Implementation of paragraph 4 of Security Council resolution 2107 (2013) - S/2024/95

S/2024/95

Distr.: General 25 January 2024

Thirty-ninth report of the Secretary-General

Introduction

II.

1. The present report, submitted pursuant to paragraph 4 of Security Council resolution 2107 (2013), covers developments pertaining to missing Kuwaiti and third- country nationals and missing Kuwaiti property, including the national archives, since my previous report, dated 26 September 2023 (S/2023/698).

Recent activities with regard to the repatriation and return of all Kuwaiti and third-country nationals or their remains

2. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) attended, in its observer capacity, the 127th and 128th meetings of the Technical Subcommittee of the Tripartite Commission, which were held in Baghdad on 10 and 11 October 2023 and in Kuwait City on 12 December 2023, respectively. On 14 December, UNAMI attended the fifty-sixth meeting of the Tripartite Commission in Kuwait City, at which the role of UNAMI as an observer of the Commission was renewed. At the meetings, the members of the Tripartite Commission provided updates on their efforts to identify and explore potential burial sites of interest. Those efforts continue to rely on voluntary witness testimony and analysis of satellite and aerial imagery, as well as field missions.

3. During the reporting period, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Ministry of Defence of Iraq continued their efforts to conduct joint analysis of available commercial satellite imagery and aerial imagery provided by the United States of America for the identification of four potential burial sites in Iraq, including in Samawah (Tall al-Shaykhiyah and Faydat al-Azayir), Karbala’ and Khamisiyah, and of available imagery of four sites in Kuwait based on coordinates provided by the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The United States stated that it was still looking into the request for new imagery for the four sites in Iraq. Kuwait requested support from the United States in reviewing the available information from a visit to Faydat al-Azayir conducted by the United States Army and a technical team from Kuwait in 2003 on the basis of witness testimony or any data that could assist in locating the remaining burial site in the area. The United States expressed its commitment to gathering additional information on the potential burial site.

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