Symposium

• Caron, David D.
• Morris, Brian

Abstract

Over the decade of the United Nations Compensation Commission's work, there has been voiced by some a vague sense that the UNCC, although created to give some justice to those directly injured by Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, should instead be viewed as a part of the system of international economic sanctions. While it is true that any compensatory mechanism may be said to sanction the wrongful actor, the UNCC is not an economic sanction as that term is understood in international relations and law. Rather, the UNCC provides a measure of practical justice to those who suffered damage as a direct result of the crime of aggression. In this essay, the authors ask when it may be said that that which ostensibly is a compensation procedure partakes more of a scheme of retribution, and should be analysed in terms not of the adequacy of compensation to the victims, but rather of the extent of the punishment that is indirectly inflicted on the population of the wrongdoing state. Applying such an analysis, it is concluded that the UNCC should not be viewed as an economic sanction, but rather an institution that has delivered practical justice to millions of victims of Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait.