Financial compensation has been granted to 36,000 residents of Iraq's Ninawa province who suffered at the hands of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) or during the battle to oust the group, a local official said.

Ninawa's compensation committee on Tuesday (August 20th) announced it had "completed the processing of compensation to 6,000 citizens", committee chairman Judge Muzaffar Mahdi Saleh told Diyaruna.

These are the family members of those who lost their lives, as well as those who suffered injuries at the hands of ISIS or during military operations to oust the group from the province, he said.

"It also has completed 30,000 procedures for people whose property has been damaged by terrorists or as result of military errors," he said, referring specifically to privately-owned houses, real estate and vehicles.

Financial compensation is paid out in installments, after the central compensation commission in Baghdad approves the transactions and the required funds have been allocated, he explained.

Compensation is being paid out in accordance with Law No. 20 of 2009 -- amended by Law No. 57 of 2015 -- which gives all victims the right to receive compensation funds, Saleh said.

Under Iraqi law, relatives of the deceased and people with first degree injuries are entitled to five million Iraqi dinars ($4,200) in compensation.

Those who suffered from lesser injuries are entitled to receive amounts ranging from 4.5 million to 2.5 million Iraqi dinars ($3,775 to $2,095) per person.

Those who qualify for compensation are also paid monthly pensions.

Damage to private property

The compensation rate for those whose private property has been damaged varies "depending on the scale of the damage", Saleh said.

This might include everything from a partially demolished house to the total loss of a commercial building, he explained.

"Some 500 procedures have been completed and approved by the central compensation committee, and are now waiting for the beneficiaries to withdraw the funds allocated to them by the Finance Ministry," he said.

The Ninawa compensation committee "works day and night to complete the procedures for all those who have applied for compensation, and strives with all its power to process as many of them as possible", Saleh said.

It processes "hundreds of applications every month, which are subsequently submitted to the central committee for examination and approval", he said.

After the claims have been approved, "procedures start for disbursement and distribution of the funds to the beneficiaries", Saleh said.

He called on all eligible Ninawa province residents who believe they qualify for compensation under the law to apply, stressing that his committee’s work "will continue in order to ensure the material rights of all victims".