The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) is a unique international institution, established by the Security Council in 1991 entrusted with the power of processing and assessing of claims against Iraq arising from the Gulf War and the payment thereof. The UNCC, as a subsidiary organ of the Council, has been created to determine the validity and amount of claims arising on or after August 2, 1990 based upon any direct loss, damage, including environmental damage and depletion of natural resources, to foreign States, nationals or corporations. Iraq, as a consequence of its unlawful invasion and occupation of Kuwait, is liable under international law for the damages incurred. In the seven years since its establishment, the UNCC's major body, the Governing Council, has issued more than forty decisions of a substantive and procedural nature, covering almost all areas of international law in the field of claims. The Panels of Commissioners, the quasi-arbitral bodies of the UNCC, have issued many reports examining a plethora of new as well as old legal issues which have been approved by the Governing Council; and, last but not least, the UNCC has started the payment of the awards. Not only will the UNCC be providing satisfaction to the numerous victims of Iraq's aggression; indeed, its activity will provide useful guidelines for the handling of mass international claims programs in the future. The "Handbook" contains the complete text of the relevant Security Council Resolutions and Reports of the Secretary General, all Governing Council's decisions, a review of the main legal statements by the Panels of Commissioners, a selected bibliography, an index and an introductory essay dealingwith the origins of the UNCC, the claims procedure, the substantive rules on State responsibility, the legal basis of the UNCC and its activities and the perspectives of the UNCC.