April 2, 1947 the Security Council approved,after some modification, a draft strategic areaTrusteeship Agreement in respect of the PacificIslands, formerly mandated to Japan, whichnamed the United States of America as the Ad-ministering Authority. Due, however, to consti-tutional requirements, the Agreement could nottake effect until it had been approved by theUnited States Government. See pp. 394 ff.


the Agreements by the General Assembly. TheTrusteeship Agreements as finally approvedconstitute the basic instruments by means ofwhich the International Trusteeship System isapplied to the Trust Territories. The adminis-tration of the eight Trust Territories thuscreated is henceforth to be subject to the inter-national supervision provided for in ChapterXII of the Charter.

In general, the terms of the Agreementsrelate to the following:

(1) Definition of the boundary of eachTerritory to be placed under the Interna-tional Trusteeship System.

(2) Designation of the AdministeringAuthority of the Trust Territory.

(3) The obligations of the Administer-ing Authority under Article 76 of the Char-ter of the United Nations (which sets forththe basic objectives of the InternationalTrusteeship System).

(4) The rights of the Administering Au-thority in legislation, administration andjurisdiction; in constituting the Trust Ter-ritory into a customs, fiscal or administra-tive union with adjacent territories underthe control of the Administering Authority;in establishing naval, military and air bases.

(5) Promotion of the development of po-litical institutions suited to the Trust Ter-ritory.

(6) Application of the provisions of gen-eral international conventions and recom-mendations drawn up or to be drawn up bythe specialized agencies referred to in Ar-ticle 57 of the Charter.

(7) Protection of the rights and inter-ests of the inhabitants in land and naturalresources.

(8) Equal treatment in social, economicand commercial matters for all Members ofthe United Nations.

(9) Promotion of the educational andcultural development of the inhabitants.

(10) Assurance of freedom of religionand freedom of speech.

(11) Annual reports to the General As-sembly by the Administering Authority on

the basis of a questionnaire formulated bythe Trusteeship Council in accordance withArticle 88 of the Charter.

(12) Approval of the terms of the Agree-ment and of any alteration or amendmentthereof by the General Assembly.

b. The Trusteeship Council

In pursuance of Resolution 64 (1) adoptedby the General Assembly on December 14,1946, the Trusteeship Council was establishedas a principal organ of the United Nations. Itwas the last such organ to be established. TheCouncil met at Lake Success for its first ses-sion on March 26, 1947.

On the basis of the eight Trusteeship Agree-ments approved by the General Assembly, theTrusteeship Council came into being with tenmembers. As at present constituted, five ofits members are Administering Authorities,namely, Australia, Belgium, France, New Zea-land and the United Kingdom. Three of itsmembers, namely, China, the United Statesand the U.S.S.R., hold membership in accord-ance with Article 86 of the Charter, by virtueof being permanent members of the SecurityCouncil but did not, at the time of the firstmeeting, administer Trust Territories. Theother two members, Iraq and Mexico, wereelected for three-year terms by the GeneralAssembly at the second part of its first session,in accordance with Article 86, paragraph 1 (e).of the Charter.

On January 14, 1947, the Secretary-Generalnotified each of the ten members of theTrusteeship Council of the action taken bythe General Assembly in approving the eightTrusteeship Agreements and in adopting theresolution calling for the establishment ofthe Trusteeship Council. He advised them thatthe first session would open on March 26, andenclosed the provisional agenda for the firstsession. Each member of the Council was alsorequested to communicate to the Secretary-General the name of its representative on theCouncil, who, in accordance with Article 86 ofthe Charter, should be "a specially qualifiedperson".

Responses to this letter were received fromnine of the ten members of the Council and the


designated representatives of these nine mem-bers sat throughout the first session. TheU.S.S.R. did not appoint a representative.1

All of the Territories which remained undermandate status have now been placed under theTrusteeship System, or are in process of beingtransferred to it, with the exception of Nauru,Palestine and South-West Africa.

In its resolution on the future status ofSouth-West Africa, adopted on December 14,1946, the General Assembly recommended thatthe mandated territory of South-West Africabe placed under the International TrusteeshipSystem and invited the Government of theUnion of South Africa to submit for the con-sideration of the General Assembly a Trustee-ship Agreement for that territory.

In respect to Nauru, the representative ofAustralia, at the 15th plenary meeting of thefirst part of the General Assembly's first ses-sion, announced the intention of his Govern-ment to submit a Trusteeship Agreement forthis mandated territory. This decision hadbeen concurred in by the Governments of theUnited Kingdom and of New Zealand, withwhom Australia shared the mandate. The Aus-tralian representative before the Fourth Com-mittee during the second part of the firstsession of the General Assembly, reaffirmed theintention of his Government to submit a draftAgreement for Nauru.

A United Nations Special Committee onPalestine was created by a resolution of theGeneral Assembly at its first special session onMay 15, 1947.2 In accordance with its terms ofreference, the Committee went to Palestine inJune 1947 to "investigate all questions and is-sues relevant to the problem of Palestine."The report of the Special Committee was to beconsidered at the second regular session of theGeneral Assembly in September 1947.

6. OPERATION OF THE INTERNATIONALTRUSTEESHIP SYSTEM

a. The First Session of the Trusteeship Council

The first session of the Trusteeship Councilwas held from March 26 to April 28, 1947.

At its first and second meetings, the Trus-teeship Council elected Francis B. Sayre(United States) as President, and Sir CarlBerendsen (New Zealand) as Vice-President.

It was decided to hold two regular sessionseach year: during the latter half of June andduring the latter half of November.

(1) Rules of ProcedureThe Council gave detailed consideration to

the adoption of its own rules of procedure. Atits 22nd meeting, by unanimous vote, it adopteda comprehensive set of rules.3

These rules of procedure govern the mannerin which the Trusteeship Council is to per-form its function of international supervision.For this reason the Council studied with spe-cial care those of its rules relating to the accept-ance and examination of petitions, the con-sideration of annual reports and the conduct-ing of periodic visits to the Trust Territories.

(2) Provisional QuestionnaireThe Trusteeship Council formulated and, at

its 25th meeting on April 25, adopted a com-prehensive provisional questionnaire, whichwas to form the basis for the first annual re-ports to be submitted by the AdministeringAuthorities.

The provisional questionnaire was dividedinto twelve sections, numerous sub-sectionsand a statistical appendix. The section head-ings were: brief introductory description,status of the Territory and its inhabitants, in-ternational peace and security; maintenance oflaw and order, political advancement, economicadvancement, social advancement, educationaladvancement, publications, research, sugges-tions and recommendations, summary andconclusion.

This provisional questionnaire, which wasdrawn up on the basis of a detailed considera-tion of drafts on the subject presented by thedelegations of France, the United Kingdomand the United States, and by the Secretariat,was to be revised at the second session of theCouncil. The Administering Authorities, theEconomic and Social Council and the special-ized agencies were invited by the TrusteeshipCouncil to present any suggestions which theymight have for the revision of sections of thequestionnaire which dealt with subjects ofspecial concern to them. To the extent neces-sary, this basic questionnaire was to beadapted to each of the Trust Territories.

3 For a list of representatives to the TrusteeshipCouncil see Annex I.

2 See pp. 301 ff.3 For the Rules of Procedure see Annex II.


(3) Petitions (b) Petition relating to Western Samoa

According to the terms of the Council's Rulesof Procedure, petitions may be submittedin writing or, in certain circumstances, orally,and they can be submitted either through theAdministering Authorities or directly to theSecretary-General. In all cases the Adminis-tering Authority concerned will be called uponto present its comments on the petitions andthe Council will take decisions which will, indue course, be communicated to the petitioners.

During its first session, the TrusteeshipCouncil had before it 26 petitions, two of ageneral nature and the others referring to spe-cific Trust Territories.

(a) Petitions relating to Tanganyika

Twenty-three of the petitions considered bythe Trusteeship Council at its first sessionwere from German, Italian or other residents,or former residents, of the Territory of Tan-ganyika, or from persons interested in theircases. In all of these petitions the plea ad-vanced was that the German or Italian peti-tioners be allowed to return to or remain inTanganyika rather than be repatriated to Ger-many or Italy, as the Administering Authority— the United Kingdom — proposed to do inthe case of many of them. The petitionersasked the Trusteeship Council to intervene inorder to prevent what they feared to be theirimminent deportation, and in some casespleaded for the restoration of their property.

The Council examined each of the petitionsand adopted detailed resolutions setting forthits conclusions. These resolutions, after notingthat the individuals to be excluded from theTerritory fell into two categories: namely,those who were Axis sympathizers, and thosewhose conduct had rendered them liable todeportation irrespective of nationality, ap-proved the general policy of the AdministeringAuthority and decided that no action by theCouncil was called for at that time. The reso-lutions also took note of declarations made bythe Administering Authority that no personswould be excluded from Tanganyika solely ongrounds of nationality; that the great majorityof the Italian nationals and a considerablenumber of the Germans would be permitted toremain in or return to Tanganyika; and thatno former South African national would besent to Germany against his will.

Another petition confronting the Trustee-ship Council at its first session was that re-ceived from leaders and representatives ofWestern Samoa requesting that Western Sa-moa be granted self-government. The petitionfurther requested "that the unnatural divisionof the islands of the Samoan group enforcedby the three powers1 in the past without theconsent of the Samoans be left in abeyanceuntil a meeting could be arranged betweenEastern and Western Samoa" and that NewZealand "will see fit to act as Protector andAdvisor to Samoa in the same capacity as Eng-land is to Tonga." This petition was trans-mitted through the Government of New Zea-land as the Administering Authority.

The representative of New Zealand informedthe Trusteeship Council that his Governmentwas not disposed to discuss the merits of thispetition without adequate information beingmade available to the Council on which to basea decision. He proposed that the examinationof the substance of the petition by the Councilbe deferred until a fact-finding mission couldgo to Western Samoa on behalf of the Councilfor the purpose of investigating the subject-matter of the petition.

(c) Visiting Mission to Western Samoa

The Council adopted this proposal and estab-lished a special three-member mission for thepurpose of visiting Western Samoa during thesummer of 1947 in order to investigate thesubject of the petition. The three members ofthis mission were Francis B. Sayre (UnitedStates), President of the Trusteeship Council,Pierre Ryckmans, representative of Belgiumon the Council, and Senator Eduardo Cruz-Coke, of Chile.

The clear intention of the Trusteeship Coun-cil was that this visit should not be considereda "periodic" visit under Article 87 (c) of theCharter, but a special one to investigate apetition.

(d) Ewe PetitionA petition from the "All Ewe Conference",

relating to the frontiers between the Trust

1 Great Britain, Germany and the United States.


Territories of Togoland under French adminis-tration and Togoland under British adminis-tration, was received too late for considerationat the first session of the Trusteeship Counciland was to appear on the agenda of its secondsession.

(e) Petitions relating to the Draft Conventionprepared by the International Labour Office

Two of the petitions before the TrusteeshipCouncil received from the International Al-liance of Women, Middlesex, England and fromSt. Joan's Social and Political Alliance, Lon-don, did not relate to any specific Trust Ter-ritories but offered the general complaint thatthe section of the draft Convention on SocialPolicy in Non-Metropolitan Territories, whichhad been prepared by the International LabourOffice for the consideration of the InternationalLabour Conference and which related interalia, to the prohibition by law of discrimina-tion in admission to employment, included noreference to discrimination on grounds of sex.With regard to these petitions, the TrusteeshipCouncil directed the Secretary-General to com-municate with the Director-General of the In-ternational Labour Office asking him to trans-mit copies of the petitions to the InternationalLabour Organisation for its information, andrequesting that the Council be informed ofany action which the International LabourConference might take on the questions raisedin the petitions.

b. Operation of the System of InternationalSupervision of Trust Territories

The international supervision of Trust Ter-ritories as contemplated by the Charter is tobe carried out primarily by means of threebasic functions of the Trusteeship Council,acting under the authority of the General As-sembly.

In the first place, each Administering Au-thority is called upon to submit, for considera-tion by the Trusteeship Council, annual re-ports on conditions in the Trust Territories.These reports are to be based on the question-naires formulated by the Council in accordancewith Article 88 of the Charter.

As the first Trust Territories were createdby action of the General Assembly in Decem-ber 1946, the first annual reports will coverthe year 1947.

The Government of New Zealand had trans-mitted, through the Secretary-General, to theTrusteeship Council prior to its first session,two reports on Western Samoa covering thewar years 1941 to 1945, and 1945 to 1946respectively. These reports had been preparedby the Government of New Zealand in accord-ance with its obligations under the League ofNations mandates system. The reports werenot examined by the Trusteeship Council asthey were submitted by the Government ofNew Zealand for information only. As theywere not based upon a questionnaire formu-lated by the Council they were not to be con-sidered as the reports called for under Article87 of the Charter. The Council expressed itswarm appreciation to the Government of NewZealand, however, for its considerate action inmaking these reports available.

The second means by which the TrusteeshipCouncil performs its supervision of the TrustTerritories is by the exercise of its authorityto accept petitions and to examine them in con-sultation with the Administering Authority asprovided in Article 87 (b) of the Charter.

The third—an entirely new means of con-ducting international supervision—is throughperiodic visits to the Trust Territories. At its26th meeting on April 28, the TrusteeshipCouncil adopted a resolution recommending tothe General Assembly that regular provisionbe made in the budget of the United Nationsfor periodic visits to Trust Territories as arecurring item, on the basis of one visitingmission each year.

c. Relations of the Trusteeship Council with theEconomic and Social Council and the SecurityCouncil

The Charter envisages a close working rela-tionship between the Trusteeship Council andthe Economic and Social Council and the spe-cialized agencies, and also between the Trus-teeship Council and the Security Council withregard to the functions of the InternationalTrusteeship System relating to non-strategicmatters in the strategic Trust Territories.

(1) Relations with the Economic and SocialCouncil

In accordance with Article 91 of the Charterthe Economic and Social Council at its fourthsession, and the Trusteeship Council at its first


session, adopted resolutions providing for theappointment of separate representative com-mittees of three members each, for the purposeof entering into consultation regarding ar-rangements for co-operation between the twoCouncils with regard to matters of commonconcern.

At its first session the Trusteeship Council,in response to an invitation extended by thePresident of the Economic and Social Council,also took action resulting in the appointmentof a committee of two members to join withrepresentatives of the Economic and SocialCouncil in any future negotiations with inter-governmental organizations to be brought intorelationship with the United Nations, withrespect to such clauses of the agreements asmight concern the Trusteeship Council.

(2) Relations with the Security Council

When the strategic area Trusteeship Agree-ment approved by the Security Council withregard to the islands formerly under Japanese

mandate1 comes into effect, a working rela-tionship will need to be established between theTrusteeship Council and the Security Councilin order to implement paragraph 3 of Article83 of the Charter. This paragraph providesthat the Security Council shall avail itself ofthe assistance of the Trusteeship Council, sub-ject to the provisions of the TrusteeshipAgreements and without prejudice to securityconsiderations, in performing such functionsof the United Nations under the TrusteeshipSystem as relate to political, economic, socialand educational matters in the strategic areas.

In this connection it is to be noted that thisstrategic area Trusteeship Agreement statesthat the provisions of Articles 87 and 88 of theCharter are to be applicable to the Trust Ter-ritory, subject only to the limitation that theAdministering Authority may determine theextent of their applicability to such of theareas in the Trust Territory as may from timeto time be specified by the Authority as closedfor security reasons.

ANNEX IREPRESENTATIVES AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

The Delegations of the respective MemberGovernments at the first session of the Trus-teeship Council were the following:Australia

Representative Norman J. O. MakinBelgium

Representative Pierre RyckmansChina

Representative Liu ChiehAlternate Shuhsi Hsü

FranceRepresentative Roger Garreau

Alternate Henri LaurentieIraq

Representative Ali JawdatAlternate and Advisor Awni Khalidy

ANNEX IIRULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL

(As approved at the 22nd meeting of its first session, April 23, 1947)

I. SESSIONS

Rule 1

The Trusteeship Council shall meet in tworegular sessions each year. The first of suchsessions shall be convened during the latterhalf of June and the second shall be convenedduring the latter half of November.

Rule 2Special sessions shall be held as and where

occasion may require, by decision of the Trus-teeship Council, or at the request of a majorityof its members, or at the request of the Gen-eral Assembly, or at the request of the SecurityCouncil acting in pursuance of the relevantprovisions of the Charter.1 See pp. 394 ff.

MexicoRepresentative Luis Padilla Nervo

New ZealandRepresentative Sir Carl August Berendsen

(Vice-President)Alternate and Advisor R. B. Taylor

U.S.S.R.(No list received)

United KingdomRepresentative Ivor Thomas

Alternate A. H. Poynton

United States of AmericaRepresentative Francis B. Sayre

(President)Deputy Representative Benjamin Gerig


Rule 3A request for a special session may be made

by any member of the Trusteeship Council andshall be addressed to the Secretary-General ofthe United Nations, who without delay shallcommunicate the request to the other membersof the Trusteeship Council. On notification bythe Secretary-General that the majority of themembers have concurred, the President of theTrusteeship Council shall request the Secre-tary-General to call a special session.

Rule 4The President of the Trusteeship Council

shall notify the members of the Council of thedate and place of the first meeting of each ses-sion through the Secretary-General. Such noti-fication, as a rule, shall be given at least thirtydays in advance of the date of the session.Notifications shall also be addressed to the Se-curity Council, to the Economic and SocialCouncil, to such Members of the United Na-tions as have proposed an item for the agenda,and to such of the specialized agencies as mayattend and participate in the meetings of theTrusteeship Council under the terms of theagreements with the United Nations.

Rule 5A request for an alteration of the date of a

regular session may be made by any memberof the Trusteeship Council or the Secretary-General and shall be dealt with by a proceduresimilar to that provided in Rule 3 for a requestfor a special session.

Rule 6Each session shall be held at the seat of the

United Nations, unless in pursuance of aprevious decision of the Trusteeship Councilor at the request of a majority of its membersanother place is designated. A request for aplace of meeting other than the seat of theUnited Nations may be made by any memberof the Trusteeship Council or by the Secretary-General and shall be dealt with by a proceduresimilar to that provided in Rule 3 for a requestfor a special session.

Rule 7The Trusteeship Council may decide at any

session to adjourn temporarily and resume itsmeetings at a later date.

II. AGENDA

Rule 8The provisional agenda for each session of

the Trusteeship Council shall be drawn up bythe Secretary-General in consultation with thePresident and shall be communicated to themembers and to the specialized agencies re-ferred to in Rule 4 together with the noticesummoning the Council.

Rule 9The provisional agenda shall include con-

sideration of:

(a) such annual reports and other docu-ments as may have been submitted by theAdministering Authorities;

(6) such petitions as may have been pre-sented, a list of which shall be attached;

(c) arrangements for and reports onvisits to Trust Territories;

(d) all items proposed by the TrusteeshipCouncil at a previous session;

(e) all items proposed by any Member ofthe United Nations;

(f) all items proposed by the General As-sembly, the Security Council, the Economicand Social Council, or a specialized agencyunder the terms of its agreement with theUnited Nations; and

(g) all items or reports which the Presi-dent or the Secretary-General may deemnecessary to put before the TrusteeshipCouncil.

Rule 10The first item on the provisional agenda of

any meeting of the Trusteeship Council shallbe the adoption of the agenda. The TrusteeshipCouncil may revise the agenda and may, asappropriate, add, defer or delete items. Duringany special session priority shall be given tothe consideration of those items for whichthe session has been called.

III. REPRESENTATION AND CREDENTIALS

Rule 11Each member of the Trusteeship Council

shall designate one specially qualified personto represent it therein.

Rule 12Members of the United Nations which are

not members of the Trusteeship Council butwhich have proposed items on the agenda ofthat Council, shall be invited to have presentat the appropriate meetings of the Council,representatives who shall be entitled to par-ticipate, without vote, in the deliberations onthose items.

Rule 13Representatives of specialized agencies shall

be invited to attend meetings of the Trustee-ship Council and to participate, without vote,in its deliberations in the circumstances indi-cated in the respective agreements betweenthe United Nations and the specialized agen-cies.

Rule 141. The credentials of representatives on the

Trusteeship Council shall normally be com-municated to the Secretary-General not lessthan twenty-four hours before the meeting atwhich the representatives will take their seats.The credentials shall be issued either by theHead of the State or by the Minister of For-eign Affairs of the respective member Govern-ments.


2. The credentials shall be examined by theSecretary-General who shall submit a reportthereon to the Trusteeship Council for ap-proval.

Rule 151. Any Member of the United Nations not a

member of the Trusteeship Council, when in-vited to participate in a meeting or meetingsof the Council, shall submit credentials for therepresentative appointed by it for this purposein the same manner as provided in Rule 14.The credentials of such a representative shallbe communicated to the Secretary-General notless than twenty-four hours before the firstmeeting which he is to attend.

2. The credentials of representatives re-ferred to in the paragraph immediately pre-ceding and of any representatives appointed inaccordance with Rule 74 shall be examined bythe Secretary-General who shall submit a re-port to the Trusteeship Council for approval.

Rule 16The credentials of representatives of special-

ized agencies which have been invited to at-tend meetings of the Trusteeship Council inpursuance of Rule 13 shall be issued by thecompetent officer of each such specializedagency and shall be subject to the same pro-cedure as defined in Rule 14.

Rule 17Pending the decision on the credentials of a

representative on the Trusteeship Council, suchrepresentative shall be seated provisionally andshall enjoy the some rights as he would haveif his credentials were found to be in goodorder.

Rule 18Each representative on the Trusteeship

Council may be accompanied by such alternatesand advisors as he may require. An alternateor an advisor may act as a representativewhen so designated by the representative.

IV. PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT

Rule 19The Trusteeship Council, by secret and

separate ballots, shall elect, at the beginning ofits regular session in June, a President and aVice-President from among the representa-tives of the members of the Trusteeship Coun-cil.

Rule 20The President and Vice-President shall hold

office until their respective successors areelected, and shall not be eligible for immediatere-election.

Rule 21In the absence of the President, the Vice-

President shall act as President. In the eventthat the President for any reason is no longer

able to act in that capacity, the Vice-Presidentshall serve as President during the unexpiredterm. In both cases the Vice-President shallhave the same powers and duties as the Presi-dent.

Rule 22The President may appoint one of his alter-

nates or advisors to participate in the proceed-ings and to vote in the Trusteeship Council.In such a case the President shall not exercisehis right to vote.

V. SECRETARIAT

Rule 23The Secretary-General shall act in that ca-

pacity at the meetings of the TrusteeshipCouncil and of its committees, sub-committeesand such subsidiary bodies as may be estab-lished by it. The Secretary-General may auth-orize a deputy to act in his place.

Rule 24The Secretary-General shall transmit to the

members of the Trusteeship Council all com-munications which may be addressed to theCouncil from Members and organs of theUnited Nations and from specialized agencies.The Secretary-General shall also call to theattention of the Council communications fromother sources, except those which are mani-festly inconsequential, if they relate to theactivities of the Trusteeship Council.

Rule 25The Secretary-General shall provide and

direct the staff required by the TrusteeshipCouncil and such committees, sub-committeesand other subsidiary bodies as it may establish.

Rule 26The Secretary-General, or his deputy acting

on his behalf, may at any time, upon the invi-tation of the President or of the chairman of acommittee or a subsidiary body of the Trustee-ship Council, make oral or written statementsconcerning any question under consideration.

Rule 27The Secretary-General shall be responsible

for all the necessary arrangements for meet-ings and other activities of the TrusteeshipCouncil, its committees, sub-committees andsubsidiary bodies.

VI. LANGUAGES

Rule 28Chinese, English, French, Russian and Span-

ish shall be the official languages. English andFrench shall be the working languages of theTrusteeship Council.

Rule 29Speeches made in one of the working lan-

guages shall be interpreted into the otherworking language.


Rule 30Speeches made in any of the other three

official languages shall be interpreted into bothworking languages.

Rule 31Any representative may speak in a language

other than the official languages. In such case,he shall himself provide for interpretation intoone of the working languages, interpretationinto the other working language by an in-terpreter of the Secretariat may be based onthe interpretation given in the first workinglanguage.

Rule 32Verbatim records of meetings of the Trus-

teeship Council shall be drawn up in the work-ing languages. A translation of the whole orpart of any verbatim record into any of theother official languages shall be furnished ifrequested by any representative in the Trustee-ship Council.

Rule 33The official records and the Journal of the

Trusteeship Council shall be issued in theworking languages.

Rule 34All resolutions of the Trusteeship Council

shall be made available in the official languages.Other documents originating with the Councilshall be made available in any of the officiallanguages at the request of representatives ofmembers of the Council.

Rule 35Documents of the Trusteeship Council shall,

if the Trusteeship Council so decides, be pub-lished in any language other than the officiallanguages.

VII. VOTING

Rule 36Each member of the Trusteeship Council

shall have one vote.Rule 37

Decisions or recommendations of the Trus-teeship Council shall be made by a majorityof the members present and voting. Memberswho abstain in particular votes shall not inthose instances be counted as voting.

Rule 38If a vote other than for an election is equally

divided, a second vote shall be taken at thenext meeting or, by decision of the TrusteeshipCouncil, following a brief recess. Unless at thesecond vote there is a majority in favour ofthe proposal, it shall be deemed to be lost.

Rule 39The Trusteeship Council shall vote by show

of hands except that, before a vote is taken,

any representative of a member may requesta roll-call, which shall then be taken in theEnglish alphabetical order of the names ofthe members of the Trusteeship Council.

Rule 40The vote of each member participating in

any roll-call shall be inserted in the record.

Rule 41All elections and all decisions relating to the

tenure of office of an individual shall be takenby secret ballot.

Rule 42When only one person or member is to be

elected and no candidate obtains in the firstballot the majority required, a second ballotshall be taken, which shall be confined to thetwo candidates obtaining the largest numberof votes. If in the second ballot the votes areequally divided, the President shall decide be-tween the candidates by drawing lots.

Rule 43When two or more elective places are to be

filled at one time under the same conditions,those candidates obtaining in the first ballotthe majority required shall be elected. If thenumber of candidates obtaining such majorityis less than the number of persons or membersto be elected, there shall be additional ballotsto fill the remaining places, the voting beingrestricted to the candidates obtaining thegreatest number of votes in the previous ballot,the number of candidates being not more thantwice as many as the places remaining to befilled.

Rule 44The meetings of the Trusteeship Council and

of all of its subsidiary bodies shall be held inpublic, unless the Council or subsidiary bodyconcerned decides that circumstances requirethat meetings be held in private.

Rule 45At the close of private meetings, as may be

appropriate, the Trusteeship Council shall issuea communiqué through the Secretary-General.

IX. RECORDS

Rule 46The verbatim records of all public and

private meetings shall be prepared by theSecretariat. They shall be made available inso far as possible within twenty-four hours ofthe end of the meetings to the representativeswho have participated in the meetings.

Rule 47The representatives who have participated

in the meetings shall, within two working daysafter the distribution of the verbatim records,

VIII. PUBLICITY OF MEETINGS


inform the Secretary-General of any correc-tions they wish to have made. Corrections thathave been requested shall be considered ap-proved, unless the President is of the opinionthat they are sufficiently important to be sub-mitted to the Trusteeship Council for approval.

Rule 48The verbatim records of public and private

meetings in which no corrections have been re-quested or which have been corrected in ac-cordance with Rule 47 shall be considered asthe official records of the Trusteeship Council.The official records of public meetings shall bepublished by the Secretariat as promptly aspossible and communicated to the Members ofthe United Nations and to the specialized agen-cies referred to in Rule 4.

Rule 49The official records of private meetings shall

be accessible only to the Members of the UnitedNations, except that the Trusteeship Councilmay make public the records of any privatemeeting at such time and under such condi-tions as it may decide. When such records re-late to strategic areas the AdministeringAuthority concerned may request the Trustee-ship Council to confine their availability to theTrusteeship and Security Councils.

X. CONDUCT OF BUSINESS

Rule 50At any meeting of the Trusteeship Council

two-thirds of the members shall constitute aquorum.

Rule 51In addition to exercising the powers which

are conferred upon him elsewhere by theserules, the President shall declare the openingand closing of each meeting, direct the discus-sions, ensure observance of the rules of pro-cedure, accord the right to speak, put ques-tions and announce decisions. Subject to therules of procedure, he shall have complete con-trol of the proceedings of any meeting. ThePresident, acting under the authority of theTrusteeship Council, shall represent it as anorgan of the United Nations.

Rule 52Whenever the President of the Trusteeship

Council deems that for the proper fulfilmentof the responsibilities of the presidency heshould not preside over the Trusteeship Coun-cil during the consideration of a question withwhich the member he represents is directlyconnected, and in particular when annual re-ports and petitions relating to a Trust Terri-tory of which the member he represents is theAdministering Authority, are under considera-tion, he shall indicate his decision to the Trus-teeship Council. The presidency shall then de-volve for the purpose of the consideration ofthat question upon the Vice-President.

Rule 53No representative may address the Trustee-

ship Council without having previously ob-tained the permission of the President. ThePresident shall call upon speakers in the orderin which they signify their desire to speak.The chairman of a subsidiary body, or a rap-porteur, or the Secretary-General, however,may be accorded precedence. The Presidentmay call a speaker to order if his remarks arenot relevant to the subject under discussion.

Rule 54During the discussion of any matter, a rep-

resentative may rise to a point of order andthe point of order shall be immediately de-cided by the President, in accordance with therules of procedure.

Rule 55A representative may appeal from any ruling

of the President. The appeal shall be put to thevote without discussion.

Rule 561. The following motions shall have prec-

edence in the order named over all resolutionsor other motions relative to the subject beforethe meeting:

(a) to suspend the meeting;(6) to adjourn the meeting;(c) to adjourn the meeting to a certain

day or hour;(d) for the closure of the debate on any

motion or draft resolution, including amend-ments thereto, or on any amendment oramendments to a motion or draft resolution;

(e) to limit the time allowed to eachspeaker;

(f) to refer any matter to a committee, tothe Secretary-General or to a rapporteur;

(g) to postpone discussion of the ques-tion to a certain day or indefinitely; or

(h) to amend.

2. Any motion for the suspension or for thesimple adjournment of a meeting shall be de-cided without debate.

3. A motion for closure of debate on a reso-lution or other motion shall not be consideredby the Trusteeship Council until each repre-sentative shall have had the opportunity tospeak on that resolution or other motion. De-bate on a motion for closure of debate shall belimited to one speaker for each side.

Rule 57Reports, resolutions and other substantive

motions or amendments shall be introduced inwriting and handed to the Secretary-General.The Secretary-General shall, to the extent pos-sible, circulate copies to the representativestwenty-four hours in advance of the meetingat which they are to be considered. The Trus-teeship Council may decide to postpone the


consideration of resolutions and other sub-stantive motions or amendments, the copiesof which have not been circulated twenty-fourhours in advance.

Rule 58Resolutions and other motions or amend-

ments proposed by representatives of mem-bers on the Trusteeship Council may be putto the vote without having been seconded.

Rule 591. Resolutions, motions or amendments may

be withdrawn by the representative who intro-duced them at any time prior to the vote.

2. In a case where a representative with-draws a resolution, motion or amendment priorto the vote, any other representative on theTrusteeship Council may require that it be putto the vote as his resolution, motion or amend-ment under the same conditions as if the orig-inal mover had not withdrawn it.

Rule 60Parts of a report, resolution, other motion or

amendment may be voted on separately at therequest of a representative and subject to thewill of the Trusteeship Council. The proposalshall then be voted on as a whole.

Rule 61A proposal to add to or delete from or other-

wise revise a part of a resolution or a motionshall be considered as an amendment. Anamendment shall be voted on first and if it isadopted, the amended resolution or motionshall then be voted on.

Rule 62If two or more amendments are moved to a

resolution or another motion, the Presidentshall first put to the vote the amendment furth-est removed in substance from the resolutionor motion and then the amendment next furth-est removed, and so on, until all the amend-ments have been voted upon or an amendmenthas been approved which, in the opinion of theTrusteeship Council, makes voting on the re-maining amendments unnecessary.

Rule 63If two or more resolutions or other motions

relating to an original proposal are intro-duced, the President shall first put to the votethe resolution or motion furthest removed insubstance from the original proposal. If thatresolution or motion is rejected, the Presidentshall put to the vote the resolution or motionnext furthest removed, and so on, until eitherall the resolutions or motions have been put toa vote or one or more of them has been adopted,which in the opinion of the Trusteeship Coun-cil makes voting on the remaining proposalsunnecessary.

Rule 64A statement of minority views may be ap-

pended to a report or recommendation of theTrusteeship Council at the request of anymember.

Rule 65No resolution involving expenditure from

United Nations funds shall be approved by theTrusteeship Council unless the TrusteeshipCouncil has before it a report from the Secre-tary-General on the financial implications ofthe proposal, together with an estimate of thecosts involved in the specific proposal.

XI. COMMITTEES AND RAPPORTEURS

Rule 66The Trusteeship Council may set up such

committees as it deems necessary, define theircomposition and their terms of reference, andrefer to them any questions on the agenda forstudy and report. The committees may beauthorized to sit while the Trusteeship Councilis not in session.

Rule 67The procedure set forth in Rules 28 to 31,

36 to 38, and 51 to 63 inclusive, shall apply toproceedings of committees of the TrusteeshipCouncil. The committees may decide upon theform of the records and adopt such other rulesof procedure as may be necessary.

XII. QUESTIONNAIRES

Rule 68Upon the coming into effect of each Trustee-

ship agreement, the Trusteeship Council shalltransmit to the Administering Authority con-cerned, through the Secretary-General, suchquestionnaire as it shall have formulated, inaccordance with Article 88 of the Charter, onthe political, economic, social and educationaladvancement of the inhabitants of the TrustTerritory involved.

Rule 69The Trusteeship Council may modify the

questionnaires at its discretion.

Rule 70When, in accordance with Article 91 of the

Charter, the Trusteeship Council considers itappropriate to avail itself of the assistance ofthe Economic and Social Council or of anyspecialized agency in the preparation of ques-tionnaires, the President of the TrusteeshipCouncil shall transmit through the Secretary-General to the Economic and Social Council orto the specialized agency concerned those sec-tions of the questionnaires with regard towhich its advice may be desired.

Rule 711. The questionnaire shall be communicated

to each Administering Authority at least sixmonths before the expiration of the yearcovered by the first annual report, and shallremain in force, without specific renewal, fromyear to year.

2. Any subsequent modifications shall becommunicated to the Administering Authority


concerned at least six months before the datefixed for the presentation of the first annualreport which is to be based on the modifiedquestionnaire.

XIII. ANNUAL REPORTS OF ADMINISTERINGAUTHORITIES

Rule 721. The annual report of an Administering

Authority prepared on the basis of the ques-tionnaire formulated by the Trusteeship Coun-cil shall be submitted to the Secretary-Generalwithin four months from the termination ofthe year to which it refers.

2. Each report of an Administering Author-ity shall be considered by the TrusteeshipCouncil at the first regular session followingthe expiration of six weeks from the receiptof the report by the Secretary-General.

3. The Secretary-General shall transmitthese reports without delay to the members ofthe Trusteeship Council.

Rule 73The Administering Authorities shall furnish

to the Secretary-General four hundred copiesof each report for a Trust Territory. Copies ofeach such report shall at the same time be sentdirectly by the Administering Authority tothe members of the Trusteeship Council as ameans of expediting the work of the Council.

XIV. EXAMINATION OF ANNUAL REPORTSRule 74

In the examination of all annual reports theAdministering Authority concerned shall beentitled to designate and to have present aspecial representative who should be well in-formed on the territory involved.

Rule 75The special representative of the Adminis-

tering Authority may participate without votein the examination and discussion of a report,except in a discussion directed to specific con-clusions concerning it.

XV. PETITIONSRule 76

Petitions may be accepted and examined bythe Trusteeship Council if they concern theaffairs of one or more Trust Territories or theoperation of the International Trusteeship Sys-tem as laid down in the Charter, except that•with respect to petitions relating to a strategicarea the functions of the Trusteeship Councilshall be governed by Article 83 of the Charterand the terms of the relevant Trusteeshipagreements.

Rule 77Petitioners may be inhabitants of Trust Ter-

ritories or other parties.Rule 78

Petitions may be presented in writing inaccordance with Rules 79 to 86, or orally inaccordance with Rules 87 to 91.

Rule 79A written petition may be in the form of a

letter, telegram, memorandum or other docu-ment concerning the affairs of one or moreTrust Territories or the operation of the Inter-national Trusteeship System as laid down inthe Charter.

Rule 80The Trusteeship Council may hear oral

presentations in support or elaboration of apreviously submitted written petition. Oralpresentations shall be confined to the subject-matter of the petition as stated in writing by thepetitioners. The Trusteeship Council, in excep-tional cases, may also hear orally petitionswhich have not been previously submitted inwriting, provided that the Trusteeship Coun-cil and the Administering Authority concernedhave been previously informed with regard totheir subject-matter,

Rule 81Normally petitions shall be considered in-

admissible if they are directed against judg-ments of competent courts of the Administer-ing Authority or if they lay before the Councila dispute with which the courts have com-petence to deal. This rule shall not be inter-preted so as to prevent consideration by theTrusteeship Council of petitions against legis-lation on the grounds of its incompatibilitywith the provisions of the Charter of theUnited Nations or of the Trusteeship agree-ment, irrespective of whether decisions oncases arising under such legislation have pre-viously been given by the courts of the Admin-istering Authority.

Rule 82Written petitions may be addressed directly

to the Secretary-General or may be transmit-ted to him through the Administering Author-ity.

Rule 83Written petitions submitted to the Admin-

istering Authority for transmission shall becommunicated promptly to the Secretary-Gen-eral, with or without comments by the Ad-ministering Authority, at its discretion, orwith an indication that such comments willfollow in due course.

Rule 84Representatives of the Trusteeship Council

engaged in periodic visits to Trust Territoriesor on other official missions authorized by theCouncil, may accept written petitions, subjectto such instructions as may have been receivedfrom the Trusteeship Council. Petitions of thiskind shall be transmitted promptly to the Sec-retary-General for circulation to the membersof the Council. A copy of each such petitionshall be communicated to the competent localauthority. Any observations which the visitingrepresentatives may wish to make on the peti-tions, after consultation with the local repre-sentative of the Administering Authority,shall be submitted to the Trusteeship Council.


Rule 85The Secretary - General shall circulate

promptly to the members of the TrusteeshipCouncil all written petitions received by him,except for petitions relating to a strategicarea with respect to which the functions of theTrusteeship Council shall be governed byArticle 83 of the Charter and the terms of therelevant Trusteeship agreement.

Rule 861. Written petitions will normally be placed

on the agenda of a regular session providedthat they shall have been received by the Ad-ministering Authority concerned either di-rectly or through the Secretary-General atleast two months before the date of the nextfollowing regular session.

2. Any observations on petitions which theAdministering Authority desires to have circu-lated to members of the Trusteeship Councilshould, wherever possible, be transmitted tothe Secretary-General not less than fourteendays before the opening of the session at whichsuch petitions will be considered.

3. The date of receipt of a petition shall beconsidered as being:

(a) in respect of a petition which is pre-sented through the Administering Author-ity, the date on which the petition is receivedby the competent local authority in the ter-ritory or the metropolitan Government ofthe Administering Authority, as the casemay be, and

(6) in respect of a petition not presentedthrough the Administering Authority, thedate on which the petition is received by theAdministering Authority through the Secre-tary-General. The Administering Authorityconcerned shall immediately notify the Sec-retary-General of the date of receipt of allsuch petitions.4. In cases where the Administering Author-

ity may be prepared to consider a written peti-tion at shorter notice than is prescribed by theforegoing rules, or where, in exceptional cases,as a matter of urgency, it may be so decidedby the Trusteeship Council in consultation withthe Administering Authority concerned, suchwritten petition may be placed on the agendaof a regular session notwithstanding that ithas been presented after the due date, or itmay be placed on the agenda of a special ses-sion.

Rule 87Requests to present petitions orally or to

make oral presentations in support or elabora-tion of written petitions, in accordance withRule 80, may be addressed directly to the Sec-retary-General or may be transmitted to himthrough the Administering Authority. In thelatter case the Administering Authority con-cerned shall communicate such requestspromptly to the Secretary-General.

Rule 88The Secretary-General shall promptly notify

the members of the Trusteeship Council of all

requests for oral petitions or oral presenta-tions received by him, except for petitions re-lating to a strategic area with respect to whichthe functions of the Trusteeship Council shallbe governed by Article 83 of the Charter andthe terms of the relevant Trusteeship agree-ment.

Rule 89Representatives of the Trusteeship Council

engaged in periodic visits to Trust Territoriesor on other official missions authorized by theCouncil may receive oral presentations or peti-tions, subject to such instructions as may havebeen received from the Trusteeship Council.Such oral presentations or petitions shall berecorded by the visiting mission, and the recordshall be transmitted promptly to the Secretary-General for circulation to the members of theCouncil and to the Administering Authorityfor comment. A copy of each such record shallbe communicated to the competent local author-ity. Any observations which the visiting repre-sentatives may wish to make on the oral pres-entations or petitions, after consultation withthe local representative of the AdministeringAuthority, shall be submitted to the Trustee-ship Council.

Rule 90The Trusteeship Council, at the beginning of

each session which includes the considerationof petitions on its agenda, may appoint an adhoc committee on petitions whose membershipshall be evenly divided between representativesof members administering Trust Territoriesand representatives of members having no ad-ministering responsibilities. The ad hoc com-mittee on petitions shall be empowered toundertake a preliminary examination of thepetitions on the agenda. No appraisal of thesubstance of the petitions shall be made by thead hoc committee.

Rule 91The Trusteeship Council may designate one

or more of its representatives to accept oralpetitions the subject-matter of which has beenpreviously communicated to the TrusteeshipCouncil and to the Administering Authorityconcerned. Oral petitions and oral presenta-tions may be examined either in public or inprivate, as may be determined, in accordancewith Rule 44.

Rule 92In the examination of all petitions the Ad-

ministering Authority concerned shall be en-titled to designate and to have present a specialrepresentative who should be well informedon the territory involved.

Rule 93The Secretary-General shall inform the Ad-

ministering Authorities and the petitionersconcerned of the actions taken by the Trustee-ship Council on each petition, and shall trans-mit to them the official records of the publicmeetings at which the petitions were exam-ined.


XVI. VISITS TO TRUST TERRITORIESRule 94

The Trusteeship Council, in accordance withthe provisions of Article 87 (c) and Article 83,paragraph 3, of the Charter, as the case maybe, and with the terms of the respective Trus-teeship agreements, shall make provisions forperiodic visits to each Trust Territory with aview to achieving the basic objectives of theInternational Trusteeship System.

Rule 95The Trusteeship Council, acting in con-

formity with the terms of the respective Trus-teeship agreements, shall define the terms ofreference of each visiting mission and shallissue to each mission such special instructionsas it may consider appropriate.

Rule 96The Trusteeship Council shall select the

members of each visiting mission who shallpreferably be one or more of the representa-tives on the Council. Each mission may be as-sisted by experts and by representatives of thelocal administration. A mission and the indi-vidual members thereof shall, while engaged ina visit, act only on the basis of the instructionsof the Council and shall be responsible ex-clusively to it.

Rule 97The Trusteeship Council may, in agreement

with the Administering Authority, conductspecial investigations or enquiries when it con-siders that conditions in a Trust Territorymake such action desirable.

Rule 98All expenses of periodic visits, special in-

vestigations and enquiries, including the travelexpenses of the visiting missions, shall beborne by the United Nations.

Rule 99Each visiting mission shall submit to the

Trusteeship Council a report on its visit, acopy of which shall be promptly transmittedto the Administering Authority concerned bythe Secretary-General. The report may be pub-lished by the Council in such form as it maydeem appropriate. Observations on each suchreport by the Council and by the Administer-ing Authority concerned may be similarly pub-lished.

XVII. REPORTS OF THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCILRule 100

The Trusteeship Council shall present an-nually to the General Assembly a general re-port on its activities and on the discharge ofits responsibilities under the InternationalTrusteeship System. Each such report shallinclude an annual review of the conditions ineach Trust Territory.

Rule 1011. The sections of the general reports of the

Trusteeship Council to the General Assemblyrelating to conditions in specific Trust Terri-tories, referred to in Rule 100, shall take intoaccount the annual reports of the Administer-

ing Authorities, and such other sources of in-formation as may be available, including peti-tions, reports of visiting missions, and anyspecial investigations or enquiries, as pro-vided for in Rule 97.

2. The general reports shall include, as ap-propriate, the conclusions of the TrusteeshipCouncil regarding the execution and interpre-tation of the provisions of Chapters XII andXIII of the Charter and of the Trusteeshipagreements, and such suggestions and recom-mendations concerning each Trust Territoryas the Council may decide.

Rule 102The reports of the Trusteeship Council to

the General Assembly provided for in Rules100 and 101 shall be transmitted through theSecretary-General at least thirty days beforethe opening of the regular session of the Gen-eral Assembly.

Rule 103The Trusteeship Council may designate the

President, the Vice-President or another of itsmembers to represent it during the considera-tion of its reports by the General Assembly.

XVIII. OTHER FUNCTIONSRule 104

The Trusteeship Council shall perform suchother functions as may be provided for in theTrusteeship agreements, and, in pursuanceof the duty imposed upon it by Article 85 ofthe Charter, may submit to the General As-sembly recommendations concerning the func-tions of the United Nations with regard toTrusteeship agreements, including the ap-proval of the terms of the Trusteeship agree-ments and of their alteration or amendment.With regard to strategic areas, the TrusteeshipCouncil may similarly perform such functionsin so far as it may be requested to do so by theSecurity Council.

XIX. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER BODIESRule 105

1. The Trusteeship Council shall, when ap-propriate, avail itself of the assistance of theEconomic and Social Council, of the specializedagencies and of appropriate intergovernmentalregional bodies which may be separately estab-lished, relating to matters with which they maybe concerned.

2. The Secretary-General shall promptlycommunicate to these bodies the annual reportsof the Administering Authorities and such re-ports and other documents of the TrusteeshipCouncil as may be of special concern to them.

XX. SUSPENSION OF RULESRule 106

When the Trusteeship Council is in session,a rule of procedure may be suspended by de-cision of the Council.

XXI. AMENDMENTRule 107

These rules of procedure may be amendedby the Trusteeship Council. Normally, a voteshall not be taken until four days after a pro-posal for amendment has been submitted.