[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 24 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 24
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United
States should declare its support for the independence of Kosova.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 4, 2005
Mr. Lantos (for himself and Mr. Hyde) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United
States should declare its support for the independence of Kosova.
Whereas the United States and the international community recognize that a right
to self-determination exists as a fundamental right of all people;
Whereas Kosova was constitutionally defined as a sovereign territory in the
First National Liberation Conference for Kosova on January 2, 1944, and
this status was confirmed in the Constitution of the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia adopted in 1946, and the amended Yugoslav
constitution adopted in 1974 preserved the autonomous status of Kosova
as a de facto republic;
Whereas prior to the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Kosova was a
separate political and legal entity with separate and distinct financial
institutions, police force, municipal and national government, school
system, judicial and legal system, hospitals and other independent
organizations;
Whereas Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic rose to power in 1987 on a platform
of ultranationalism and anti-Albanian racism, advocating violence and
hatred against all non-Slavs and specifically targeting the Albanians of
Kosova;
Whereas Slobodan Milosevic subsequently stripped Kosova of its self-rule,
without the consent of the people of Kosova;
Whereas the elected Assembly of Kosova, faced with these intolerable acts,
adopted a Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1990, proclaimed the
Republic of Kosova, and adopted a constitution on September 7, 1990,
based on the international legal principles of self-determination,
equality, and sovereignty;
Whereas in recognition of the de facto dissolution of the Yugoslav federation,
the European community established principles for the recognition of the
independence and sovereignty of the republics of the former Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kosova fully satisfied those
principles as a de facto republic within the federation;
Whereas a popular referendum was held in Kosova from September 26-30, 1991, in
which 87 percent of all eligible voters cast ballots and 99.87 percent
voted in favor of declaring Kosova independent of the Socialist Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia;
Whereas, from the occupation of Kosova in 1989 until the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) military action against the Milosevic regime in
1999, the Albanians of Kosova were subjected to the most brutal
treatment in the heart of Europe since the Nazi era, forcing
approximately 400,000 Albanians to flee to Western Europe and the United
States;
Whereas in the spring of 1999 almost 1,000,000 Kosovar Albanians were driven out
of Kosova and at least 10,000 were murdered by the Serbian paramilitary
and military;
Whereas Slobodan Milosevic was indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal
and extradited to The Hague in June 2001 to stand trial for war crimes,
crimes against humanity, and genocide in Kosova, Bosnia, and Croatia;
Whereas the United Nations established Kosova as a protectorate under Resolution
1244, ending the decade long Serbian occupation of Kosova and
Milosevic's genocidal war in Kosova;
Whereas Kosovar Albanians, together with representatives of the Serb, Turkish,
Roma, Bosniak, and Ashkali minorities in Kosova, have held free and fair
municipal and general elections in 2000 and 2001 and successfully
established a parliament in 2002, which in turn elected a president and
prime minister;
Whereas 50 percent of the population in Kosova is under the age of 25 and the
unemployment rate is currently between 60 and 70 percent, increasing the
likelihood of young people entering criminal networks, the source of
which lies outside of Kosova, or working abroad in order to survive
unless massive job creation is facilitated by guaranteeing the security
of foreign investments through an orderly transition to the independence
of Kosova;
Whereas the Kosova parliament is committed to developing a western-style
democracy in which all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, are granted
full human and civil rights and are committed to the return of all
noncriminal Serbs who fled Kosova during and after the war; and
Whereas there is every reason to believe that independence from Serbia is the
only viable option for Kosova, after autonomy has failed time and time
again: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that
the United States should--
(1) recognize the danger that delay in the resolution of
Kosova's final status poses for the political and economic
viability of Kosova and its neighbors, and consequently for the
future of Southeast Europe;
(2) publicly support the independence of Kosova within its
existing borders as a sovereign and democratic state in which
human rights, including the rights of ethnic and religious
minorities, and the rule of law are respected as the only way
to lasting peace and stability in the Balkans;
(3) establish a monitoring body in conjunction with the
United Nations, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and
other multilateral organizations to ensure that the new state
of Kosova achieves the standards set forth by the UN Security
Council, including the protection of minority rights and
security for all of Kosova's communities, and to facilitate an
orderly transition from a UN protectorate to a fully
functioning democratic government;
(4) work with the Council of Europe to develop and
implement anti-racism programs that would be instituted at the
level of federal and municipal governments throughout the
Balkans;
(5) work with the United Nations and North Atlantic Treaty
Organization to facilitate the return of Albanians to their
pre-war homes in northern Mitrovica and its environs and Serbs
to theirs in southern Mitrovica and other parts of Kosova; and
(6) provide its share of assistance, trade, and other
programs to support the government of an independent Kosova and
to encourage the further development of democracy, rule of law,
and a free market economic system in Kosova and throughout the
Balkans.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on International Relations.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Europe and Emerging Threats.
Referred to the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation.
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