I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4115
To condition the lifting of sanctions on Serbia and Montenegro upon
improvements in Kosova, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 23, 1994
Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. KING, Mrs.
LOWEY, and Mr. OLVER) introduced the following bill; which was referred
jointly to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, Banking, Finance and
Urban Affairs, and Public Works and Transportation
A BILL
To condition the lifting of sanctions on Serbia and
Montenegro upon improvements in Kosova, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Kosova Peace and De-
mocracy Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The political rights of the Albanian majority
in Kosova were curtailed in 1989 when the former
Yugoslav Government in Belgrade illegally amended
the Yugoslav federal constitution, revoking Kosova’s
autonomous status.
(2) In September 1990, a referendum on the
question of independence for Kosova was held in
which 87 percent of those eligible to participate
voted, and 99 percent of those voting supported
independence for Kosova.
(3) In May 1992, a Kosovar national par-
liament was elected and Dr. Ibrahim Rugova was
overwhelmingly elected President of the Republic of
Kosova.
(4) The government in Belgrade has not al-
lowed the new Kosovar government to assemble on
Kosovar territory.
(5) Credible reports of Serbian ‘‘ethnic cleans-
ing’’ in Kosova have been received by the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, and
Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic has called for the
transfer of ethnic Albanians from their homes in
Kosova to areas outside of Kosovar territory and
their replacement by Serbs.
(6) Since 1990, tens of thousands of Kosovars
of Albanian origin have been dismissed from their
jobs solely on the basis of their ethnicity.
(7) Reports of brutal beatings of ethnic Alba-
nians in Kosova by the mostly Serbian police are re-
ceived almost daily.
(8) The government in Belgrade has severely
restricted the access of ethnic Albanians in Kosova
to all levels of education solely on the basis of their
ethnicity.
(9) All forms of the media in Kosova, especially
those in the Albanian language, are strictly con-
trolled by the government in Belgrade and dissent-
ing political views are systematically deleted from all
forms of the media.
(10) Under the ‘‘Special Measures’’ decree
adopted in 1991, the government in Belgrade inten-
tionally undermined the independent character of
the judiciary of Kosova by dismissing hundreds of
ethnic Albanian judges, replacing them with Serbs
or Montenegrins, and changing the official court lan-
guage to Serbian, which is not native to the Alba-
nian majority.
(11) Those expressing political views in opposi-
tion to the current government are frequently jailed
and tortured while in prison by Serbian authorities,
and occasional deaths of detainees have been re-
ported.
(12) Conference on Security and Cooperation in
Europe observers dispatched to Kosova in 1991,
were expelled by the government in Belgrade in July
1993.
(13) Following the departure of such observers,
several international human rights organizations, in-
cluding Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, and the Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights, have documented an increase in humani-
tarian abuses in Kosova.
(14) The economy of Kosova is under severe
pressure caused by the combination of the closing of
small businesses by Serbian authorities and the ef-
fect of international sanctions.
(15) Radio Free Europe recently began broad-
casts to the former Yugoslavia in Serbian and Cro-
atian, but not in Albanian.
(16) Congress has provided for the opening of
a United States Information Agency cultural center
in Prishtina, Kosova, in section 223 of the Foreign
Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1992 and
1993, but security conditions have prevented the es-
tablishment of such center.
(17) The closing of the airport in Prishtina,
Kosova, represents an obstacle to the delivery of hu-
manitarian goods into Kosova and a barrier to a re-
turn to normalcy.
(18) The President has explicitly warned the
government in Belgrade that ‘‘in the event of con-
flict in Kosova caused by Serbian action, the United
States will be prepared to employ military force
against the Serbs in Kosova and in Serbia proper.’’.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ and other acts of repres-
sion against the citizens of Kosova by the govern-
ment in Belgrade must be halted immediately;
(2) members of the elected government of
Kosova should be allowed to assemble and exercise
their legitimate mandate as elected representatives
of the people of Kosova;
(3) all individuals in Kosova whose employment
was terminated on the basis of their ethnicity should
be reinstated to their previous positions immediately;
(4) the education system in Kosova should be
reopened to all residents of Kosova regardless of eth-
nicity, and the majority ethnic Albanian population
should be allowed to be educated in its native
tongue;