UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION PAYS OUT $196 MILLION

UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION PAYS OUT $196 MILLION

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 16 October (UN Information Service) -- The United Nations Compensation Commission has made available today a total of $196,246,476.95 to   26 governments and three international organizations for distribution to 1,395 successful claimants.  Payment is being made in respect of claims in category “D” (claims of individuals for damages above $100,000), category “E” (claims of corporations, other private legal entities and public sector enterprises), and category “F” (claims of governments and international organizations) that were approved at the forty-eighth and forty-ninth sessions of the Governing Council, held in June and September 2003, respectively.  Payment is also being made in respect of three claims in category “A” (claims of individuals for departures from Kuwait or Iraq) and nine claims in category “C” (claims of individuals for damages up to $100,000) accepted by the Governing Council for late filing from the Government of Lebanon in October 2002, and approved for payment at its September 2003 session.

Today’s payment is being made in accordance with the temporary payment mechanism set out by the Governing Council in its decision 197, adopted at its forty-eighth session held in June 2003, under which $200 million from the Compensation Fund will be made available for the payment of claims every quarter.  Claims in categories “D”, “E” and “F” approved at the forty-eighth session in June 2003 received up to $300,000 or the principal amount of the award, if less, in the previous round of payment made on 17 July 2003, except for 22 claims that received $200,000.  In accordance with the mechanism set out in decision 197, all newly approved claims will receive up to $300,000 or the principal amount of the award, if less.  An additional $100,000, or the unpaid balance of the award, if less, will be disbursed to the 22 claimants whose claims were approved at the forty-eighth session that received $200,000, bringing the total payment to each of them of up to $300,000.  Remaining funds will be used to pay an additional $100,000 to a number of claims approved at the forty-eighth session that received $300,000 in that round of payment, in the order in which the claims were approved, until the available funds for distribution have been exhausted. 

The attached table lists the governments and international organizations receiving funds, and the amounts of money to be made available to each of them.

The present payment brings the overall amount of compensation made available to date by the United Nations Compensation Commission to $17,987,564,399.83.

The first phase of payments involved an initial payment of $2,500 to each successful individual claimant in categories “A” and “C”, as well as payment of the full amount to all successful individual claimants in category “B” (claims for death or serious personal injury).  In the second phase, payments of up to $100,000 were subsequently made available to approved claims in categories “A”, “C”, “D”, “E”, and “F” in two rounds comprising payment amounts of up to $25,000 and $75,000, respectively.  The second phase concludes payment of the full amount to all successful claimants in categories “A” and “C”.  A total of $8,397,357,008.79 has been made available to 1,503,236 claimants in all categories under the first and second phases of payments.

In the third phase of the payments mechanism, which commenced in October 2000, each successful claimant in categories “D”, “E” and “F” received an initial amount of up to $5 million in accordance with decision 100 of the Governing Council of the Compensation Commission.  Subsequent rounds of payments of up to $10 million were made to successful claimants in these categories of claims in the order in which they have been approved.  A total of $9,590,207,391.04 has been made available to 9,968 claimants in categories “D”, “E” and “F” under the third phase.

At the forty-eighth session, the Governing Council adopted decision 197, establishing a temporary payment mechanism in light of the reduction in the Compensation Fund’s income, following the adoption of Security Council resolution 1483 (2003), which provides in paragraph 21 that the Fund shall receive 5 per cent of all export sales of petroleum, petroleum products, and natural gas from Iraq.  Under this temporary payment mechanism, $200 million from the Compensation Fund will be made available for the payment of successful claims every quarter (from the forty-eighth (June 2003) to the fifty-first (March 2004) sessions, inclusive).  Successful claimants in all categories will receive an initial amount of $100,000 or the unpaid principal amount of the award, if less, with the disbursement of subsequent rounds of payments of $100,000 to successful claimants in all categories in the order in which they have been approved at the sessions described above, until the available funds for distribution have been exhausted.

The Governing Council monitors the distribution of payments to claimants by the relevant governments and international organizations.  Governments and international organizations are obligated to distribute funds to successful claimants expeditiously and to report to the Commission on payments made to claimants.  Any funds undistributed to claimants by governments and international organizations within 12 months of receiving payment shall be returned to the Commission.  Further payments to governments and international organizations shall be suspended where they fail to report on the distribution of funds to successful claimants or fail to return undistributed funds on time.

Further information about the Commission can be found on its Web site located at:  www.uncc.ch.

UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION

Consolidated report of payments of categories “A”,“C”, “D”, “E” and “F” claims (16 October 2003)

Country		Category A		Category C		Category D		Category E		Category F		Totals
		Amount (US$)	Number of claims	Amount (US$)	Number of claims	Amount (US$)	Number of claims	Amount (US$)	Number of claims	Amount (US$)	Number of claims	Amount, (US$)	Number of claims
1	Austria							51,371,00	1			51,371.00	1
2	Bahrain							306,803.00	2			306,803.00	2
3	Canada					992,880.50	8					992,880.50	8
4	China							552,901.00	3			552,901.00	3
5	Cyprus							550,758.00	3			550,758.00	3
6	Czech Republic							195,343.00	2			195,343.00	2
7	Denmark							6,029.00	1			6,029.00	1
8	France							883,685.00	9			883,685.00	9
9	Germany							2,504,136.00	20			2,504,136.00	20
10	Hungary					97,221.81	1	154,175.00	1			251,396.81	2
11	Israel					300,000.00	1					300,000.00	1
12	Italy							445,768.00	5			445,768.00	5
13	Japan							769,368.00	5			769,368.00	5
14	Jordan					24,561,779.13	226					24,561,779.13	226
15	Kuwait					89,238,191.73	544	50,111,894.00	337	100,000.00	1	139,450,085.73	882
16	Lebanon	7,500.00	3	231,370.77	9	2,439,244.08	16					2,678,114.85	28
17	Netherlands					100,000.00	1	19,082.00	2			119,082.00	3
18	Pakistan					2,395,152.08	19					2,395,152.08	19
19	Saudi Arabia					795,018.77	6	124,333.00	3			919,351.77	9
20	Singapore							100,000.00	1			100,000.00	1
21	Spain					69,522.04	1	23,542.00	1			93,064.04	2
22	Switzerland							100,000.00	1			100,000.00	1
23	Syrian Arab Republic					2,205,591.71	21	100,000.00	1			2,305,591.71	22
24	United Kingdom					173,744.22	5	2,647,802.00	38			2,821,546.22	43
25	United States					2,829,997.26	16	2,101,043.00	13			4,931,040.26	29
26	Yemen					7,602,153.63	65					7,602,153.63	65
27	UNDP Kuwait					114,672.02	1					114,672.02	1
28	UNDP Washington					146,746.76	1					146,746.76	1
29	UNRWA Gaza					97,657.44	1					97,657.44	1
	Total	7,500.00	3	231,370.77	9	134,159,573.18	933	61,748,033.00	449	100,000.00	1	196,246,476.95	1,395

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