House Bill in Support of Kosovo Independance introduced

(Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/832530/posts )

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One Hundred Eighth Congress

Congress of the United States

House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

January 27, 2003

Support the Independence of Kosova

Dear Colleague:

Today we introduced a resolution (H. Res. 28, which is at the end
of this email) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives
that the United States should declare its support for the
independence of Kosova.

Under the Yugoslav constitution of 1974, Kosova was equivalent
in most ways to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
Macedonia . In its position as an ``autonomous province,'' Kosova,
in practice, exercised the same powers as a republic. It had its own
parliament, high courts, central bank, police service, and defense
force. Through its definition in 1968 as a part of the Yugoslav
Federal System, it gained equal representation at the federal level
with Serbia and the other juridical units of the former Yugoslavia.

When Slovenia and Croatia demanded independence, Western
governments made similar arguments against recognizing those
countries. However, eventually the same Western governments did
recognize not only the independence of Slovenia and Croatia, but
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia as well, having discovered
that independence for those nations involved not so much a change
of borders as a change in the status of existing borders. The lines
on the map remained the same, but their status was upgraded from
republican to national. It is fitting that the Kosovars be allowed to
follow the same path towards independence.

Since the cessation of the 1999 conflict with Serbia, during which
the Serbian military and paramilitary forces killed more than ten
thousand Kosovar Albanians and expelled close to a million,
Kosova remains under a United Nations mandate. The Kosovars,
the United Nations, NATO, and the European Union are now
making efforts to rebuild Kosova, revitalize its economy, establish
democratic institutions of self-government, and heal the scars of
war.

It is time for the United States to abide by its recognition that a
right to self-determination exists as a fundamental right of all
people through declaring its support for the independence of
Kosova. To cosponsor H.Res.28, please contact Keith O'Neil at
225-6735 (Lantos) or Greg Galvin (Hyde) at 225-5021.

Sincerely,

TOM LANTOS HENRY HYDE Member of Congress Member of
Congress

H. RES. 28

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 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) publicly support the independence of Kosova and the
establishment of Kosova as a sovereign and democratic state in
which human rights are respected, including the rights of ethnic
and religious minorities, as the only way to lasting peace and
stability in the Balkans;

(2) recognize the danger that delay in the resolution of Kosova's
final status poses for the political and economic viability of Kosova
and the future of Southeast Europe;

(3) work in conjunction with the United Nations, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other multilateral organizations
to facilitate an orderly transition to the independence of Kosova;
and

(4) 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 and a free market
economic system.

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Keith O'Neil 202-225-6735 (Lantos)

Greg Galvin 202-225-5021 (Hyde)