The UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) has finally approved compensation payments to 8,615 Indian citizens who fled Kuwait and Iraq during the Gulf War.

After more than 15 years of waiting, these 8,615 Indians are going to receive their just compensation awards. The war, which resulted in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq in 1991, had forced many Indians to return from Kuwait, Iraq and other Gulf countries.

At the end of the war, India's Ministry of External Affairs established a Special Kuwait Cell to investigate and process compensation claims. There were originally 153,125 claims--including 112,026 from individuals who fled between August 2, 1990 and March 2, 1991; 258 Indians who suffered personal injury or lost a spouse, child, or parent in the war; 39,644 Indians who lost personal property, banking accounts, stocks, and other financial securities; and 1,065 Indians whose damages totalled more than $100,000.

The Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri E. Ahamed informed the Lok Sabha that United Nations Compensation Commission had finally sent the list of 8,615 claimant Indian citizens working in Kuwait during Gulf war, whose claim amounts were returned to United Nations Compensation Commission because they could not be located within the period allowed by United Nations Compensation Commission for disbursement of a particular lot. This list has been given by the Special Kuwait Cell, Ministry of External Affairs to the four nationalised banks designated for the task of disbursement of Gulf War compensation. This list has also been sent to the Indian Missions in the Gulf countries, as well as to various State Governments.

The UN Security Council established the UNCC to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damages suffered by individuals, businesses, and organisations. Since 1991, compensation claims from 100 governments, corporations, and multinational companies have exceeded $300 billion.

To start the compensation process, approved claimants should check the MEA website to see see if their name is on the list of nearly 8,600 names. Persons whose name and passport number appear in this list may write to Shri A.K. Pandya, Director, Special Kuwait Cell, Ministry of External Affairs, and must include their present address and enclose a photocopy of the first four pages of their passport. The envelope and the letter will not be processed unless they both bear the notation 'UNTRACED CLAIMANTS'. On proper identification, the detailed prescribed formalities will be sent and on completion, the approved claim disbursement will be processed. It is important to note that there are no fresh awards, and there is no call for fresh claims. The list is only of untraced amongst earlier successful claimants. The legal heirs of those of them who had passed away should also contact the cell. The deadline for locating and paying these claimants, as decided by United Nations Compensation Commission, Geneva, is September 2006.

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