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110 th CONGRESS
1 st Session
H. Res. 36
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives
that the United States
should declare its support for the independence of
Kosova.
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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 5, 2006
Mr. Lantos submitted the following resolution
(for himself and Ms Ros-Lehtinen); which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs.
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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 ultra nationalism 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 non-criminal 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, the 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;
(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.
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