[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 65 (Monday, May 23, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
 INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN KOSOVA RESOLUTION (H. CON. 
                               RES. 251)

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 23, 1994

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, recent events in Bosnia have demonstrated 
how little regard the Serbs have for the views of the international 
community. Their complete disregard for the mandates and requirements 
of the Uniited Nations Security Council, and indeed for the norms of 
civilized behavior as they carry out their plan for an ethnically 
cleansed ``Greater Serbia'' raises concern for the region of Kosova 
with its population of nearly two million ethnic Albanians.
  Prior to 1989, under the constitutional arrangements of the former 
Yugoslavia, Kosova enjoyed an autonomous status in which the Albanian 
majority enjoyed many of the fruits of self-government. Public 
institutions such as schools, hospitals, and the police were controlled 
by the local population. In 1989, however, as Serbian President 
Milosevic sought to consolidate his grasp on power he exploited ancient 
Serbian sensitivities on the status of Kosova as an excuse for 
annulling Kosova's autonomous status by illegally altering the Yugoslav 
Constitution, and subsequently replacing Albanian personnel in the 
educational, health, and law enforcement systems in Kosova with Serbs.
  Last summer, Serbian authorities refused to renew visas for a team of 
CSCE monitors that had been dispatched to Kosova to keep an eye on 
human rights abuses committed by the Serbian authorities. The Serbs 
have remained intransigent in refusing to grant visas for human rights 
monitors despite urgent appeals from the United States and most members 
of the European Union and other concerned coutnries. They have also 
refused to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolution 855 
which required Serbia to permit international human rights monitors 
into Kosova. Since the departure of international monitors last summer 
human rights abuses have nearly doubled, according to reports from the 
Kosovar Albanian community, with a number of its leading personalities 
driven into exile for fear for their lives.
  Accordingly, I am introducing today, along with Mr. Ackerman and Mr. 
Shays, House Concurrent Resolution 251, entitled ``International 
Support for Human Rights in Kosova.'' This resolution requests the 
administration to submit a report within 60 days of enactment on its 
recommendations on ways to implement international protection for the 
rights of the majority of the Kosovar population. In so doing, I do not 
believe that this is an issue in which the United States should seek to 
act alone. We should consult with our allies in Europe and with other 
members of the Security Council because this is an issue in which they 
too have a large stake. I do hope that this measure will help to focus 
the administration on the issue of Kosova as it seeks to bring the 
conflict in Bosnia to conclusion. I do not believe that ignoring or 
omitting the situation in Kosova, wherein millions of people are daily 
subject to harsh and brutal denial of the most basic and fundamental 
human rights, will contribute to long-term stability in Balkans.
  I hereby submit for the Record the text of House Concurrent 
Resolution 251, International Support for Human Rights in Kosova:

                            H. Con. Res. 251

       To express the sense of the Congress that the President 
     should report to the Congress on the situation in Kosova and 
     on his recommendations on ways to enhance international 
     protection of the rights of the people of Kosova.
       Whereas the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic 
     of Yugoslavia adopted in 1946 and the amended Yugoslav 
     constitution adopted in 1974 described the status of Kosova 
     as one of the eight constituent territorial units of the 
     Yugoslav Federation;
       Whereas the Government of Yugoslavia unlawfully abolished 
     the autonomous status of Kosova through the adoption of a 
     constitutional amendment without the consent of the people of 
     Kosova on March 23, 1989;
       Whereas in 1990 the Parliament and Government of Kosova 
     were abolished by further unlawful amendments to the 
     Constitution of Yugoslavia and over 100,000 ethnic Albanians 
     in government, the police, enterprises, media, educational 
     institutions, and hospitals were removed from their jobs and 
     replaced by Serbs;
       Whereas Serbian police have arrested hundreds of Kosovar 
     Albanians for allegedly engaging in nationalist activities, 
     often beating them brutally, and occasionally fatally;
       Whereas the people of Kosova have reacted to the unlawful 
     violation of their rights and Serbian repression by 
     establishing peacefully a parallel set of political and 
     social institutions in Kosova, approving in 1990 a 
     constitution, and electing Ibrahim Rugova as President;
       Whereas the Government of Serbia, in July 1993, ceased 
     cooperation with the missions of human rights monitors sent 
     to Kosova by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in 
     Europe and by the European Community; and
       Whereas the Government of Serbia has ignored United Nations 
     Security Council Resolution 855, of August 1993, which calls 
     upon the government to allow the continuation of the 
     Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe mission and 
     to guarantee the safety of and unimpeded access for 
     Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe monitors: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the 
     President should report to the Congress within 60 days on--
       ``(1) the situation in Kosova, including the manner in 
     which Serbia's policies have affected the economic, social, 
     and cultural rights of the majority in Kosova;
       (2) measures to provide humanitarian assistance to the 
     population of Kosova and to Kosovar refugees who have fled 
     Kosova; and
       (3) his recommendations (taking into account the views of 
     other United Nations Security Council members and the 
     European Union) on what modalities may be pursued, including 
     the possibility of establishing an international protectorate 
     for Kosova together with other members of the United Nations 
     Security Council and the European Union, to implement 
     international protection of the rights of the people of 
     Kosova, reestablish an international presence in Kosova to 
     monitor more effectively the situation there, and secure for 
     the people of Kosova their right to democratic self-
     government.

                          ____________________