[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 315 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 315

   Expressing the sense of the Congress condemning the atrocities by 
  Serbian police and military forces against Albanians in Kosova and 
   urging that blocked assets of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
 (Serbia and Montenegro) under control of the United States and other 
 governments be used to compensate the Albanians in Kosova for losses 
          suffered through Serbian police and military action.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 3, 1998

 Mr. Lantos (for himself, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Engel, Mrs. 
 Kelly, and Mr. Moran of Virginia) submitted the following concurrent 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Congress condemning the atrocities by 
  Serbian police and military forces against Albanians in Kosova and 
   urging that blocked assets of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
 (Serbia and Montenegro) under control of the United States and other 
 governments be used to compensate the Albanians in Kosova for losses 
          suffered through Serbian police and military action.

Whereas the ethnic Albanian population of the province of Kosova, which makes up 
        the overwhelming majority of the population of that area, has been 
        denied internationally recognized human rights and political rights, 
        including the protection of life, freedom of speech, freedom of 
        assembly, and freedom of the press;
Whereas Serbian police and military forces have engaged in brutal suppression of 
        the Albanian people, and the number of Serbian police and military 
        forces which have been deployed in Kosova is estimated at some 50,000 
        men;
Whereas human rights groups have reported and documented instances of Serbian 
        forces conducting abductions and summary executions of innocent ethnic 
        Albanian civilians in reprisal killings that are similar to those 
        conducted by Nazi forces during World War II and are similar to the 
        ethnic cleansing which was carried out by ethnic Serbian troops in 
        Bosnia;
Whereas Serbian forces have indiscriminately shelled and burned villages, 
        reducing them to rubble, in order to drive out the ethnic Albanian 
        inhabitants, inflicting heavy material losses upon the ethnic Albanians 
        in Kosova;
Whereas hundreds of ethnic Albanians, including women and children, have been 
        killed and over two hundred thousand ethnic Albanians have been forced 
        to flee and have become refugees as a result of this Serbian military 
        action;
Whereas the stubborn denial of human rights and policical rights to the ethnic 
        Albanian majority in Kosova by the Government of Serbia has been the 
        major factor in the radicalization of the political situation in the 
        province and made the prospects of a peaceful resolution of the conflict 
        there difficult if not impossible; and
Whereas the United States and the governments of other countries have blocked 
        the assets of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and 
        Montenegro): Now therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) deeply deplores and strongly condemns the appalling 
        loss of life and the extensive destruction of property, in 
        Kosova that is the consequence of the brutal actions of Serbian 
        police and military forces against the ethnic Albanian 
        population of the province;
            (2) believes that the government of Serbia is primarily 
        responsible for the loss of life and destruction of property, 
        and thus Serbia should bear the principal burden of providing 
        compensation for the loss of life and for the costs of 
        rebuilding areas which its forces have devastated;
            (3) urges the President and officials he designates to work 
        with the Congress to draft legislation and regulations which 
        will permit ethnic Albanians from Kosova who have suffered as a 
        consequence of the brutal actions of Serbian police and 
        military forces in Kosova to make claims against the assets of 
        the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) 
        which are in the control of the United States or which have 
        been blocked by action of the United States Government, and in 
        drafting this legislation and regulations special consideration 
        should be given to the circumstances of the Government of the 
        Republic of Montenegro and to persons located in and organized 
        under the laws of the republic of Montenegro;
            (4) urges the President and the Secretary of State to urge 
        all other counties to follow this same policy to permit claims 
        by ethnic Albanians who have suffered as a consequence of the 
        brutal actions of Serbian police and military forces in Kosova 
        to make claims against the assets of the Federal Republic of 
        Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) which are in the control of 
        the respective country; and
            (5) requests that a copy of this resolution be transmitted 
        to the President and the Secretary of State by the Clerk of the 
        House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate.
                                 <all>