League of Nations mandate
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Mandates in the Middle east and Africa. |
A
League of Nations mandate refers to several territories established under Article 22 of the
Covenant of the League of Nations,
28 June 1919. Upon the entry into force of the
Charter of the United Nations in late
1945, the mandates of the
League of Nations became
United Nations Trust Territories, as agreed earlier at the
Yalta Conference.
All the territories subject to League of Nations mandates were previously controlled by states defeated in
World War I, principally
Imperial Germany and the
Ottoman Empire. The mandates were fundamentally different from
protectorates in that the Mandatory power undertook obligations to the inhabitants of the territory and to the League of Nations.
The process of establishing the mandates consisted of two phases: #the formal removal of
sovereignty of the previously controlling states #the transfer of mandatory powers to individual states among the
Allied Powers.
The exact level of control by the Mandatory power over each mandate was decided on an individual basis by the League of Nations. However, in every case the Mandatory power was forbidden to construct fortifications or raise an army within the mandate and was required to present an annual report on the territory to the League of Nations.
Despite this, mandates were seen as
de facto colonies of the empires of the victor nations.
The mandates were divided into three distinct groups based upon the level of development each population had achieved at that time.
The first group or
Class A mandates were areas fomerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire deemed to "...have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent nations can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone. The wishes of these communities must be a principal consideration in the selection of the Mandatory." The Class A mandates were
*
Iraq (
United Kingdom)
*
Lebanon (
France)
*
Palestine, including
Transjordan (
United Kingdom)
*
Syria (
France)
By
1949 all of these mandates had been replaced by new governments.
The second group or
Class B mandates which included the region of Central Africa were deemed to require a greater level of control by the mandatory power: "...the Mandatory must be responsible for the administration of the territory under conditions which will guarantee freedom of conscience and religion". The mandatory power was forbidden to construct military or naval bases within the mandates. The Class B mandates were
*
The Cameroons (
France and the
United Kingdom)
*
Ruanda-Urundi (
Belgium)
*
Tanganyika (
United Kingdom)
*
Togoland (
France and the
United Kingdom)
A final group, the
Class C mandates, including South West Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands were considered to be "best administered under the laws of the mandatory as integral portions of its territory"
The Class C mandates consisted of
*
Nauru (
Australia)
*
New Guinea (
Australia)
*
Mandate of the Pacific Islands (
Japan)
*
Samoa (
New Zealand)
*
South West Africa (
South Africa)
Germany's divestiture of territories was accomplished in the
Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and alloted to the Allied Powers on
May 7, 1919. Ottoman territorial claims were first dispensed with in the
Treaty of Sevres of 1920 and later finalized in the
Treaty of Lausanne of 1923. The Turkish territories were alloted to the Allied Powers in the
Conference of Sanremo of 1920.
With the exception of
Palestine, all of the former mandates are now independent states; the last mandate to gain independence was South West Africa which gained independence as
Namibia in
1990 after a long war with South Africa. (Technically, also with the exception of the
Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of
Palau as part of the Pacific Islands Mandate became the last to get independence effective October 1, 1994.)
