[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 10, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H929-H930]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN KOSOVO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks we have seen a seemingly new 
conflict begin to emerge in the Balkans with fighting in Kosovo. I say 
seemingly because it is really a conflict that has been around for 
quite some time.
  As the co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission in the mid-1980s, human 
rights violations were the first issue regarding the former Yugoslavia 
with which I and the Commission was confronted. In April 1990, 2 years 
before Bosnia would enter our foreign policy debates, I and other 
Members of the commission traveled to Kosovo and witnessed firsthand 
the repression which was building in Kosovo as the basis for Slobodan 
Milosevic's rise to power.
  During the Croatian and Bosnian conflicts, Kosovo no longer became a 
leading concern, as the Serbian regime directed its nationalist 
ambitions toward the north, and the Kosovar Albanians attempted to 
avoid bloodshed through a highly commendable passive resistance to 
Serbian rule. Even at that time, the Commission had focused on Kosovo 
in hearings and briefings as a potential site for spillover of the 
conflict.
  Finally, in the post-Dayton period the Commission has seen that 
Kosovo remains explosive, as indicated in a Commission visit and report 
in the summer of 1996. So for me and for other Members, the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Engel), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran), the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly), and the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith), Kosovo is not new.
  Despite the complexities of the Balkans, the simple fact is that the 
regime of Slobodan Milosevic has fermented hatred between the peoples 
of the former Yugoslavia as a means to maintain power and ward off 
democratic development in Serbia itself.
  In 1989, Milosevic unilaterally revoked Kosovo's previous autonomy. 
He made discrimination against ethnic Albanians, who constitute 90 
percent of the population of Kosovo, official policy, especially in 
terms of employment. His police force in Kosovo, which is, in effect, 
more of an army, has arbitrarily harassed, detained, tortured, and yes, 
even murdered innocent Albanians on a regular basis.
  The front page of the Washington Post shows an Albanian mother and 
her small child, victims of this Serbian onslaught.

                              {time}  1800

  On a regular basis, when students protest the lack of a university 
education, they announce it in advance and make clear their desire is 
to do so peacefully. The response to the exercise of freedom of 
assembly and expression? They are beaten.
  The recent fighting in central Kosovo can be traced to a few Kosovar 
Albanians who have formed a Kosovo liberation army and seek to fight 
repression with terrorism. They are wrong and their actions should be 
condemned.
  That said, and I say it strongly, the presence of these individuals 
cannot and must not be the pretext to justify further human rights 
violations by the Milosevic regime. The attacks on several Albanian 
villages which left dozens dead and many others injured or displaced is 
absolute and undeniable contravention of the standards for the behavior 
of governments as stated in the Helsinki Final Act and other documents 
of the OSCE. They are to be condemned by this country and all freedom-
loving peoples.
  At a high-level meeting of the contact group yesterday, at which 
Secretary of State Albright represented the United States, there was 
agreement to take action, as we must. In particular, I would like to 
focus on three of them which I, along with the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr.

[[Page H930]]

Smith), raised with the Secretary beforehand.
  First, the contact group supports a new OSCE mission led by former 
Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and the return of the mission to 
Kosovo, the Sandzak and Vojvodina. Getting an international presence on 
the ground which can deter human rights violations and report 
objectively on the situation is absolutely critical.
  Frankly, I believe there has not been a sufficient effort to get a 
mission back on the ground. Milosevic kicked out the mission and 
opposed its return because of Yugoslavia's suspension of the OSCE, yet 
he invited the OSCE to come to Serbia during and after elections in 
1996 and 1997, when he found it convenient.
  Whatever else we do, Mr. Speaker, we must create this international 
presence on the ground as a first step.
  Second, the contact group urged the prosecutor of the international 
criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to gather information 
related to the violence in Kosovo which may fall within its 
jurisdiction.
  Third, the contact group recommended adoption of the mandate for 
UNPREDEP, the U.N. peacekeeping force in neighboring Macedonia, which 
has a U.S. contingent.
  Mr. Speaker, this House, the Senate and this Nation must speak out 
for the safety of those in Kosovo.
  If Kosovo explodes, its potential for direct spillover into 
neighboring countries is actually greater than it was for Bosnia, and 
we must be prepared for that threat.
  As far as political and economic sanctions on Belgrade, Russia has 
indicated opposition at this time. I hope Moscow reconsiders this 
position. While it calls for sanctions on Latvia resulting from a 
demonstration in which no injuries were reported, the Russian 
Government opposed sanctions against a regime which brutally attacked 
whole villages and caused more than 75 fatalities, including women and 
children.
  Finally, I want to make clear that my opposition to Slobodan 
Milosevic is not opposition to the Serbian people. They, too, are 
victims in all of this. They are denied their basic human rights 
through limits on a free media, rigged elections and harassment by the 
authorities. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, we need to focus more squarely 
not just on ethnic conflict in the Balkans, but on democratization in 
Serbia. Ultimately, we cannot rely on Slobodan Milosevic to maintain 
stability in the Balkans, a democratic Serbia is essential to that end, 
in Bosnia and in Kosovo.
  Given our witness to the horrors which took place in Bosnia, we 
should be aware of the dangers of Kosovo. As Polish foreign minister, 
and OSCE chairman, Bronislav Gerememek said in February, ``In Kosovo we 
are witnessing a conflict in preparation * * * it would be inexcusable 
for the OSCE to remain passive regarding Kosovo.'' I fully agree, and 
hope my colleagues will support strong action to prevent a new and 
potentially more dangerous conflict in the Balkans.

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