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Because of the institutional knowledge and expertise of the FCSC staff, the Department of the Interior asked for the FCSC's assistance with the Guam War Claims Review Commission, which was established in September 2003 pursuant to Public Law 107-333, approved December 16, 2002. The purpose of the Review Commission was to evaluate the treatment accorded by the U.S. Navy to claims of residents of Guam for death, physical injury, and property loss and destruction during and after the occupation of Guam by Imperial Japanese Forces during World War II, and to determine whether the compensation provided to the people of Guam was comparable to that provided under other claims statutes covering World War II losses.
The Review Commission, composed of five individuals, designated the FCSC's Chairman as its Chairman, and the FCSC staff members conducted investigative research in support of the Review Commission's work. However, it is important to emphasize that this work was totally independent, and that it was carried out solely for the edification of and at the direction of the members of the Review Commission and was in no way identified with or sponsored by either the FCSC or the Department of Justice.
The Review Commission held hearings on Guam in December 2003 to take testimony of survivors of the Japanese occupation concerning their wartime and post-war experiences, and in February 2004 it held a conference in Washington, DC, to hear opinions and insights of legal experts on a variety of war claims-related issues. These efforts eventually culminated in an 82-page written report, with numerous appendices, which the Review Commission submitted on June 9, 2004, to the Secretary of the Interior, the House Committees on Resources and the Judiciary, and the Senate Committees on Energy and Natural Resources and the Judiciary. As provided by law, the Review Commission then went out of existence on July 10, 2004. It is the FCSC's understanding that the Administration has not taken a position on any of the findings and recommendations contained in the Review Commission's report.
The report of the Review Commission is available on the Internet for reading or downloading at: http://www.doi.gov/oia/Stories/warclaim/finalwarclaimrpt/Gumwarclaimsum.htm
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The Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996, Public Law 104-114, known as the "Helms-Burton Act," includes as Title III a provision authorizing U.S. nationals whose Cuban property was confiscated by the Castro regime to bring federal court actions against foreign entities "trafficking" in those properties. The legislation contemplates that, with limited exceptions, the courts hearing these cases will adopt the valuations determined in awards issued by the Commission in its Cuban Claims Program, which it conducted from 1965 to 1972 under Title V of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949, as amended (22 U.S.C. 1643 et seq.). In the course of that program the Commission certified 5,911 claims as valid, with an aggregate principal value (i.e., not including interest) of over $1.8 billion.
In cases where plaintiffs were not eligible to file claims in the Commission's Cuban Claims Program, the Helms-Burton Act authorized the United States District Courts, beginning in March 1998, to receive those claims and to appoint the Commission as Special Master to make determinations concerning ownership and valuation of the property at issue in the claims. Since the statute's enactment, however, Presidents Clinton and Bush have continually waived the implementation of the right to file Title III actions, citing the need to seek agreement with U.S. trading partners on policy toward Cuba; it remains suspended today.
**A reprint of the Commission's Final Report to Congress on the Cuban Claims Program may be accessed by clicking on the following link: CubanClaimsReport.pdf (Part 1) CubanClaimsReport.pdf (Part 2)
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