[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 85 Referred in House (RFH)]

  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 85


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 21, 1998

          Referred to the Committee on International Relations

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                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Calling for an end to the violent repression of the people of Kosovo.

Whereas ethnic Albanians constitute 90 percent of the population of the province 
        of Kosovo;
Whereas the human rights situation in Kosovo has recently deteriorated, 
        culminating in the killing of more than 70 ethnic Albanians, including 
        innocent women and children, by Serbian police and paramilitary forces 
        controlled by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic;
Whereas Serbian authorities controlled by Milosevic have attempted to thwart 
        efforts by international forensic experts to determine the cause of 
        death of recent victims by burying the dead against the wishes of their 
        families;
Whereas the current conflict in Kosovo threatens to reignite war in the Balkans, 
        and is thereby a potential threat to regional peace and security;
Whereas the six-nation Contact Group established to monitor the situation in the 
        former Yugoslavia has requested that the Serbian authorities controlled 
        by Milosevic grant International Red Cross personnel access to areas 
        where recent violence and killing have been reported;
Whereas the Contact Group has called upon Milosevic to withdraw special police 
        units from Kosovo and enter into unconditional negotiations with ethnic 
        Albanian political leaders in order to find a peaceful political 
        solution to the conflict or face additional international sanctions; and
Whereas a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Kosovo must respect the rights 
        of members of all ethnic and religious groups in Kosovo, all of whose 
        representatives should be involved in negotiations about the resolution 
        of that conflict: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress--
            (1) the United States should condemn the Serbian government 
        controlled by Slobodan Milosevic in the strongest possible 
        terms for the gross human rights violations against its 
        citizens, including the indiscriminate use of Serbian 
        paramilitary police units against the Albanian population of 
        Kosovo;
            (2) the United States should condemn any terrorist actions 
        by any group or individual in Kosovo;
            (3) the international community should respond 
        affirmatively to the call of the Contact Group for the 
        imposition of broad-based sanctions against the government of 
        Serbia if it fails to prevent additional atrocities by the 
        police and paramilitary units under its control or does not 
        otherwise comply immediately with the terms set forth by the 
        Contact Group;
            (4) the United States should freeze funds of the 
        governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia if 
        the government of Serbia fails to comply by March 25, 1998, 
        with the terms set forth by the Contact Group;
            (5) pursuant to the terms set forth by the Contact Group, 
        the United States should demand that the Serbian government and 
        the ethnic Albanian leadership and the representatives of all 
        ethnic and religious groups in Kosovo immediately begin 
        unconditional talks to achieve a peaceful resolution to the 
        conflict in Kosovo and to provide for the exercise of the 
        legitimate civil and political rights of all persons in Kosovo; 
        and
            (6) the United States should demand that international 
        human rights monitors, especially personnel of the 
        International Red Cross who were forced to withdraw from 
        Kosovo, be allowed to return immediately to Kosovo in order to 
        be able to report on all human rights violations.

            Passed the Senate March 18, 1998.

            Attest:

                                                    GARY SISCO,

                                                             Secretary.