Africanist and Internationalist

"It must be remembered that in his UN role as director of the Department of Trusteeship, Bunche did more than any other single man in setting out the guidelines which helped the nations of Africa reach independence.” – W. Ofuatey-Kodjoe*

Following World War Two, the Trusteeship System was designed to oversee the administration of and facilitate transition to self-government and independence of the former colonial territories. Secretary-General Trygve Lie appointed Bunche as Director of the newly created Trusteeship Department of the United Nations in 1946. At the time, Bunche was widely recognized as the foremost American expert on Africa and colonial affairs, and as a determined advocate of decolonization. His pioneering work at the UN in the 1950s and 1960s was crucial to the fight for self-determination and political independence by close to a billion people of color throughout the world, or roughly one-third of the world map.

Bunche believed that self-determination of colonial peoples was paramount in the maintenance of international order and world peace. He facilitated this work by establishing economic and technical assistance programs for the newly independent nations and rallied the media to focus world attention on the issue of decolonization.

Soon after the process began, the clear majority of trust territories achieved independence. The goals of the Trusteeship System have been fulfilled to such an extent that all trust territories have attained self-government or independence. More than 80 nations formerly under colonial rule have joined the UN as sovereign independent States. When the UN was founded in 1945, only 51 independent nations were members. Today, there are 191 Member States of the Organization; 16 non-self-governing territories remain, the majority of them small island States.

In his lecture to Oslo University in Norway upon receiving the Nobel Prize, Bunche said, “The United Nations exists not merely to preserve the peace but also to make change–even radical change–possible without violent upheaval. The United Nations has no vested interests in the status quo. It seeks a more secure world, a world of progress for all peoples. In the dynamic world society which is the objective of the United Nations, all peoples must have equality and equal rights.”

–—*Excerpt from “Ralph Bunche: An African Perspective” by W. Ofuatey-Kodjoe, from the collection “Ralph Bunche: The Man and His Times” edited by Benjamin Rivlin.

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