[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HELSINKI COMMISSION HEARING ON: ``KOSOVO'S DISPLACED AND IMPRISONED''

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                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 1, 2000

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, this week the Helsinki 
Commission held a hearing to review the current situation in Kosovo and 
the prospects for addressing outstanding human rights issues there. 
More specifically, the hearing focused on the more than 200,000 
displaced of Kosovo, mostly Serb and Roma, as well as those Albanians--
numbering at least 1,600 and perhaps much more--imprisoned in Serbia. 
Witnesses included Ambassador John Menzies, Deputy Special Advisor to 
the President and Secretary of State for Kosovo Implementation; Bill 
Frelick, Director for Policy at the U.S. Committee for Refugees; His 
Grace, Bishop Artemije of the Serbian Orthodox Church; Andrzej Mirga, 
an expert on Roma issues for the Project on Ethnic Relations and the 
Council of Europe; Susan Blaustein, a senior consultant at the 
International Crisis Group; and, finally, Ylber Bajraktari, a student 
from Kosovo.
  The situation for the displaced, Mr. Speaker, is truly horrible. In 
Serbia, most collective centers are grim, lacking privacy and adequate 
facilities. While most displaced Serbs have found private 
accommodations, they still confront a horrible economic situation 
worsened by the high degree of corruption, courtesy of the Milosevic 
regime. The squalor in which the Roma population from Kosovo lives is 
much worse, and they face the added burdens of discrimination, not only 
in Serbia but in Montenegro and Macedonia as well. There is little 
chance right now for any of them to go back to Kosovo, given the 
strength of Albanian extremists there. Indeed, since KFOR entered 
Kosovo eight months ago, it was asserted, more than 80 Orthodox 
Churches have been damaged or destroyed in Kosovo, more than 600 Serbs 
have been abducted and more than 400 Serbs have been killed. The 
situation for those Serbs and Roma remaining in Kosovo is precarious.
  Other groups--including Muslim Slavs, those who refused to serve in 
the Yugoslav military, and ethnic Albanians outside Kosovo--face severe 
problems as well, but their plights are too often overlooked.
  Meanwhile, the Milosevic regime continues to hold Albanians from 
Kosovo in Serbian prisons, in many cases without charges. While an 
agreement to release these individuals was left out of the agreement 
ending NATO's military campaign against Yugoslav and Serbian forces, 
with the Clinton Administration's acquiescence, by international law 
these people should have been released. At a minimum, the prisoners are 
mistreated; more accurately, many are tortured. Some prominent cases 
were highlighted: 24-year-old Albin Kurti, a former leader of the non-
violent student movement; Flora Brovina, a prominent pediatrician and 
human rights activist; Ukshin Hoti, a Harvard graduate considered by 
some to be a possible future leader of Kosovo; and, Bardhyl Caushi, 
Dean of the School of Law, University of Pristina. Clearly, the 
resolution of these cases is critical to any real effort at 
reconciliation in Kosovo.
  This human suffering, Mr. Speaker, must not be allowed to continue. 
Action must be taken by the United States and the international 
community as a whole. Among the suggestions made, which I would like to 
share with my colleagues, are the following:
  First, get rid of Milosevic. Little if anything can be done in Kosovo 
or in the Balkans as a whole until there is democratic change in 
Serbia;
  Second, bring greater attention to the imprisoned Albanians in 
Serbia, and keep the pressure on the Milosevic regime to release them 
immediately and without condition;
  Third, rein in extremists on both sides--Albanian and Serb--in Kosovo 
with a more robust international presence, including the deployment of 
the additional international police as requested by the UN 
Administrator;
  Fourth, find alternative networks for improved distribution of 
assistance to the displaced in Serbia;
  Fifth, consider additional third-country settlement in the United 
States and elsewhere for those groups most vulnerable and unable to 
return to their homes, like the Roma and those who evaded military 
service as urged by NATO.
  Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, I intend to 
pursue some of these suggestions with specific legislative initiatives, 
or through contacts with the Department of State. I hope to find 
support from my fellow Commissioners and other colleagues. Having heard 
of the suffering of so many people, we cannot neglect to take 
appropriate action to help, especially in a place like Kosovo where the 
United States has invested so much and holds considerable influence as 
a result.

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