UN reparations panel for Kuwait invasion pays out $590 million

A total of $590 million was disbursed today to nine successful claimants by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), which settles the damage claims of those who suffered losses because of Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The latest round of payments brings the overall amount of compensation made available to date by the Commission to over $30.7 billion, the Geneva-based body said in a news release.

The vast majority of funds for compensation payments have come from the sale of Iraqi petroleum under the so-called Oil-for-Food programme, which came to an end in 2003, and later within the scope of arrangements made under Security Council resolutions.

Established in 1991 as a subsidiary organ of the Council, the Commission has received nearly 3 million claims, including from close to 100 governments for themselves, their nationals or their corporations.

The UNCC’s Governing Council has identified six categories of claims: four are for individuals’ claims, one for corporations and one for governments and international organizations, which also includes claims for environmental damage.