Trust Territories of the United Nations

Trust Territories of the United Nations Former Mandates which had still not become self-governing by the time the League of Nations was officially dissolved in 1946. The UN placed them into the administration of particular member states, with the objective of preparing them for independence. Thus, they were essentially like Mandates, except that there was much stricter control by the UN, and greater pressure on the administering countries to release the territories into independence as soon as possible. The only administering country to defy this pressure was South Africa, whose trust territory only gained independence as Namibia in 1990. In 1994, Palau became the last Trust Territory to achieve independence, although its state finances continued to be heavily reliant on the US, which maintained a naval base there. With its mission accomplished, the UN's Trusteeship Council, which had formally supervised the economic and political progress of the territories, suspended its activities in November 1994.