Balkans Peace Award
ALBANIAN AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE GIVES 4th ANNUAL BALKANS PEACE AWARD TO CONGRESSMAN DANA
ROHRABACHER OSSINING, NEW YORK, JUNE 9, 2002—At a dinner at The Monocle Restaurant in Washington, DC, on June 23, the Albanian American Civic League will present Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, a senior member of the House International Relations Committee, the Civic League’s fourth annual Balkans Peace Award. The award will be conferred in recognition of Congressman Rohrabacher’s courage and foresight in calling for the independence of Kosova now; for his fifteen-year-long opposition to human rights violations against Albanians in Kosova, Montenegro, Macedonia, Presheve, and Chameria; for his vigorous support of the right of Bosnians and Kosovar Albanians to defend themselves against Serbian aggression in the 1990s; and for his significant contribution to ending Slobodan Milosevic’s genocidal wars in the Balkans.
Former Congressman Joe DioGuardi, Balkan Affairs Adviser Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, and members of the Board of the Albanian American Civic League will present Congressman Rohrabacher with a hand-carved marble eagle from Kruja mounted on a cherry wood base with an inscription. The award, which is given annually to non-Albanians who have made a significant commitment to resolving the Albanian dimension of the Balkan conflict, is dated July 2, 2004, in recognition of the day in 1990 when Kosova first declared its independence from Serbia, while it was under a brutal military occupation at the hands of Serbian dictator, now indicted war criminal, Slobodan Milosevic.
The Civic League gave its first Balkans Peace Award to General Wesley K. Clark in 2001 for the important role that he played in bringing an end to ten years of war in the Balkans waged by Slobodan Milosevic and for his intercession in the case of Agron, Mehmet, and Ylli Bytyqi—the three Albanian American brothers whose bodies were discovered in a mass grave in Serbia. The Civic League gave its second Balkans Peace Award in 2002 to Senator Joseph Biden, then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for being one of the earliest and strongest opponents of Slobodan Milosevic, for being one of the staunchest supporters of U.S. involvement in the Balkans, and for working for fifteen years to bring a just and lasting peace to Southeast Europe, especially to the Albanians of Kosova and Macedonia. The Civic League gave its third Balkans Peace Award in 2003 to Congressmen Henry Hyde, Tom Lantos, and Ben Gilman for their courage in introducing House Resolution 28 in support of the independence of Kosova now, at a time when the international community had sought to silence the debate on Kosova’s future.
As the sponsors of House Resolution 28, Congressmen Hyde and Lantos conducted a House International Relations Committee hearing on the future of Kosova, in which they spoke forcefully about the need for the U.S. government to declare its support for the independence of Kosova now. As a committee member, Congressman Rohrabacher attended this hearing on May 21, 2003, where he made one of the most significant challenges to the State Department’s policy in Kosova that has taken place in the halls of Congress. He criticized the State Department with “an oversensitivity and overconcern for what the Serbs feel and for what our European allies want…at the expense of the people of Kosova.”
Rohrabacher said, “Our State Department seems to have gotten off track. They are concerned about the oppressors. It is time for us to stand up. It is long overdue. It is time for us to stand up for the independence of Kosova and for the right of Kosovars to organize and have their own government and to control their own destinies through the ballot box.”
In response to the issue of “standards before status,” the UN Security Council policy requiring Kosova to meet eight benchmarks in the service of establishing a democratic, free market economy before achieving final status, Congressman Rohrabacher asked the State Department witness at the May 2003 hearing, “How many of the eight benchmarks did the United States accomplish at the time it became independent from the British?” He then ventured his own opinion that, if we were waiting for the United States to meet these benchmarks, our country would not be independent from the British today.
Rohrabacher also cochaired with Congressman Tom Lantos the October 30, 2003, Congressional hearing on “The Future of Albanians in Montenegro,” in which he was eloquent in his support for the human rights of the long repressed Albanian population there.
For his willingness to counter more than fifteen years of administration policy in the Balkans in the quest for a just and lasting peace in the Balkans, the Civic League is happy to present Congressman Rohrabacher its fourth Balkans Peace Award.
Attendance at the June 23rd awards dinner is by invitation only. Interested persons must contact the Albanian American Civic League at (914) 762-5530