WRITTEN QUESTION E-3649/03 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Serious delays in payments by the International Organisation for Migration in Geneva relating to the German forced labour compensation programme.
Date: 2003-12-09
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, International Organisation for Migration, Netherlands, Second World War, administrative formalities, indemnification, war damage, war victim

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 78 E/843

(2004/C 78 E/0896)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3649/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(9 December 2003)

Subject: Serious delays in payments by the International Organisation for Migration in Geneva relating to

the German forced labour compensation programme

Is the Commission aware of the delays in disbursing the EUR 5 billion which was made available by
1.
the German Government and German businesses in June 2000 as a contribution to compensation
payments for unpaid slave labour performed under degrading conditions during the Second World War?

Is the Commission furthermore aware that this money is being managed by the International
in Geneva with a view to making payments of a maximum of

2.
Organisation for Migration (IOM)
EUR 7 700 per person, in the form of the ‘IOM/German forced labour compensation programme’?

Has the Commission heard that, of the 600 000 Dutch forced labourers who worked in Germany,

3.
15 443 have claimed compensation and that so far only 1928 have been awarded it?

4.
Has the Commission also heard that the reasons for this delay are that claimants are required to
communicate in languages other than those they have learned themselves, that attempts to telephone the
organisation lead only to a voicemail box where it is possible to leave a message, that letters are left
unanswered and that documentary evidence has to be submitted which does not exist?

Does the Commission also know of similar complaints from former forced labourers living in
5.
countries other than the Netherlands concerning the poor functioning or complete breakdown of this IOM
programme?

Is it a satisfactory outcome that payment of this compensation to people whose average age is 80

6.
should be delayed for many years to come or that the compensation should not be paid at all?

7. What can the Commission do to help find a quick and equitable solution to this problem, which is
not confined to any one country?

Source: TV Nederland 1, ‘Netwerk’, 25 November 2003 (www.netwerk.tv).

(2004/C 78 E/0897)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3971/03

by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission

(5 January 2004)

Subject: Failure by Germany to compensate former Italian military internees (IMIs)

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which was commissioned by the German foundation
‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ to consider claims for compensation for slave labour and forced
labour during the Second World War, has not only incorrectly excluded a large proportion of Italian
applicants from the payment of compensation, but has also so far failed to pay the sums owing to those
deemed eligible for compensation.

Applicants are entitled to appeal against these decisions to the IOM’s appeals body in Geneva (IOM
Appeals Body, P.O. Box 174, CH-1211, Geneva 19, Switzerland) although, according to the IOM’s own
communication to Italian applicants of 11 November 2002, this body is bound by the decision of the
German Government and German foundation that Italian military internees had prisoner of war status
during the Second World War, excluding them from compensation.