[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 235 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 235


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 19, 1998

      Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Calling for an end to the violent repression of the legitimate rights 
                        of the people of Kosova.

Whereas the Albanian people of Kosova constitute more than 90 percent of the 
        total population of Kosova;
Whereas the political rights of the Albanian people of Kosova were curtailed 
        when the Government of Yugoslavia illegally amended the Constitution of 
        Yugoslavia without the consent of the people of Kosova on March 23, 
        1989, revoking the autonomous status of Kosova;
Whereas in 1990, the Parliament and Government of Kosova were abolished by 
        further unlawful amendments to the Constitution of Yugoslavia;
Whereas the Mission of Long Duration to Kosova, the Sandzak and Vojvodina, which 
        the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deployed 
        in 1992, eased local tensions through objective human rights monitoring 
        and facilitating dialogue between authorities and the various 
        communities before the authorities of Serbia-Montenegro expelled the 
        Mission in 1993;
Whereas the State Department's 1997 Country Report on Human Rights in Serbia 
        notes violations of civil liberties in Kosova particularly in the 
        following categories: political and other extra-judicial killing; 
        torture and other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; 
        arbitrary arrest, detention or exile; denial of fair public trial; and 
        arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence;
Whereas on the night of February 28, 1998, Serbian paramilitary policy units, 
        reported to number in excess of 25,000 men, swept through the Drenica 
        region of Kosova killing more than 20 Albanian citizens, many of who 
        died from being beaten to death;
Whereas on March 2, 1998, 30,000 demonstrators peacefully marched in Pristina to 
        protest the massacre of February 28 and were brutally attacked by 
        Serbian police;
Whereas a group calling itself the Liberation Army of Kosova has threatened to 
        retaliate against the atrocities committed by Serbian authorities;
Whereas new elections in Kosova scheduled for March 22, 1998, have now been 
        postponed; and
Whereas the President of the United States and other officials have warned the 
        Government of Serbia that there would be serious consequences if Serbian 
        policies led to an escalation of violence in Kosova: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the violent repression carried out by the Serbian 
        police and paramilitary forces against the ethnic Albanian 
        population of Kosova should be condemned by the United States 
        and the international community;
            (2) efforts of the international Contact Group (the United 
        States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and Italy) in 
        support of a resolution of the conflict in Kosova are to be 
        commended and intensified;
            (3) no international or United States sanctions currently 
        in force against the Government of Serbia and Montenegro should 
        be terminated at this time, unless such termination serves to 
        support a peaceful resolution to the repression in Kosova;
            (4) the United States should consult with its allies and 
        other members of the United Nations on reimposing those 
        sanctions against Serbia-Montenegro that were terminated 
        following the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995 if 
        Serbian authorities continue to use unlawful violence against 
        the Albanian people of Kosova;
            (5) the United States should acknowledge recent 
        developments in the Republic of Montenegro that indicate that 
        the new leadership of the Republic is seeking a peaceful 
        resolution to the repression in Kosova, particularly the 
        statement by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic that Kosova 
        must receive a certain degree of autonomy, and his call for a 
        dialog between the Government of Serbia and Montenegro and 
        ethnic Albanians in Kosova;
            (6) the United States should, to the extent practicable, 
        recognize positive actions by the Government of the Republic of 
        Montenegro with regard to repression in Kosova through 
        exclusion from those sanctions that may be applied to the 
        Government of Serbia;
            (7) the elections in Kosova originally scheduled for March 
        22, 1998, and now postponed, should be allowed to proceed 
        unimpeded by Belgrade whenever they take place, as they 
        represent the opportunity for a peaceful expression of the 
        political will of the Albanian people of Kosova;
            (8) all parties should refrain from acts that could lead to 
        heightened tensions in Kosova;
            (9) international and nongovernmental organizations that 
        provide medical assistance should be permitted immediate and 
        unrestricted access to Kosova and all of its citizens;
            (10) international investigators of serious breaches of 
        international humanitarian law should be granted immediate and 
        unimpeded access to all parts of Kosova and to its citizens;
            (11) the agreement on education in Kosova should be 
        implemented immediately, including at the university level, 
        allowing all residents of Kosova regardless of ethnicity to 
        receive education in their native tongue;
            (12) the elected leaders of Kosova should begin a dialog 
        without preconditions with the authorities in Belgrade to 
        resolve the present situation, and to provide for the exercise 
        of the legitimate civil and political rights of all the people 
        of Kosova;
            (13) inasmuch as the Belgrade regime led by the last 
        Communist dictator in Europe, Slobodan Milosevic, continues to 
        abuse democratic norms and the rights of all its citizens, 
        threatening general regional stability, the United States 
        should undertake determined measures and provisions designed to 
        promote human rights and democratic government throughout 
        Serbia and Montenegro;
            (14) the authorities of Serbia-Montenegro should cooperate 
        fully with efforts and initiatives of the Organization for 
        Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to address the 
        problems in Kosova, including the immediate and unconditional 
        return of a Mission of Long Duration;
            (15) staff of the United States Information Agency office 
        in Pristina, Kosova, should be augmented; and
            (16) the United Nations Security Council should consider 
        the question of restoration of the human and political rights 
        of the people of Kosova and actions to halt Belgrade's violent 
        repression of the region's population.

            Passed the House of Representatives March 18, 1998.

            Attest:

                                                Robin H. Carle,

                                                                 Clerk.