[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 48 (Thursday, March 25, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3447-S3448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HELMS:
  S. 720. A bill to promote the development of a government in the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) based on 
democratic principles and the rule of law, and that respects 
internationally recognized human rights, to assist the victims of 
Serbian oppression, to apply measures against the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign 
Relations.


                   serbia democratization act of 1999

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, this is a significant piece of legislation, 
I believe, the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999, on which I am 
honored by the cosponsorship of a number of distinguished colleagues--
Senators Gordon Smith, Lugar, Lieberman, Lautenberg, DeWine, McCain, 
and Orrin Hatch.
  More than a year ago, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic sent 
Serbian troops into Kosovo to launch a brutal assault on the ethnic 
Albanian population there. This action was the beginning of a merciless 
and unjustified Serbian offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. 
Two thousand victims of Milosevic's cruelty lie dead--many of them 
innocent civilians. And hundreds of thousands of people have been 
driven from their homes.
  Mr. President, this tragedy in Kosovo has emphasized the obvious: 
that if the United States continues to foolishly hope for good will on 
the part of Milosevic, the United States will be dragged into the 
crises this cruel man manufactures time and again. Instead of pursuing 
a strategy that leads to NATO airstrikes or the deployment of thousands 
of United States troops in peacekeeping operations, I believe it is the 
course of wisdom to examine the root cause of instability in that 
region--the bloody regime of Slobodan Milosevic.
  President Milosevic has imposed rigid controls on, or launched 
outright attacks against, the media, universities, and the judicial 
system in Serbia to prevent the possibility that a democracy and an 
independent civil society can be developed. The massacres of innocent 
women and children in Kosovo demonstrate Milosevic's disregard 
for basic human rights. This man, in a word, forbids the very thought 
of a democratic system in Serbia.

  For too long this Administration has claimed that no viable 
democratic opposition exists in Serbia or that the United States has no 
choice but to work with Milosevic. Mr. President, I refuse to accept 
this argument. There are individuals and organizations in Serbia that 
can be a force for democratic change in that country. Milosevic is not 
the only option. And in no case should the United States treat that 
dictator as a responsible leader or as someone with whom we can do 
business.
  The Serbia Democratization Act, which I am introducing today, has but 
one purpose--to get rid of the murderous regime of Mr. Milosevic. Let 
me briefly summarize the key points of the legislation:
  It authorizes $100 million over a two year period to support the 
development of a government in Yugoslavia based on democratic 
principles and the rule of law.
  It calls for increased Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio 
Liberty broadcasting to Serbia to undermine state control of the media 
and spread the message of democracy to the people of Serbia.
  It calls for humanitarian and other assistance to the victims of 
oppression in Kosovo.
  It adds new sanctions or strengthens those that exist against Serbia 
until the President certifies that the government is democratic. For 
example, it codifies the so-called ``outer wall'' of sanctions that the 
United States has informally in place. It blocks Yugoslav assets in the 
United States. It prevents senior Yugoslav and Serbian government 
officials, and their families, from receiving visas to travel to the 
U.S. And it requires a democratic government to be in place in Serbia 
before extending MFN status to Yugoslavia.
  It states that the U.S. should send to the International Criminal 
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia all information we have on the 
involvement of Milosevic in war crimes.
  Now, as for Mr. Milosevic's future, I do not care one way or the 
other if he lives out his days in sunny Cyprus if he will agree to step 
aside and make way for democracy in Serbia. The important thing is that 
he be removed from power, whether voluntarily or not.
  Once the Milosevic regime has been replaced by a democratic 
government in Yugoslavia, this legislation calls for immediate and 
substantial U.S. assistance to support the transition to democracy. 
When that day comes, I will lead the way in encouraging Yugoslavia to 
take its place among the democratic nations of the West. Until that 
time, I will work to implement a policy that will undermine the 
autocratic regime of Slobodan Milosevic in every way possible.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise today as one of a bipartisan 
group of Senators introducing the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999.
  We've been developing this legislation for some time, to address our 
long-term interest in fostering democracy and human rights in what 
remains of the former Yugoslavia. But this legislation sends an 
important message at a time when our Armed Forces are conducting air 
operations and missile strikes against the so-called Federal Republic 
of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro.
  The message this legislation sends to the people of Serbia and 
Montenegro is

[[Page S3448]]

this: We are determined to punish those leaders responsible for such 
horrific violence throughout the former Yugoslavia. But we are also 
ready to support the development of democracy and civil society to help 
the people of Serbia and Montenegro overcome the repression which they, 
too, have suffered under the Milosevic regime.
  The measures outlined in this act will help free thought and free 
speech to survive in Serbia-Montenegro. This legislation will also give 
victims of Serbian attacks, particularly in Kosovo, a degree of comfort 
knowing the American people stand with them in their hour of need even 
as our aircraft fly overhead.
  This legislation also puts Slobodan Milosevic on notice that the 
reign of terror he has unleashed against the people of the Balkans--
including Serbs and others within Serbia--will soon be over. Along with 
democratization measures for Serbia-Montenegro, this act contains 
narrow sanctions to make it more difficult for Milosevic to sustain his 
corrupt regime and carry on his bloody war.
  The years Milosevic has been in power have left the region 
devastated. Americans remember all too well his brutal handiwork in the 
war in Bosnia. The images of destroyed homes, ethnically cleansed 
villages, of decaying corpses in mass graves, are indelibly etched in 
all our minds.
  Now, less than two years after the signing of the Dayton peace 
agreement which brought about the end of that war, Milosevic has 
unleashed a similarly brutal campaign against people within Serbia. 
Yugoslav tanks and soldiers are attempting to crush the Kosovar 
Albanians' resistance. Belgrade's brutal crackdown has left thousands 
dead, tens of thousands homeless, and hundreds of thousands displaced 
from their towns and villages.
  The man known in the Balkans as the Butcher of Belgrade, does not 
reserve his repression for Croats, Bosniaks, or Albanians. In his quest 
to gain and hold power, he has not spared his capital of Belgrade.
  For years now, Slobodan Milosevic has carried out a sustained 
campaign to destroy his country's democratic institutions and its 
people's freedoms. He is a communist thug, a relic of the bad old days 
of Central Europe. For years, he has run whole of the so-called Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia from his position as head of the constituent 
Republic of Serbia, leaving the constitution of the former Yugoslavia 
in tatters.
  The Milosevic regime has tried for years to prevent the development 
of independent media outlets to provide accurate news and other 
information to the people of Serbia and Montenegro. Journalists who 
have pursued stories unflattering to the regime have been threatened 
and beaten by police. Independent television stations and newspapers 
are being shut down through litigation under a draconian press law 
passed last fall. As the State Department's 1998 Human Rights Report 
notes, that law allows private citizens and organizations to bring suit 
against media outlets for publishing information not deemed patriotic 
enough or considered to be ``against the territorial integrity, 
sovereignty and independence of the country.''

  The effects of this policy are chilling. The people of Serbia-
Montenegro are getting a filtered message about the events in their 
country and around the world. They see and hear and read only the news 
their Government chooses to disseminate.
  Since NATO announced the approval of air operations and missile 
strikes, Belgrade has cracked down further on the independent media. 
Radio B92, operated courageously by Veran Matic, was shut down at 
gunpoint. Instead of hearing what is really happening, instead of 
hearing our reasons for conducting air strikes, people in Belgrade hear 
the regime's propaganda on Government radio.
  The university in Belgrade--one of the great institutes of higher 
learning in Central Europe--has been purged of professors who refuse to 
tow the party line. Students who have protested this action have been 
harassed. As a result, there are virtually no progressive professors or 
students left in several programs.
  The economy, too, is in tatters. Unemployment and underemployment 
hovers at 60 percent, primarily because the government has been 
unwilling to carry out needed economic reforms. Privatization, the 
cornerstone of a market economy, remains at a standstill, allowing 
cronyism and corruption to flourish.
  I would like to draw particular attention to a section of this law 
concerning the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 
Yugoslavia.
  As many of you know, for the past two years I have introduced 
legislation that bans U.S. aid to communities in the former Yugoslavia 
harboring war criminals. I introduced that legislation because it is my 
firm belief that democracy cannot come to a country, that a nation 
cannot begin to face the sins of its past, and that people cannot feel 
secure in their own communities, until individuals who persecuted 
others are brought to justice.
  Milosevic has a deplorable record in cooperating with the Tribunal. 
He has continually scorned his obligations to the United Nations to 
turn over war criminals to the Tribunal for prosecution, citing 
constitutional constraints. Consequently, indicted war criminals--
including Ratko Mladic, who is responsible for the massacre of hundreds 
of people during the Bosnian war, and the so-called Vukovar three who 
were indicted for the murder of 260 unarmed men during the 1991 attack 
on that Croatian city--reportedly live freely in Serbia.
  He denied officials from the Tribunal access to Kosovo to investigate 
alleged crimes in the village of Racak, after 40 people were found 
dead, their mutilated bodies dumped in a ravine. Milosevic tried to 
claim that the victims--children, women and old men--were combatants 
and shot in a confrontation with Serbian police. To lend his story 
credence, Milosevic instead allowed a so-called independent forensic 
team from Belarus--itself caught in the Stalinist past--and a group of 
Finns to analyze the corpses.
  Milosevic's tactic backfired. The forensic team found that the 
victims were unarmed civilians, executed in an organized massacre. Some 
of these Kosovars ``were forced to kneel before being sprayed with 
bullets,'' as the Washington Post reported it.
  Those who master-minded and perpetrated the massacres in Racak must 
face justice. Our Congress has already made very clear our view that 
Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal and should be indicted and tried 
by the International Tribunal.
  Mr. President, United States policy toward Belgrade is and must be 
much more than the use of air strikes. The legislation before us today 
will help Secretary Albright's efforts to bring lasting peace, 
democracy and prosperity to Serbia and Montenegro, as well as to Kosovo 
and the rest of the Balkans, by helping democracy and freedom prevail 
over a brutal dictator.
                                 ______