[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 135 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 135

Calling for the immediate release of the three humanitarian workers in 
                              Yugoslavia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 1, 1999

    Mr. Durbin (for himself and Mr. Leahy) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Calling for the immediate release of the three humanitarian workers in 
                              Yugoslavia.

Whereas Branko Jelen, Steve Pratt, and Peter Wallace are three humanitarian 
        workers employed in Yugoslavia by CARE International, the relief and 
        development organization, providing food, medicines and fuel to more 
        than 50,000 Serbian refugees in Serbia and to displaced ethnic Albanians 
        in Kosovo;
Whereas Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, two Australian nationals, were detained 
        on March 31, 1999, and later accused of operating and managing a spy 
        ring and being employed by a spy ring, and Branko Jelen, a Yugoslav, was 
        arrested one week later on the same charges;
Whereas on March 30, the organization CARE International had received a letter 
        of commendation from the Yugoslavian government about CARE 
        International's humanitarian work in Yugoslavia;
Whereas one of the three humanitarian workers, Steve Pratt, appeared on Serbian 
        television on April 11, and he was coerced into saying that he had 
        performed covert intelligence activities;
Whereas the three humanitarian workers were held without access to outsiders for 
        20 days;
Whereas on May 29, a military court dismissed every element of the original 
        indictment, but then proceeded to convict the three CARE International 
        workers on an entirely new charge of passing on information to a foreign 
        organization, namely CARE International, and sentenced Pratt to 12 
        years, Jelen to 6, and Wallace to 4;
Whereas this last charge was introduced at the reading of the verdict, denying 
        lawyers for the three any opportunity to mount an appropriate defense;
Whereas it appears the humanitarian workers were convicted of providing 
        ``situation reports'' to their head office and other CARE International 
        offices around the world, based on legitimately gathered information, 
        necessary to enable CARE International management to plan their 
        humanitarian assistance in a rapidly changing context and to inform CARE 
        International management of the security situation in which their staff 
        were working;
Whereas the convictions of these three humanitarian workers raise serious 
        questions regarding the ability of humanitarian aid organizations to 
        operate in Yugoslavia, with implications for their operations in other 
        areas of conflict around the world;
Whereas the three humanitarian workers are innocent, committed no crime, and are 
        being held prisoner unjustly;
Whereas Yugoslavia needs humanitarian workers who feel secure enough to do their 
        work and who are not at risk of going to prison on false charges; and
Whereas many leaders around the world have raised the issue and sought to free 
        the captives, including Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Marti Ahtisaari, 
        Mary Robinson, and Jesse Jackson: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) urges the Government of the United States and the 
        United Nations to undertake urgent and strenuous efforts to 
        secure the release of the three CARE International humanitarian 
        workers; and
            (2) calls upon the Government of the Federal Republic of 
        Yugoslavia to send a positive signal to the international 
        humanitarian community and to give these workers their freedom 
        without further delay.
                                 <all>