IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 32

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to self-determination for

the people of Kosova, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 11, 1999

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. OLVER, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. MORAN of

Virginia, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr.

THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. HEFLEY, Mrs. LOWEY,

Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. FORBES,

Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, and Mr. CROWLEY) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to selfdetermination for the people of Kosova, and for other

purposes.

Whereas under the United Nations Charter and numerous

other binding international agreements friendly relations

among nations are based on the principles of equal rights

and self-determination of peoples;

Whereas the Helsinki Final Act, to which the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a party, states that ‘‘all

peoples have the right, in full freedom, to determine,

when and as they wish, their internal and external political status, without external interference, and to pursue as
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they wish their political, economic, social, and cultural

development’’;

Whereas the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia was founded upon the right of every nationality to self-determination, including the right to secede;

Whereas Kosova was one of the 8 constituent territorial units

of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as provided by the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, adopted in 1946, and the amended

Yugoslav Constitution, adopted in 1974;

Whereas until 1989 Kosova was a member of the Yugoslav

Federal Presidency, a constitutional entity consisting of

members from each of the constituent territorial units of

the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and served,

on a rotating basis, as its president;

Whereas several former constituent territorial units of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Former

Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, have, through the exercise of their legitimate right to self-determination, become independent, and Montenegro retains the right to

do so in the future;

Whereas the borders of Yugoslavia were altered in the 1990’s

when Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia became independent;

Whereas the United States and the international community

do not recognize the rump Yugoslavia as the successor

state to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;

Whereas the political rights of Kosova and its people were

curtailed on March 23, 1989, when the Government of
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Yugoslavia revoked the autonomous status of Kosova by

amending the Yugoslav Constitution without the consent

of Kosova, as was constitutionally required;

Whereas Kosova meets many of the traditional indicia of

statehood, such as defined boundaries, democratically

elected national leadership, existing government-style institutions, and a common language, heritage, and cultural

identity for more than the vast majority of the population;

Whereas in September 1990, the people of Kosova expressed

their overwhelming desire for independence in a referendum on the question of independence for Kosova in which

87 percent of those eligible to participate voted and 99

percent of those who voted supported independence for

Kosova;

Whereas throughout the 1990’s, the people of Kosova have

peacefully operated a shadow government, separate from

the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities, which has governed

the overwhelming majority of the population of Kosova;

Whereas since 1989 the majority of the population of Kosova,

92 percent of whom are ethnically Albanian, has been

subject to official discrimination including the removal of

Albanian students from public schools and the University

of Pristina and the firing of more than 100,000 Albanians from the civil service and police;

Whereas since 1989 the people of Kosova have been subject

to egregious human rights abuses, and according to the

Department of State’s Country Reports on Human

Rights Practices for 1997, the most widespread and

worst abuses in Serbia and Montenegro were committed
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by the police against the ethnic Albanian population of

Kosova;

Whereas during and since 1998, the people of Kosova have

been subjected to an ethnic cleansing campaign directed

by Serbian and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia authorities in Belgrade, resulting in the deaths of 2,000 Albanians, the destruction of over 300 civilian villages, the

burning of thousands of homes, and the creation of hundreds of thousands of internally and externally displaced

persons and refugees;

Whereas in 1998, the Senate and House of Representatives

passed resolutions declaring that it is the sense of the

Congress that ‘‘there is reason to believe that Slobodan

Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), has committed war

crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide’’;

Whereas the United States operates an office of the United

States Information Service in Pristina, the capital of

Kosova; and

Whereas on February 6, 1999, the international community,

including the United States, convened a meeting to negotiate an interim agreement on the status of Kosova in

Rambouillet, France: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) by illegally revoking the autonomy of

4 Kosova in 1989 and undertaking other unconstitu5 tional actions, by officially and harshly discriminat6 ing against the majority ethnic Albanians in Kosova,

7 and by committing numerous crimes against human-
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1 ity, including ethnic cleansing, against the people of

2 Kosova, Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugo3 slavia (Serbia and Montenegro), especially as ruled

4 by Slobodan Milosevic, have forfeited any right to

5 govern or to determine political status of the terri6 tory of Kosova;

7 (2) the United States should support the right

8 of self-determination for Kosova and its people, as it

9 did for the other former constituent territorial units

10 of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,

11 some of which have become independent;

12 (3) the United States should support an interim

13 agreement on the status of Kosova that supports the

14 principle of self-determination by—

15 (A) providing Kosova the right to genuine

16 and enhanced autonomy with democratic and

17 effective self-governance provisions and protec18 tion of minority rights during the interim pe19 riod at a level greater than provided by the

20 Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic

21 of Yugoslavia, as amended in 1974; and

22 (B) providing for a referendum on the

23 final status of Kosova, to be held within Kosova

24 on a date certain, which should include inde-
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1 pendence as an option, and be guaranteed by

2 the international community; and

3 (4) the United States should support such rep4 resentation for Kosova in international institutions

5 as is consistent with Kosova’s exercise of the legiti6 mate right of self-determination.

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