106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 144
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Urging the United States Government and the
United Nations to undertake urgent and stren-
uous efforts to secure the release of Branko
Jelen, Steve Pratt, and Peter Wallace, 3 humani-
tarian workers employed in the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia by CARE International, who are
being unjustly held as prisoners by the Govern-
ment of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 144
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas Branko Jelen, Steve Pratt, and Peter Wallace are
3 humanitarian workers employed in the Federal Repub-
lic of Yugoslavia by CARE International, the relief and
development organization, providing food, medicines, and
fuel to more than 50,000 Serbian refugees in Serbia and
to displaced ethnic Albanians in Kosovo;
•HCON 144 EH
Whereas Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, 2 Australian nation-
als, were detained on March 31, 1999, and later accused
of operating and managing a spy ring and being em-
ployed by a spy ring, and Branko Jelen, a citizen of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was arrested 1 week
later on the same charges;
Whereas on March 30, 1999, CARE International received a
letter of commendation from the Government of the Fed-
eral Republic of Yugoslavia relating to CARE Inter-
national’s humanitarian work in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia;
Whereas 1 of the 3 men, Steve Pratt, appeared on Serbian
television on April 11, 1999, and he was coerced into say-
ing that he had performed covert intelligence activities;
Whereas the 3 Care International humanitarian workers were
held without access to outsiders for 20 days;
Whereas on May 29, 1999, a Serbian military court dis-
missed every element of the original indictment against
the 3 CARE International humanitarian workers, but
then proceeded to convict the 3 individuals on an entirely
new charge of passing on information to a foreign organi-
zation, namely CARE International, and sentenced Pratt
to 12 years, Jelen to 6 years, and Wallace to 4 years;
Whereas this last charge was introduced at the reading of the
verdict, denying lawyers for the 3 CARE International
humanitarian workers any opportunity to mount an ap-
propriate defense;
Whereas it appears the 3 CARE International humanitarian
workers were convicted of providing ‘‘situation reports’’
to their head office and other CARE International offices
around the world, based on legitimately gathered infor-
•HCON 144 EH
mation, necessary to enable CARE International manage-
ment to plan their humanitarian assistance in a rapidly
changing context and to inform CARE International
management of the security situation in which their staff
were working;
Whereas the convictions of the 3 CARE International human-
itarian workers raise serious questions regarding the abil-
ity of humanitarian aid organizations to operate in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with implications for
their operations in other areas of conflict around the
world;
Whereas the 3 CARE International humanitarian workers
are innocent, having committed no crime, and are being
held as prisoners unjustly;
Whereas the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia needs humani-
tarian workers who feel secure enough to do their work
and who are not at risk of going to prison on false
charges; and
Whereas many leaders around the world have raised the issue
and sought to free the captives, including United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan, former South African
President Nelson Mandela, Finnish President Martti
Ahtisaari, United Nations Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress—
(1) urges the United States Government and
the United Nations to undertake urgent and stren-
uous efforts to secure the release of Branko Jelen,
•HCON 144 EH
Steve Pratt, and Peter Wallace, 3 humanitarian
workers employed in the Federal Republic of Yugo-
slavia by CARE International; and
(2) calls upon the Government of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia to send a positive signal to
the international humanitarian community and to
give these humanitarian workers their freedom with-
out further delay.
Passed the House of Representatives July 12, 1999.
Attest:
Clerk.