War reparations

War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. War reparations can take the form of hard currency, precious metals, natural resources, industrial assets, or intellectual properties. Loss of territory in a peace settlement is usually considered to be distinct from war reparations.

War reparations are often governed by treaties which belligerent parties negotiate as part of a peace settlement. Payment of reparations often occur as part of a condition to remove occupying troops or under the threat of re-occupation. The legal basis for war reparations in modern international law is Article 3 of the Hague Convention of 1907.

Prominent examples of war reparations include Carthage's indemnity paid to Rome following the First Punic War, French reparations following the Napoleonic Wars, Haiti's reparations to France following the Haitian War of Independence (1791–1804), French reparations to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and German reparations following World War I.

Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history.

Rome imposed large indemnities on Carthage after the First (Treaty of Lutatius, 241 BC) and Second Punic Wars.

There was also the case of 230 million silver taels in reparations imposed on defeated China after the First Sino-Japanese War led Japan to a similar decision.

There have been attempts to codify reparations both in the Statutes of the International Criminal Court and the UN Basic Principles on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims, and some scholars have argued that individuals should have a right to seek compensation for wrongs they sustained during warfare through tort law.

States do not necessarily end up repaying the war debts that they initially agreed to.