International Mass Claims Processes : Legal And Practical Perspectives

Mass Claims Processes have become increasingly important phenomena in international dispute resolution. This is the first book to provide comprehensive information for a systematic comparison and analysis of the legal issues and practical matters involved in their establishment and operation.

This book considers eleven of the highest profile modern Mass Claims tribunals and commissions created to redress large-scale losses. These include Processes resolving claims arising from the Iranian Revolution, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the Holocaust, and conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia and between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The book identifies and focuses on forty-seven basic issues that experience shows typically arise with respect to international Mass Claims Processes, offering descriptions and commentary on the ways in which the various Processes have approached each issue.

Much of the information gathered in this book is based on the knowledge and experience of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and its Steering Committee of experts who have either served on the Processes or otherwise been directly engaged in their activities.

This book should be useful to all scholars and practitioners interested in international dispute settlement as well as to those involved with new or existing Mass Claims Processes. Moreover, it may lead to recognition that certain aspects of Mass Claims Processes might have lessons for other procedures for resolution of complex commercial or diplomatic disputes.

Howard M. Holtzmann, Judge, Iran-US Claims Tribunal (1981-1994, substitute Judge 1994-present) and Claims Resolution Tribunals for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland (1998-2002) Edda Kristjánsdóttir, Secretariat, Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission (2001-2002); Associate Legal Officer, German Forced Labour Compensation Programme of then International Organization for Migration (2002); Secretary, Permanent Court of Arbitration Mass Claims Steering Committee (2001-2003); and Managing Editor of OUP's International Law in Domestic Courts online service.