On Tuesday, the UN Security Council unanimously issued a resolution officially ending the mandate of the “United Nations Commission on Compensation for Damage Resulting in Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait in 1990”, after Baghdad paid the full sums owed to Kuwait, amounting to 52.4 billion dollars.
The resolution stated that the Security Council "decides to terminate the commission's mandate" and considers that it "has accomplished its mission."
The resolution added that the council confirms that the Iraqi government is no longer required to pay to the fund managed by the committee "a percentage of the proceeds from its export sales of oil, petroleum products and natural gas."
According to the resolution drafted by the United Kingdom, the Security Council confirmed that the process of submitting claims to the Committee had now been finally completed, and that no further claims would be submitted to the Committee.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein welcomed the resolution before the Security Council, stressing that Iraq today is turning an important page of its history that lasted more than 30 years.
Hussein praised the success of working with the United Nations Compensation Commission, considering that it was a successful model for multilateral work.
Chapter VII
This committee was established in May 1991 under Resolution No. 692 of the UN Security Council, and was responsible for managing the financial compensation owed by Iraq, which was deducting 5% of its revenues from sales of oil, petroleum products and natural gas.
Its final report to the Security Council was officially approved in Geneva on February 9.
During its term of office, the committee decided about 2.7 million compensation requests, and $52.4 billion was paid out of about $352 billion that were claimed, the last of which was on January 13, at a value of about $630 million, according to the committee’s report.
Compensation was distributed to individuals, corporations, governmental organizations and other organizations who suffered losses resulting directly from the invasion and occupation.
Thus, Iraq is out of the procedures of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, which it has been subject to since 1990.
Chapter VII allows the use of force against Iraq "as it constitutes a threat to international security", in addition to freezing large amounts of its financial assets in international banks to pay compensation to those affected by the invasion.
On August 2, 1990, the Iraqi army invaded the State of Kuwait and annexed it to Iraq, before an international coalition led by the United States expelled it after 7 months.