FOREIGN CLAIMS SETTLEMENT COMMISSION

Foreign Claims Settlement Commission      US Department of Justice      600 E Street, NW, Room 6002      Washington, DC 20579-0001      (202) 616-6975 Mauricio J. Tamargo, Chairman

PRESS RELEASES AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS

MISSION

The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States (FCSC) is a quasi-judicial, independent agency within the Department of Justice which adjudicates claims of U.S. nationals against foreign governments, either under specific jurisdiction conferred by Congress or pursuant to international claims settlement agreements. Funds for payment of the Commission's awards are derived from congressional appropriations, international claims settlements, or liquidation of foreign assets in the United States by the Departments of Justice and the Treasury.

The Commission is headed by Chairman Mauricio J. Tamargo. Mr. Jeremy H.G. Ibrahim serves as a part-time member of the Commission, and the other part-time Commissioner position is currently vacant. The Commission also employs a small staff of professional and administrative personnel.

The FCSC was established in 1954 (Reorganization Plan No. 1 (5 U.S.C. App.)), when it assumed the functions of two predecessor agencies: the War Claims Commission and the International Claims Commission. The FCSC and its predecessor agencies have successfully completed 43 claims programs to resolve claims against various countries including the Federal Republic of Germany, Iran, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Italy, Cuba, China, East Germany, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt, Panama, and Albania. In all, more than 660,000 claims have been adjudicated, with awards totaling in the billions of dollars.

ALBANIA CLAIMS PROGRAM--Pursuant to the U.S.-Albanian Claims Settlement Agreement of March 1995, the FCSC retains authority to adjudicate claims of U.S. nationals for expropriation, confiscation and other loss of property suffered at the hands of the Communist regime which seized power in Albania at the end of the Second World War. A fund of $2 million fund was provided by Albania under the 1995 agreement from which to pay the Commission’s awards, and over $1 million remains available in this fund. Accordingly, anyone with a potential uncompensated property claim against the Albanian government is encouraged to submit his or her claim without delay. Instructions are available for reading and downloading here.

GUAM WAR CLAIMS REVIEW COMMISSION--Because of the institutional knowledge and expertise of the FCSC staff, the Department of the Interior asked for the FCSC’s assistance with the Guam War Claims Review Commission, which was established in September 2003 pursuant to Public Law 107-333, approved December 16, 2002. The purpose of the Review Commission was to evaluate the treatment accorded by the U.S. Navy to claims of residents of Guam for death, physical injury, and property loss and destruction during and after the occupation of Guam by Imperial Japanese Forces during World War II, and to determine whether the compensation provided to the people of Guam was comparable to that provided under other claims statutes covering World War II losses.

The Review Commission, composed of five individuals, designated the FCSC’s Chairman as its Chairman, and the FCSC staff members conducted investigative research in support of the Review Commission’s work. However, it is important to emphasize that this work was totally independent, and that it was carried out solely for the edification of and at the direction of the members of the Review Commission and was in no way identified with or sponsored by either the FCSC or the Department of Justice.

The Review Commission held hearings on Guam in December 2003 to take testimony of survivors of the Japanese occupation concerning their wartime and post-war experiences, and in February 2004 it held a conference in Washington, DC, to hear opinions and insights of legal experts on a variety of war claims-related issues. These efforts eventually culminated in an 82-page written report, with numerous appendices, which the Review Commission submitted on June 9, 2004, to the Secretary of the Interior, the House Committees on Resources and the Judiciary, and the Senate Committees on Energy and Natural Resources and the Judiciary. As provided by law, the Review Commission then went out of existence on July 10, 2004. It is the FCSC‘s understanding that the Administration has not taken a position on any of the findings and recommendations contained in the Review Commission’s report.

The report of the Review Commission is available on the Internet for reading or downloading at:
http://www.doi.gov/oia/Stories/warclaim/finalwarclaimrpt/Gumwarclaimsum.htm

Registration of potential claims against Iraq. As a result of the 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq, and related events, thousands of United States nationals (U.S. citizens, corporations and other legal entities) suffered injuries, losses and damages. Numerous other U.S. nationals also have claims against Iraq that arose prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

While most claims arising out of Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait have been filed with the United Nations Compensation Commission ("UNCC") in Geneva, Switzerland, no viable forum has yet been provided for resolution of the thousands of claims against Iraq which fall outside the UNCC's jurisdiction ("non-UNCC claims").

In 1996, The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission ("FCSC") conducted a program for United States nationals (private citizens, corporations, and other legal entities) to register these potential non-UNCC claims against the Government of Iraq for breach of contract, loss of and damage to property, physical injury, and other losses. Examples of these potential claims registered with the FCSC include: (1) claims against Iraq which arose prior to Iraq's August 2, 1990, invasion of Kuwait; (2) claims of U.S. military personnel or their survivors (other than claims for inhumane treatment of a prisoner of war, which claims are compensable by the UNCC) which arose out of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as Iraq's 1987 attack on the U.S.S. Stark.

Although the deadline for filing a registration was June 28, 1996, the Commission has continued to maintain a file containing the names and addresses of potential claimants who since then have indicated an interest in pursuing claims against Iraq. Such indications of interest will continue to be accepted and maintained on file.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE, HOWEVER, THAT THE REGISTRATION OF A POTENTIAL CLAIM OR THE INDICATION OF INTEREST IN PURSUING A CLAIM DOES NOT CONSTITUTE THE FILING OF A FORMAL CLAIM AGAINST IRAQ. NOR DOES SUCH ACTION OTHERWISE HAVE ANY LEGAL FORCE OR EFFECT.

IN THE EVENT A FORMAL CLAIMS ADJUDICATION PROGRAM IS AUTHORIZED, THE COMMISSION WILL FORWARD INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FORMAL FILING OF CLAIMS TO THE PERSONS WHOSE ADDRESSES ARE IN THIS REGISTRATION FILE OF POTENTIAL CLAIMANTS.

Holocaust Claims Program. The United States and Germany signed an agreement on September 19, 1995, providing for reparations for certain U.S.-citizen survivors of the Holocaust, with compensation to be paid in two stages. The first stage provided for compensation for Hugo Princz and a small group of other known concentration camp survivors, through a lump-sum payment to the United States of 3 million Deutschmarks (about $2.1 million). The second stage was to provide for compensation for additional, similarly-situated claimants. Legislation passed in early 1996 authorized the Commission to receive and adjudicate cases of additional claimants, a process which it completed in March 1998. Following further negotiations, the German Government paid to the United States in June 1999 an additional lump sum of 34.5 million Deutschmarks (about $18 million) in final settlement of any and all claims of United States citizens against Germany for Nazi persecution in concentration camps, whether or not they were adjudicated by the Commission. The Department of the Treasury recently completed the process of distributing the settlement fund to the claimants previously found eligible for awards.

Iran Claims Program. In 1995, the FCSC completed adjudication of 3,100 claims of U.S. nationals against Iran, entering awards totalling in excess of $86 million, for uncompensated nationalization and other taking of property, contractual defaults, and other economic losses effected by the Iranian revolutionary government which took power in 1979. The Commission's Iran Claims Program was conducted pursuant to a 1990 settlement agreement between the United States and Iran concluded at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands.

The Commission continues to have authority under the War Claims Act of 1948, as amended, to receive, determine, and provide for the payment of any further claims that may be filed for maltreatment of U.S. servicemen and civilians held as prisoners of war or interned by a hostile force in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. In addition, the Commission is frequently called upon to provide advice and assistance to the Department of State and Congressional offices on policy issues involving international claims and proposals for legislation to resolve classes of still-outstanding U.S. citizens' claims.

FCSC 2002 Annual Report
FCSC 2002 Index of Completed Programs
FCSC 2002 Table of Completed Programs

FCSC 2001 Annual Report
FCSC 2001 Index of Completed Programs
FCSC 2001 Table of Completed Programs

FCSC 2000 Annual Report
FCSC 2000 Tables

Further information on the Commission's activities may be found in the FCSC's Yearbooks on the Commission's FOIA page

The FCSC's regulations may be found at Part 500 of Title 45, Code of Federal Regulations

For Freedom Of Information Act inquiries, please see the Commission's FOIA Page

Last updated: October 15, 2004
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