The Trusteeship Council was established to deal with non-independent territories previously held under League of Nations mandate, territories taken from the defeated World War II powers, and such other territories as might be handed over to it by their possessors. It operates under the authority of the General Assembly.
The Trusteeship Council consists of representatives of those states which administer trust territories, representatives of permanent members of the Security Council that do not administer trust territories, and enough others to assure that membership is divided equally between administering and non-administering states.
The principal activities of the Trusteeship Council have included receiving annual reports from the administering states and periodically visiting the territories. Since its establishment the Trusteeship Council has seen the 11 trust territories originally under its control transformed into other entities.