UN Denial of Billions in Gulf War Health Compensation Denounced (ENS)

[Up2Late]

(I would have to describe my feelings about this as truly divided on this one. Usually, I'm all for environmental damage payments, but Saudi Arabia asking for US$19.8 billion Dollars from the U.N.? Talk about wishful thinking.)

From: Environment News Service (ENS)

UN Denial of Billions in Gulf War Health Compensation Denounced

NEW YORK, New York, July 25, 2005 (ENS) - Denial of billions of dollars in compensation to Saudi Arabia for adverse health effects to its people of the 1990-1991 Gulf War means there is little to discourage future targeting of natural resources and the environment in future wars, warns a group of U.S. scientists who presented evidence to a UN commission in support of the Saudi government's claims. The Saudi claims were denied by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a subsidiary organ of the UN Security Council. Its mandate is to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damage suffered as a direct result of Iraq's unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

The UNCC Governing Council, under the Presidency of Ambassador Tassos Kriekoukis of Greece, wound up 12 years of work on June 30, with decisions on dozens of claims, including environmental and public health claims, by the governments of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey. Since the appointment of the first UNCC panels of commissioners in 1993, over 2.68 million claims, seeking about US$354 billion in compensation, have been resolved by the various panels.

To date, US$19.2 billion has been made available to governments and international organizations for distribution to successful claimants in all categories of claims. In addition, the Governing Council has decided that up to US$200 million will be made available for distribution to successful claimants in July.

The Commission says that resolution of such a significant number of claims with such a large asserted value over a period as short as 12 years has no precedent in the history of international claims resolution. But in the case of denial of Saudi Arabia's claim to US$19.8 billion for damage or risk of damage to public health resulting from Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait, U.S. scientists who conducted the public health assessment for the Saudi government said Friday that the commission made the wrong decision.

<http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2005/2005-07-25-01.asp>
(more at link above)