Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 24

The mental pain and anguish suffered by the detainee's family during his detention by the State of Iraq without knowing his fate. Among the damages arising from his death after it is established. The United Nations Compensation Commission's assessment of a lump sum for his family to redress those damages. The family intended therein is the husband or wife, the parents and the children, to the exclusion of others, and it is distributed equally among them. This is not altered by the wording in Decision No. 1 of 2005 issued by that Commission that each family shall receive a single amount distributed in accordance with the domestic laws applicable to the deceased detainee. The basis for this. - Compensation of the family of the deceased who was detained in Iraq for the mental pain and anguish they suffered, their ignorance of his fate for a long period, and then his death. Personal compensation to his family for those non-pecuniary damages, not compensation to the deceased. Its implication. It does not form part of his estate. There is no scope for applying Article 231 of the Civil Code, under which non-pecuniary compensation encompasses the deceased's relatives up to the second degree. Reason: the Compensation Commission intended to establish damage to family members within the limits indicated. Effect. The State to which the compensation is remitted may not examine whether or not the family members suffered damage. - Decisions of the United Nations Compensation Commission. They are final, binding decisions issued under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations: the State of Kuwait is obliged to implement them without alteration as a member of that Organization. Its necessary consequence: its courts have no power to contravene them by annulment or amendment. The challenged judgment's contravention of this. Vitiates it and requires its cassation.