Part II Commentaries to Typical Sofa Rules, 22 Claims

Subject(s):

Military assistance — Transparency — Consistent interpretation — Claims — Military matters — Peace keeping

This chapter posits that the three essential features of an ideal damage claims programme are transparency, consistency, and accountability. It provides a historical review of different claims programmes beginning with World War I and concluding with recent operations in Afghanistan, and assesses them against these three criteria. Because of the length of time over which they have been conducted, the vast scope of operations in which they have occurred, and their generally successful performance, this chapter focuses only on claims operations in the NATO context. It also briefly reviews the EU, UN, and the Warsaw Pact claims programmes, with particular regard to their relationships with NATO claims programmes. In addition, the US claims experiences in the NATO and NATO-led context are used to illustrate the details and complexities of settling claims resulting from military activities.