The Trusteeship Council suspended its operations a month after the last UN trust territory became independent

Background

The Trusteeship Council is one of the six main bodies of the United Nations, established in 1945 by the UN Charter under Chapter XIII. It was created to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories placed under the administration of seven Member States, and to prepare them for self-government or independence. The Council suspended its operations on 1 November 1994, a month after the independence of Palau, the last remaining United Nations trust territory. By a resolution adopted on 25 May 1994 it amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually, agreeing instead to meet as occasion requires. It can now be convened by its own decision, by the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of its members, the General Assembly or the Security Council. Its membership is the five permanent members of the Security Council: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.