The United Nations shall establish under its authority an international
trusteeship system for the administration and supervision of such ter-
ritories as may be placed thereunder by subsequent individual agree-
ments. These territories are hereinafter referred to as trust territories.

This Article provides for the establishment of an international trust-
ship system comparable to the mandatory system which was established
under Article 22 of the Covenant. ¹ It lays down the general principle
that such a system shall be established and indicates broadly the area
of its application, leaving to subsequent Articles the detailed implemen-
tation of the principle.

The Dumbarton Oaks Proposals contained no provisions on this
matter. It was understood that this was one of the questions left over
for further study and subsequent negotiation, and that it was to be
placed on the agenda of the United Nations Conference. The matter was
considered at the Yalta Conference by the Heads of the Governments
of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, and
agreement was reached on the following policy:

(1) That the five governments with permanent seats in the Security Council
should consult each other prior to the United Nations Conference on providing
machinery in the World Charter for dealing with territorial trusteeships which
would apply only to (a) existing mandates of the League of Nations; (b) terri-
tory to be detached from the enemy as a result of this war; and (c) any other
territory that may voluntarily be placed under trusteeship. (2) That no dis-
cussions of specific territories were to take place during the preliminary con-
sultations on trusteeships or at the United Nations Conference itself. Only
machinery and principles of trusteeship should be formulated at the Conference
for inclusion in the Charter, and it was to be a matter for subsequent agree-
ment as to which territories within the categories specified above would actually
be placed under trusteeship. ²

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