Thursday, September 15, 2005

SENATE RESOLUTION 237--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON REACHING AN AGREEMENT ON THE FUTURE STATUS OF KOSOVO

Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself, Mr. Lugar, and Mr. Biden) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

S. Res. 237

Whereas, on June 10, 1999, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 which authorized the Secretary-General of the United Nations to establish an interim administration for Kosovo to assume the supreme legal authority in Kosovo with the task of promoting ``substantial autonomy and self-governance'' in Kosovo and facilitating a political process to determine the future status of Kosovo;

Whereas, on December 10, 2003, the United Nations interim administration, known as the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, presented the Standards for Kosovo document which set out the requirements to be met to advance stability in Kosovo;

Whereas the Standards for Kosovo require the establishment of functioning democratic institutions in Kosovo, including providing for the holding of elections, establishing the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, and establishing media and civil society, the establishment of rule of law to ensure equal access to justice and to implement mechanisms to suppress economic and financial crime, and the establishment of freedom of movement in Kosovo, including the free use of language;

Whereas the Standards for Kosovo further require sustainable returns and the rights of communities and their members, improvements in economic and financial institutions, including the prevention of money laundering and the establishment of an attractive environment for investors, the establishment of property rights, including the preservation of cultural heritage, and the development of a sustained dialogue, including a Pristina-Belgrade dialogue and a regional dialogue;

Whereas the ethnic violence that occurred in Kosovo from March 17, 2004 through March 19, 2004, represented a severe setback to the progress the people of Kosovo achieved in implementing the Standards for Kosovo and resulted in 20 deaths and damage to or destruction of approximately 900 homes and 30 Serbian Orthodox churches and other religious sites;

Whereas the bomb attacks against the people and international institutions in Kosovo that occurred from July 2, 2005 through July 4, 2005, were unacceptable events that work counter to the interests and efforts of the majority of the people of Kosovo and signal that more work must be done to promote the implementation of the Standards for Kosovo;

Whereas the status of Kosovo, which is neither stable nor sustainable, is a critical issue affecting the aspirations of Southeast Europe for stability, peace, and eventual membership in the European Union;

Whereas the authorities and institutions of Kosovo must be empowered to act independently to achieve the Standards for Kosovo so that such authorities and institutions may assume responsibility for any progress or setbacks;

Whereas 2005 must be a year of decision for representatives of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Nations to move forward on the status of Kosovo;

Whereas the basic values of multi-ethnicity, democracy, and market-orientation must remain at the heart of any effort to resolve the question of the future status of Kosovo; and

Whereas the support of all of the people of Kosovo is required to achieve a successful outcome that addresses those basic values: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--

(1) the unresolved status of Kosovo is neither sustainable nor beneficial to the progress toward stability and peace in Southeast Europe and its integration with Europe;

(2) the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro and the representatives of the United Nations should work toward an agreement on the future status of Kosovo and a plan for transformation in Kosovo;

(3) such agreement and plan should--

(A) address the claims and satisfy the key concerns of the people of Kosovo and the people of Serbia and Montenegro;

(B) seek compromises from both Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro to reach an agreement;

(C) promote the integration of Southeast Europe with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization;

(D) reinforce efforts to encourage full cooperation by the governments of Kosovo and of Serbia and Montenegro with the International Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia;

(E) promote stability in the region and take into consideration the stability of democracy in Kosovo and in Serbia and Montenegro;

(F) promote the active participation of Serbians in Kosovo in elections and in the government of Kosovo; and

(G) require the fulfillment of the Standards for Kosovo, the requirements that the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo established to advance stability in Kosovo, in accordance with prior commitments and in support of the initiation of discussions on status with particular emphasis on the problem of human rights in minority communities;

(4) the anticipated discussions of the long-term status of Kosovo should result in a plan for implementing the Standards for Kosovo, particularly with regard to minority protections, return of property, and the development of rule of law as it relates to the improvement of protection of minorities, the return of internally displaced persons, the return of property, and the prosecution of human rights violations; and

(5) Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Nations, during the negotiations related to the long-term status of Kosovo, should require--

(A) increased monitoring and reporting of the progress on the implementation of the Standards for Kosovo and any incidents of human rights violations, and should broaden the involvement of minorities and community-level representatives in monitoring, reporting, and publicizing that progress;

(B) that the authorities and institutions of Kosovo be given greater authority and independence in fulfilling the Standards for Kosovo, including assuming the responsibility for any setbacks and progress and acquiring experience in assuming greater autonomy; and

(C) a broad public awareness campaign to raise awareness of both the plan to resolve the question of the status of Kosovo and the requirements for the transition of Kosovo to a permanent status, including the importance of the progress in implementing the Standards for Kosovo and the necessity of ensuring peace and suppressing all forms of discrimination and violence so that the region may move forward toward a future of greater prosperity, stability, and lasting peace.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

funny---there is no mention of independence.

Anonymous said...

Of course not, if they did Serbs might break the chain and seek blood.

Unlike your political views, the rest of the world is more open and not ready to jump to conclusions like "muslim scum" and "multiply like animals", all of which are used by Serbs on regualar basis

Anonymous said...

World Bank: Serbia Making Great Progress

Associated Press MSN
All Associated Press News

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Serbia-Montenegro has made great progress in implementing business-friendly policies, but there is still a long way to go in economic reforms, the World Bank said Friday.

"The country came to reforms late compared to neighbors in the region, and needs to catch up," said Carolyn Yungr, World Bank envoy to the country.

This week's report, entitled "Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs" and co-sponsored by the World Bank and the International Finance Corp., the bank's private-sector arm, found Serbia-Montenegro among the 12 most-reformed places to operate, out of 155 countries reviewed last year.

Georgia, Slovakia, Germany, Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands and Romania were also among leading reformers.

In the 188-page study, Serbia-Montenegro led in overhauling its policies, improving in eight of the 10 areas the report examined.

Belgrade saw the report as a huge boost for conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica of Serbia, the dominant republic in the two-member union.

"A lot of good things have happened and some credit is due to the government," Yungr told The Associated Press. "There has been tremendous progress, just as long as you don't put up your feet and say you are done."

She stressed that "political stability is very important" for continued reforms but would not speculate on how political scandals shaking Kostunica's Cabinet would translate to the economy.

The report found that to take legal action to enforce a simple business contract, a businessman in Serbia required an average of 635 days in 2004, down from the 1,028 days the previous year.

"That's still quite a long time," said Simeon Djankov, one of the report's authors who was in Belgrade Friday to present the World Bank study.

Registering a business has gone down to an average of 15 days from the 53 needed in 2003, Djankov added. In the past nine months, 7,363 new businesses have opened up in Serbia.

Djankov said Serbia needs to change labor legislation to make the labor market more flexible, and cut down on the red tape in trading.

"The point we are trying to make is that Serbia needs to keep this up for a number of years," Djankov said. "But it's on the right path."

The World Bank study is based on data from more than 3,500 local experts, business consultants, lawyers, accountants, government officials and leading academics around the world.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Anonymous said...

the international community is focused on the recent activities in Kosovo...not 1999. Serbs living behind barbed wire, killed with impunity,churches desecrated, cars blowing up, buildings blown up, assasination attempts on the president and threats of more violence if albanians don't get what they want simply doesn't bode well for albanians.

Anonymous said...

"threats of more violence if albanians don't get what they want"

If you have been reading things on this blog and comments, you would have noticed that war talk comes massively from Serbs. And not just war talk, but war their way (rape murder and alcohol)

Anonymous said...

A form of limited independence is called automony you morans. "more than autonomy less than independence" is the goal they are just trying to find a way to let the albanians down easily.

Anonymous said...

The serves are trying to convince the albanians in this blog (which is albanian)after they failed to convince the world that Kosova is Serbia. They are so miserable in these comments that they only way to argue is to cut and paste from what others might have said something in their favor...so miserable and low-hit. Kosova according to them is their cradle of civilization. Bulgaria said that their cradle of civilization is in Ohrid but Macedonia owns it as independent country..isn't it..Let them have these comments shown on our blog because they need those sedatives 'cause they are going crazy and they will start mentioning the blood...

Anonymous said...

Where is the cradle for the albanians. Who knows they kept terrible records so they will glam onto the oldest civilzation they can find and try to make a good story stick (Illyrians). HaHa It's almost like por African Americans that just adopted another culture as their own.

Anonymous said...

lets face it, the US is saying NOTHING about independence. They are, however; saying that dialogue and compromise is the way. Not exactly what the albaniacs are saying...hey---ya'll gonna slit a few american throats if you don't get your independence? It is expected. that is what all the military action is all about.

Anonymous said...

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