Opposition to the Kleczka Amendment

 

Congress of the United States
House of Reppresentatives
DC 20515

June 17, 1991

SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS IN KOSOVA OPPOSE THE KLEZCZKA AMENDMENT

DEAR CQLLEAGUE

The human rights situation in Rosova, Yugoslavia continues to be of qreat concern to major human rights organizations such as Amnesty mternational and Helsinki watch. The State Department has also expressed strong criticism of the human rights situation in Kosova and has been increasingly critical of the hard-line Communist government stilt in power in Serbia. rollowing are quotas from the human rights groups and from the State Department:

?Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were arrested en masse, beaten and in some instances tortured in prison, and subjected to mass firings from their jobs solely on account of their ethnicity. Serbian police units repeatedly used excessive force in confronting ethnic Albanian demonstrators, killing more than 50 people in 1990 alone.? Human Rights Watohi world Report 1990, p.417.

?At least 4,500 people ware detained for political reasons during 1989, the great majority of them ethnic Albanians. Of these 1,700 were prisoners of conscience, of whom about 1,000 were imprisoned for up to 60 days for taking part in non-violent protests strikes in KOBOVO province in February.? Amnesty International report 1990, p. 263.

?In mast of the country, there ware significant advances in human rights. In the province of Kosovo, Serbian authorities continued and intensified repressive measures that featured in 1990 thousands of political arrests, tens of thousands of politically motivated job dismissals, and widespread police violence against ethnic Albanians. This violence included the use of excessive force by the police to disperse peaceful demonstrators, including random and at times unprovoked shootings by police, resulting in at least 30 deaths and hundreds of injured. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1990, (U.S. Department of State), p. 1342

?As recently as September 1989, when a joint Helsinki Watch/International Helsinki Federation mission visited Kosovo province, there was some basis for the view that the repression by the Serbian government against ethnic Albanians was St least partly an attempt, albeit abusively carried out, to protect the Serb minority in the province rrom abuse that it has suffered. at the hands of the Albanian majority, rather than simply to subjugate the ethnio Albanian population. By the end of 1990, however, there no longer appeared to be any justification for the claim that the serbian government’s intnvention in Kosovo aimed to protect the Serb minority.” unman Rights watch

World Report 1990, p. 418

?Yugosiav law forbids torture. There were credible reports, however, that people ware sometimes beaten, mistreated, or threatened during detention. The problem was particularly severe in Kosovo. For example, in August an aerican citizen was arrested in Kosovo for allegedly participating in a demonstration during a visit by U.S. Senators. The American, who denied the charges against him, was severely beaten by Serbian police during his interrogation. He also suffered other forms of mistreatment, such as deprivation of food and water.? country Reports on *sn Rights Practices for 2990 (U.S. Department of State), pp. L342-43.

?Security forces of the Serbian government attacked ethnic Albanian villages in apparent attempts at intimidation. The Sarbian government suspended the Kosovo parliament and other institutions of government in ?which ethnic Albanians participated, shut down for extended periods the main ethnic Albanian daily paper, Rilindia, and took all Albanian-languag, programming off Kosovo television and radio. It embarked on a program to disenfranchise and marginaliza the ethnic Albanian population in ways constituting racism, amperminible ethnic discrimination, and grave violations of the rights of ethnic Albanians to free expression and equal political participation.? Human flights Watahi World Report 1990, pp. 417-18.

U the Eleoska amendment is adopted, the language in the bill addressing the situation will be stricken. In the past, Congress has forcefully spoken out against human rights violations coamitted by Communist regimes. We should do no lets to protect the ethnic Albanian population in Zosova.

Sincerely.

Eliot L. Engel
Susan Molinari

 

Dick Swett

Benjamin A. Gilman
William S. Broomfield