State responsibility
the “full and final settlement” agreed between the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the United States following a dispute
over the destruction of an Iranian aircraft and the killing
of its 290 passengers and crew.529
(12) Agreements for the payment of compensation are
also frequently negotiated by States following attacks on
diplomatic premises, whether in relation to damage to
the embassy itself530 or injury to its personnel.531 Damage caused to other public property, such as roads and infrastructure, has also been the subject of compensation
claims.532 In many cases, these payments have been made
on an ex gratia or a without prejudice basis, without any
admission of responsibility.533
(13) Another situation in which States may seek compensation for damage suffered by the State as such is
where costs are incurred in responding to pollution damage. Following the crash of the Soviet Cosmos 954 satellite
on Canadian territory in January 1978, Canada’s claim for
compensation for expenses incurred in locating, recovering, removing and testing radioactive debris and cleaning
up affected areas was based “jointly and separately on (a)
the relevant international agreements … and (b) general
principles of international law”.534 Canada asserted that
it was applying “the relevant criteria established by general principles of international law according to which fair
compensation is to be paid, by including in its claim only
those costs that are reasonable, proximately caused by the
intrusion of the satellite and deposit of debris and capable of being calculated with a reasonable degree of certainty”.535 The claim was eventually settled in April 1981
when the parties agreed on an ex gratia payment of Can$
3 million (about 50 per cent of the amount claimed).536
529 Aerial Incident of 3 July 1988 (see footnote 523 above) (order
of discontinuance following settlement). For the settlement agreement
itself, see the General Agreement on the Settlement of Certain International Court of Justice and Tribunal Cases (1996), attached to the Joint
Request for Arbitral Award on Agreed Terms, Iran-U.S. C.T.R., vol. 32,
pp. 213–216 (1996).
530 See, e.g., the Exchange of Notes between the Government of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia concerning the losses incurred by the
Government of the United Kingdom and by British nationals as a result
of the disturbances in Indonesia in September 1963 (1 December 1966)
for the payment by Indonesia of compensation for, inter alia, damage to
the British Embassy during mob violence (Treaty Series No. 34 (1967))
(London, HM Stationery Office) and the payment by Pakistan to the
United States of compensation for the sacking of the United States
Embassy in Islamabad in 1979 (RGDIP, vol. 85 (1981), p. 880).
531 See, e.g., Claim of Consul Henry R. Myers (United States v. Salvador) (1890), Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United
States, pp. 64–65; (1892), pp. 24–44 and 49–51; (1893), pp. 174–179,
181–182 and 184; and Whiteman, Damages in International Law (footnote 347 above), pp. 80–81.
532 For examples, see Whiteman, Damages in International Law
(footnote 347 above), p. 81.
533 See, e.g., the United States-China agreement providing for an ex
gratia payment of US$ 4.5 million, to be given to the families of those
killed and to those injured in the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in
Belgrade on 7 May 1999, AJIL, vol. 94, No. 1 (January 2000), p. 127.
534 The claim of Canada against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for damage caused by Cosmos 954, 23 January 1979 (see footnote
459 above), pp. 899 and 905.
535 Ibid., p. 907.
536 Protocol between Canada and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in respect of the claim for damages caused by the Satellite
“Cosmos 954” (Moscow, 2 April 1981), United Nations, Treaty Series,
101
(14) Compensation claims for pollution costs have been
dealt with by UNCC in the context of assessing Iraq’s liability under international law “for any direct loss, damage—including environmental damage and the depletion
of natural resources … as a result of its unlawful invasion
and occupation of Kuwait”.537 The UNCC Governing
Council decision 7 specifies various heads of damage encompassed by “environmental damage and the depletion
of natural resources”.538
(15) In cases where compensation has been awarded
or agreed following an internationally wrongful act that
causes or threatens environmental damage, payments
have been directed to reimbursing the injured State for
expenses reasonably incurred in preventing or remedying
pollution, or to providing compensation for a reduction in
the value of polluted property.539 However, environmental damage will often extend beyond that which can be
readily quantified in terms of clean-up costs or property
devaluation. Damage to such environmental values (biodiversity, amenity, etc.—sometimes referred to as “nonuse values”) is, as a matter of principle, no less real and
compensable than damage to property, though it may be
difficult to quantify.
(16) Within the field of diplomatic protection, a good
deal of guidance is available as to appropriate compensation standards and methods of valuation, especially as
concerns personal injury and takings of, or damage to,
tangible property. It is well established that a State may
seek compensation in respect of personal injuries suffered by its officials or nationals, over and above any direct injury it may itself have suffered in relation to the
same event. Compensable personal injury encompasses
not only associated material losses, such as loss of earnings and earning capacity, medical expenses and the like,
but also non-material damage suffered by the individual
(sometimes, though not universally, referred to as “moral
damage” in national legal systems). Non-material damage
is generally understood to encompass loss of loved ones,
pain and suffering as well as the affront to sensibilities associated with an intrusion on the person, home or private
life. No less than material injury sustained by the injured
State, non-material damage is financially assessable and
may be the subject of a claim of compensation, as stressed
in the “Lusitania” case.540 The umpire considered that
international law provides compensation for mental
vol. 1470, No. 24934, p. 269. See also ILM, vol. 20, No. 3 (May 1981),
p. 689.
537 Security Council resolution 687 (1991), para. 16 (see footnote 461 above).
538 Decision 7 of 16 March 1992, Criteria for additional categories of
claims (S/AC.26/1991/7/Rev.1), para 35.
539 See the decision of the arbitral tribunal in the Trail Smelter case
(footnote 253 above), p. 1911, which provided compensation to the
United States for damage to land and property caused by sulphur dioxide emissions from a smelter across the border in Canada. Compensation was assessed on the basis of the reduction in value of the affected
land.
540 See footnote 514 above. International tribunals have frequently
granted pecuniary compensation for moral injury to private parties.
For example, the Chevreau case (see footnote 133 above) (English
translation in AJIL, vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1933), p. 153); the Gage
case, UNRIAA, vol. IX (Sales No. 59.V.5), p. 226 (1903); the Di Caro
case, ibid., vol. X (Sales No. 60.V.4), p. 597 (1903); and the Heirs of
Jean Maninat case, ibid., p. 55 (1903).