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 self-
determination 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 Polit-
ical 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 Partici-
pating States enshrined in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act,
•HCON 313 IH
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 national-
ity 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 Yugo-
slav Constitution, adopted in 1974, Kosova was described
as one of the 8 constituent territorial units of the Social-
ist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
Whereas until 1989 Kosova had a representative on the
Yugoslav Federal Presidency, a constitutional entity con-
sisting of members from each of the constituent terri-
torial units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugo-
slavia;
Whereas several former constituent territorial units of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including Slove-
nia, 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 inde-
pendent;
•HCON 313 IH
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 cur-
tailed 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 po-
lice;
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 Concur-
rent 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
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) by illegally revoking of the autonomy of
Kosova in 1989 and undertaking other unconstitu-
tional actions, by subsequently promoting official
policies of harsh discrimination against the majority
ethnic Albanians in Kosova, and by flagrantly violat-
ing the human rights of the people of Kosova, Serbia
and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, especially as
ruled by Slobodan Milosevic, have forfeited the le-
gitimate right to govern or to determine political sta-
tus of the territory of Kosova;
(2) the United States should support the right
of self-determination for the people of Kosova;
•HCON 313 IH
(3) the United States should support any reso-
lution of the question of the status of Kosova, in-
cluding independence, if such resolution is arrived at
by means of legitimate acts of self-determination, in-
cluding a free and fair referendum in Kosova;
(4) the United States should support the same
right of self-determination for Kosova that the inter-
national community has recognized for the other
former constituent territorial units of the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, some of which have
become independent;
(5) the United States should encourage other
countries, especially members of the Contact Group
of Nations for the Former Yugoslavia, to support
the right of self-determination for the people of
Kosova; and
(6) the United States should support such rep-
resentation of Kosova in international institutions as
is consistent with the exercise of the legitimate right
of self-determination by the people of Kosova.
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