GOVERNING COUNCIL OF UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION CONCLUDES SIXTY-FIRST SESSION

The Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission, meeting under the Presidency of Ambassador Tassos Kriekoukis (Greece), today concluded its sixty-first session. Representatives of Kuwait, Iraq, and India addressed the fifteen-member Governing Council at its opening plenary meeting.

The Council considered a number of reports and information notes prepared by the secretariat on the activities of the Commission during the last quarter; distribution by Governments and international organisations of payments to successful claimants; the transparency of the distribution process and the return of undistributed funds.

The Council considered the report by the secretariat on the requests for payments to previously unlocated claimants following the expiry of the 30 September 2006 deadline set by the Council at its fifty-sixth session in June 2005 for the location and payment to unlocated claimants. Approximately 16,500 claimants from 55 Governments and submitting entities with approved awards have not been located by the set deadline and as a result, an estimated amount of $50 million reverts to the Compensation Fund.

The Governing Council considered the issue of inaccurate awards involving overpayments, and approved a significant number of claims for correction pursuant to article 41 of the Provisional Rules for Claims Procedure. The Council decided that all affected Governments and submitting entities be required to undertake best efforts to recover the overpaid amounts and return them to the Commission. In addition, to the extent that the overpayments are not returned, the Commission will be taking additional measures to recover the overpayments from future payments to be made by the Commission to affected Governments with outstanding awards.

During the session, the Council also heard a briefing from the secretariat on the status of the implementation of the follow-up programme to monitor the technical and financial aspects of the environmental remediation projects approved by the Council at its fifty-eighth session in December 2005.

The Council decided to hold its next regular session from 20 to 22 February 2007.

The next payment to successful claimants pursuant to decision 256 is scheduled to be made in January 2007. There are now 47 approved claims (in categories E and F), with a total outstanding balance of approximately US$31 billion, that have not been paid in full. The overall amount of compensation made available to date by the United Nations Compensation Commission is approximately US$21.4 billion.

The session just concluded was the last session for the delegations of Argentina, Denmark, Greece (President), Japan (one of the Vice-Presidents) and Tanzania whose terms of office end on 31 December 2006. As of 1 January 2007, the new members of the Security Council, Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, South Africa, along with a fifth member that remains to be decided, will be joining the Governing Council for two-year terms.

Further information about the Commission, including the text of Governing Council decisions and reports and recommendations of the panels of Commissioners, can be found on the United Nations Compensation Commission website located at www.uncc.ch.

For use of the information media; not an official record

UNCC06010E