UN, May 1st - 3rd Iraq including representatives from Iraq’s Committee of Financial Experts, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will address the Council

PR/2012/3 30 April 2012

PRESS RELEASE - OPENING OF THE SEVENTY-THIRD SESSION OF THE UNCC GOVERNING COUNCIL

The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission will hold its seventy-third session from 1 to 3 May 2012 under the Presidency of Ambassador Hanns Heinrich Schumacher (Permanent Representative of Germany).

At the opening plenary, the Council will elect a new Vice-President to replace Brazil, whose term concluded in December 2011. South Africa currently holds the other Vice-Presidency.

Delegations from Iraq including representatives from Iraq’s Committee of Financial Experts, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia will address the Council at its opening plenary session.

During the session, the Governing Council will discuss various issues relating to the work ofthe Compensation Commission including reports on the activities of the UNCC Secretariat since the last session in October 2011; on the Follow-up Programme for Environmental Awards established by the Council to monitor the technical and financial implementation of environmental remediation and restoration projects; on the arrangements for ensuring continued payments to the Compensation Fund and current levels of income to the Fund; and on the distribution by Governments of payments to successful claimants, the transparency of the distribution process, and the return of undistributed funds.

General background information on the work of the Compensation Commission is provided below.

A press release with information on the results of the seventy-third session will be issued on 3 May 2012.

PR/2012/2 26

PRESS RELEASE - UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION PAYS OUT US $1,020,000,000.00

Today, the United Nations Compensation Commission made available a total of $1.020 billion to the Government of the State of Kuwait. Payment is being made in respect of the remaining six claims withoutstanding balances, all awarded to Kuwait and approved by the Governing Council between 1999 and 2003: four claims in category E (claims of corporations and public sector enterprises) and two claims in category F (claims of Governments and international organizations, including environmental claims).

With today’s payment, approximately $16 billion remains outstanding to these six awards. Pursuant to UNCC Governing Council decision 267 (S/AC.26/Dec.267 (2009)), the remaining claims are paid on a quarterly basis in rounds of $10 million, in the order in which they were approved by the Governing Council.

The Compensation Commission has so far made available $36.4 billion to over 100 Governments and international organizations for distribution to 1.5 million successful claimants in all categories. Successful claims are paid with funds drawn from the United Nations Compensation Fund, which is funded by a percentage of the proceeds generated by the export sales of Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products. This percentage was set at 5 per cent under Security Council resolution 1483 (2003), and reaffirmed in a number of subsequent resolutions, most recently under Security Council resolution 1956 (2010).


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