International Claims Commissions: Righting Wrongs after Conflict(Elgar International Law series)

International claims commissions have, over the last few decades, established themselves as important and permanent fixtures in international adjudication. This book provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the workings and mechanics of claims commissions to assess their success and predict their utility in the future. The book examines the legal framework of an international claims commission and the basic elements its processing procedure, as well as exploring the difficulties and challenges associated with operating costs, remedies and compliance with judgments. International claims commissions are created ad hoc to consider large numbers of complex legal claims resulting from an international upheaval, making them important international dispute resolution mechanisms. By focusing in large part on the examples set by the United Nations Claims Commissions, the Iran US Claims Tribunal, and the Eritrea Ethiopia Claims Commission, the authors assess the reasons to establish a claims commission by discussing their legal and operating structures, issues related to evidence and costs and the challenges and successes of creating them. The book concludes with a detailed analysis of lessons learnt to guide policy makers in the creation of future claims commissions. Written by two academics and a former practitioner this book is a practical resource for international law academics; counsel and judges in international courts and tribunals; policy makers in international organizations and foreign ministries, and diplomats.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction: International Mass Claims Commissions: “Build-It-Yourself” Justice? 1. What Are International Mass Claims Commissions? 2. Why a Claims Commission? 3. The Legal and Operating Structure 4. Who Are the Claimants and What Are the Claims? 5. The Financial Structure of Claims Commissions 6. Problems of Proof and Evidence 7. Remedies and Compliance with Claims Commissions Rulings 8. Conclusions Index

About the Author :
Lea Brilmayer, Howard Holtzmann Professor, Yale Law School, Chiara Giorgetti, Professor of Law, Richmond Law School, and Senior Fellow, International Claims and Reparations Project, Columbia Law School and Lorraine Charlton, US

Review :
'Thorough, creative and readable, this book is an important addition to the literature. The authors have eschewed an exclusively black-letter approach for a presentation and appraisal of the dynamic process of mass claims arbitration. Drawing on their rich experience, they also offer important recommendations to ensure that an interstate arrangement that is supposed to provide post-conflict justice for the ''collateral'' victims does not degenerate into a continuation of war by other means.'