Opposition to the Kleczka Amendment-2

 

Congress of the United States
House of Reppresentatives
Washington DC 20515

June 13, 1991

OPPOSE THE ELECZEA AMENDMENT
URGENT !!!URGENT!!!URGENT!!!

DEAR CQLLEAGUE

POSSIBLE flOOR ACTION TODAY

As you know, an amendwarit has been proposed to strike sense of Congress language contained in the Foreign Ass istnnca Authorization concerning the situation in the Kosova province of Yugoslavia. We strongly oppose this amendment for a variety of reasons.

1.The human rights situation in Rosova has been termed ?one of the most severs situations of human rights abuse in Europe today.? by Helsinki Watch, the respected human rights organization.
2 The State Department?s annual human rights report for 1990 observed that in the province of Kosova repressive measures were Itcontinued and intensified? in iflO, and that there were ?thousands of political arrests, tens of thousands of politically motivated job dismissals, and widespread police violence against ethnic Albanians.?
3.The recant announcement of & tentative agreement between the members of Yugoslavia?s collective Presidency does not mean we should ignore human rights abuses in Rosova, or in any other part of Yugoslavia.
4.The leadership of the Republic of Serbia continues to be dominated by hard-line communists. When most ot the rest of Eastern Europe has thrown off the Communist yoke, Serbia is a human rights anachronism.
5.The language included in the Foreign Assistance

Authorization is the result of extensive consultation both in the Foreign Affairs Committee and off Language that has already passed the Senate is much more critical of human rights abuses in Kosova than what is included in this bill.
6.The sense of. Congress language in the bill makes four moderate, reasonable points;
A.Ethnics Albanians should not be discriminated against because of their ethnicity;
B.The Kosova province should maintain its autonomous status;
C.The people of Kosova should be allowed to hold free and tair elections for the Assembly of Kosova;
D.Leaders of the various ethflic groups in Yugoslavia should settle their differences through negotiation, not violence.
We feel this is an important provision or the bill and urge you to oppose the Kleczka amendment should it be offered.

Sincerely,

Eliot L. Engel

Susan Molinari

Dick Swett

Tom Lantos

Benjamin A. Gilman

William S. Broomfield