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UN dole still eludes Indian Gulf war victims

George Iype in New Delhi

More than seven years after the Gulf war, 145,759 Indians who fled Kuwait and Iraq still await compensation from the United Nations Compensation Commission, Geneva.

The war, which resulted in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq in 1991, had forced thousands of Indians to return from Kuwait, Iraq and other Gulf countries. Following this, the Indian government had set up a Special Kuwait Cell in the Ministry of External Affairs.

SKC, headed by a joint secretary, was to co-ordinate operations with the UNCC and facilitate compensation for the losses suffered by Indian citizens, business establishments and organisations.

MEA officials now say US $ 3.2 billion compensation claims are yet to be paid to "the 145,759 Indian Gulf war victims," whose details the SKC furnished before the UNCC years ago.

"SKC was set up to secure a fair compensation for Indian employees who were badly affected. But it is unlikely they will be awarded the compensation this century," an official told Rediff On The NeT.

He blamed the Government of India and the UNCC equally for this. "While the UNCC is least interested to speed up payments to Indians, the GoI has not yet cared to take up the matter with the UN," the official alleged.

The UN Security Council established the UNCC in 1992 for screening and determining compensation for all Gulf war affected individuals and organisations world-wide.

UNCC's claim is that the compensation process is a long-drawn out one as it involved multilateral aid packages.

According to officials, the UNCC recently informed India that it is not possible to specify any time-limit for settlement, as it depended on the availability of funds. However, rough calculations show the agency would be able to adjudicate all Indian claims only by 2003.

The 145,759 Indian claims have been classified into three categories -- Claims A, B and C.

Claim A refers to refugee status (individuals who were forced to leave Kuwait, Iraq and other Gulf countries), while Claim B refers to compensation for death or serious injuries. Claim C refers to loss or damage of property, individual businesses and jobs.

Claim A has 102,154 Indian cases pending.

SKC officials said UNCC has paid some Indian claimants in instalments.

The majority, however, are still waiting.

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