IV

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 313

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

JULY 30, 1998

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, and Mrs. KELLY)

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, friendly relations

among nations are based on the principles of equal rights

and self-determination of peoples;

Whereas under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States and the Socialist

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are parties, all peoples

have the right of self-determination;

Whereas equal rights and self-determination of peoples are

among the Principles Guiding Relations Between Participating States enshrined in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act,
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to which the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was

a party;

Whereas the Helsinki Final Act 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 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 in the Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic

of Yugoslavia, adopted in 1946, and the amended Yugoslav Constitution, adopted in 1974, Kosova was described

as one of the 8 constituent territorial units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;

Whereas until 1989 Kosova had a representative on the

Yugoslav Federal Presidency, a constitutional entity consisting of members from each of the constituent territorial units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;

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 exercised their

rights to 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;
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Whereas the United States and the international community

do not recognize the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as

the successor state to the Socialist Federal Republic of

Yugoslavia;

Whereas the political rights of the people of Kosova were curtailed on March 23, 1989, when the Government of

Yugoslavia revoked the autonomous status of Kosova by

amending the Yugoslav Constitution without the consent

of Kosova, as was constitutionally required, and by other

unconstitutional actions including further amendments to

the Yugoslav Constitution obtained by unconstitutional

means;

Whereas in September 1990, in a referendum on the question

of independence for Kosova, 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, and that shadow

government has governed the 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

ethnic Albanian students from public schools and the

University of Pristina and the firing of more than

100,000 ethnic 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
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Rights Practices for 1997, the most widespread and

worst abuses in Serbia and Montenegro were committed

by the police against the ethnic Albanian population of

Kosova;

Whereas on July 17, 1998, the Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 105 declaring that it is the sense of the

Congress that ‘‘the United States should publicly declare

that it considers 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’’; and

Whereas the United States has opened an office of the

United States Information Service in Pristina, the capital

of Kosova: 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 of the autonomy of

4 Kosova in 1989 and undertaking other unconstitu5 tional actions, by subsequently promoting official

6 policies of harsh discrimination against the majority

7 ethnic Albanians in Kosova, and by flagrantly violat8 ing the human rights of the people of Kosova, Serbia

9 and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, especially as

10 ruled by Slobodan Milosevic, have forfeited the le11 gitimate right to govern or to determine political sta12 tus of the territory of Kosova;

13 (2) the United States should support the right

14 of self-determination for the people of Kosova;
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1 (3) the United States should support any reso2 lution of the question of the status of Kosova, in3 cluding independence, if such resolution is arrived at

4 by means of legitimate acts of self-determination, in5 cluding a free and fair referendum in Kosova;

6 (4) the United States should support the same

7 right of self-determination for Kosova that the inter8 national community has recognized for the other

9 former constituent territorial units of the Socialist

10 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, some of which have

11 become independent;

12 (5) the United States should encourage other

13 countries, especially members of the Contact Group

14 of Nations for the Former Yugoslavia, to support

15 the right of self-determination for the people of

16 Kosova; and

17 (6) the United States should support such rep18 resentation of Kosova in international institutions as

19 is consistent with the exercise of the legitimate right

20 of self-determination by the people of Kosova.

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