(United Nations) The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the end of the United Nations Compensation Commission that allowed Kuwait to recover $52.4 billion from Iraq. reparations for the damage caused by its invasion in August 1990.
Posted at 4:41 p.m.
The resolution “decides to end the mandate of the Commission” and judges that it “has fulfilled its mandate”. The text “confirms that the Iraqi government is no longer required to pay into the Fund” managed by the Commission “a percentage of the proceeds of export sales of petroleum, petroleum products and natural gas”.
The Security Council “confirms that the Commission’s claims process is now complete and final and that no further claims will be made to the Commission,” reads the resolution, drafted by the UK.
“Iraq is today turning a page that lasted 30 years,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Mohammad Hussein told the Security Council.
“It opens a new chapter […], a new era” in which Iraq will seek to develop its relations and cooperation with the UN in particular, promised the Iraqi Minister, welcoming the multilateral success obtained with the Commission. This institution is unprecedented and could serve as a model for the future if needed.
Created in May 1991 by Security Council resolution 692, the Commission was charged with managing the financial compensation owed by Iraq and financed by a 5% tax levied on sales of petroleum and petroleum products from Iraq.
Over the past three decades, nearly 3 million compensation claims have been honored.
The compensations were distributed to individuals, companies, government organizations and other organizations that suffered losses directly caused by the Iraqi invasion and occupation.
The Commission is considered a model for reconciliation. Its final report to the Security Council was formally adopted in Geneva on February 9.