War Reparations and the UN Compensation Commission: Designing Compensation After Conflict

The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) is a claims reparation program created by the United Nations Security Council in May 1991, after the UN-authorized Allied Coalition Forces' military operations terminated the seven-month invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq and liberated Kuwait. The UNCC was established with the objectives to receive and decide claims from individuals, corporations, and governments against Iraq as arising directly from Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait; and to pay compensation for such claims.

War Reparations and the UN Compensation Commission: Designing Compensation After Conflict is the first collective work on the UNCC claims program by experts who have contributed to its progress, and who have assisted in paving the way for more informed research on the Commission and its jurisprudence. Given its unprecedented, serious and sustained effort within the international community, the two-decade long operations of the UNCC deserve considerable attention and in-depth analysis especially with respect to its impact on the development and progress of international law in the areas of State responsibility and reparations.

Timothy J. Feighery is a partner in the law firm of Arent Fox LLP in Washington, DC. He was previously a Chief of Section of the UNCC Legal Services Branch, responsible for non-Kuwaiti corporate claims and construction/engineering claims. He also served as Chairman of the US Foreign Claims Settlement Commission from 2011-2013, and as a Deputy Special Master of the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund.

Christopher S. Gibson is the Associate Dean and Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. He served as a legal advisor at the UNCC and was in charge of the Category "C" claims (claims of individuals for under US$100,000). He also served as senior legal officer at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands. He was a legal officer at the World Intellectual Property Organization's ("WIPO") Arbitration and Mediation Center, and Head of WIPO's Electronic Commerce Law Section developing dispute resolution procedures for Internet-based domain name disputes. He co-authored (with Christopher R. Drahozal) The Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at 25: The Cases Everyone Needs to Know for Investor-State & International Arbitration (Oxford, 2007).

Trevor Michael Rajah was the Executive Head of the UNCC (2013-2014). He previously worked at the UNCC as a legal officer on the Construction and Engineering claims (1998-2002). Presently, Mr. Rajah is employed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna, Austria. Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Rajah worked as a divisional legal manager in the financial services industry. He also practiced law in Canada and Zimbabwe. Mr. Rajah holds a Masters in Law (LLM) from the University of London, where he was a Foreign and Commonwealth Scholar. He is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales; as a barrister and solicitor in Ontario, Canada; and as an attorney in Zimbabwe. He is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK.