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Text of a Press Release
issued by
Permanent Mission of India, Geneva on June 27, 2006
Shri E. Ahamed, Minister
of State for External Affairs, addressed the 60th
Session of the Governing Council of the United
Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), being held
in Geneva from 27-29 June 2006.
UNCC was established in 1991 to process claims and
compensation for losses arising out of Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait. UNCC functions as a subsidiary
organ of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The Governing Council of the UNCC is the main body
that determines the policies of UNCC within the
framework of relevant UNSC Resolutions.
In his address to the Governing Council, Shri E.
Ahamed called for the acceptance of claims owing to
lack of information or access to relevant
documentation. He urged the Governing Council to
extend the deadline of 30 September 2006 for filing
of claimants and the deadline of end June 2006 for
verification of erroneous payments made by the UNCC.
Shri E. Ahamed also emphasized that the genuine and
poor claimants should not be denied justice and
invited a fact finding mission of the UNCC to visit
India at the earliest. It may be recalled that of
the approximately 200,000 persons affected over 147,
000 claims were made on behalf of Indian nationals
and over US$ one billion has been disbursed as
compensation awards.
Shri E. Ahamed also had occasion to discuss these
issues with the concerned officials of the UNCC,
including the Executive Secretary, Mr. Rolf Goran
Knutsson. He expressed his appreciation for the
cooperation being extended by the UNCC to Government
of India in its endeavour to help the Indian
claimants.
New Delhi,
June 27, 2006 |
