[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1593-E1594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  H. CON. RES. 315--ON SERBIAN ATROCITIES IN KOSOVA AND USING BLOCKED 
             SERBIAN ASSETS TO COMPENSATE ETHNIC ALBANIANS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 6, 1998

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week I introduced House 
Concurrent Resolution 315, which expresses the sense of the Congress 
condemning the atrocities by Serbian police and military forces against 
ethnic Albanians in Kosova. The resolution also urges that blocked 
assets of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) 
which are under control of the United States and other governments be 
used to compensate the Albanians in Kosova for losses suffered as a 
result of Serbian police and military action. In introducing this 
resolution, I was joined by our colleagues, the distinguished Chairman 
of the Committee on International Relations Benjamin Gilman, my fellow 
Californian Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, our colleagues from New York 
Congressman Eliot Engel and Congresswoman Sue Kelly, and our colleague 
from Virginia Jim Moran.
  Mr. Speaker, this week, we have seen continuing media reports about 
the ongoing violence in the province of Kosova and about atrocities by 
Serbian military and police forces against ethnic Albanians. This week 
there were reports of a mass grave. Last week, human rights groups 
reported about summary executions by Serbian forces, including the 
killing of women and children. International human rights organizations 
have reported on these atrocities and are documenting the violence and 
the deaths.
  Until about a decade ago, the province of Kosova was an autonomous 
province of Serbia, and as such the ethnic Albanian majority were able 
to exercise considerable autonomy and self government in the conduct of 
their local affairs. Ten years ago, as Slobodan Milosevic began his 
rise to power in Serbia, and in that effort, he fostered the rise of 
Serbian ultra-nationalism for narrow partisan political purposes. One 
of the results of that policy was that under Milosevic, the Serbian 
government began a systematic process of limiting the self-government 
rights of the ethnic Albanian majority in the province of Kosova and 
restricting the human and civil rights of these people. Over the past 
decade, the Department of State has reported and documented this 
systematic and brutal repression of the ethnic Albanians of Kosova.
  Despite these Serbian policies, a highly respected Albanian 
leadership emerged which favored a peaceful, non-violent effort to win 
local government autonomy and respect for the civil and human rights of 
the majority population. Because of the increasingly repressive Serbian 
policies, however, Albanians who favored a violent and confrontational 
approach have gained strength. The increasing assertiveness of 
Albanians is the direct consequence of this ill-conceived aggressive 
nationalist Serbian repression and the failure of the Serbian 
government to recognize the legitimate rights of the ethnic Albanians 
of Kosova.
  After radicalizing the Albanian population by its disastrous 
policies, the Serbian government has sent increased numbers of ethnic 
Serbian police forces and Serbian military forces into Kosova in an 
effort to repress the effort of the ethnic Albanian majority to secure 
their legitimate political, civil and human rights. Thus far, Mr. 
Speaker, there have been several hundred confirmed deaths of ethnic 
Albanians, including women and children, and there are an estimated 
200,000 ethnic Albanian refugees who have been driven from their homes 
by the fighting. These tragic numbers are increasing as the Serbian 
violence continues.
  At a recent hearing of the House Committee on International Relations 
we heard from officials of the Department of State about the increasing 
violence taking place in Kosova. It struck me at that time, Mr. 
Speaker, that the government assets of the government of the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) which have been blocked 
by the United States government should be used to pay for the 
destruction which has been cause by the actions of the Serbian police 
and military forces in Kosova. For this reason, I have introduced House 
Concurrent Resolution 315. Our resolution expresses the Congress' 
outrage at the wanton destruction of life and property that has 
resulted from Serbian military actions in Kosova.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me as a cosponsor of this 
resolution, and I ask that the text of this resolution be included in 
the Record.

                            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.
       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

[[Page E1594]]

     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 political 
     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 it 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 countries 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.

     

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