2

Whereas there are reports that several hundred ethnic Albanians have been killed in communal violence and the Government?s efforts to control it;

Whereas there is evidence that several thousand more have been arrested by the Yugoslav Government for expressing their views in a nonviolent manner;

Whereas most political prisoners within Yugoslavia are ethnic Albanians;

Whereas many of those arrested have been sentenced to harsh terms of imprisonment ranging from one to fifteen years;

Whereas many ethnic Albanians have been denied access to full economic opportunities because of alleged Albanian nationalist activities;

Whereas Amnesty International, a respected international human rights organization, has published allegations of torture and assassination of ethnic Albanians in exile by the Yugoslav secret police;

Whereas the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a signatory to the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, known as the Helsinki Final Act;

Whereas one of the provisions of the Act states that ??he participating States on whose territory national minorities exist will respect the right of persons belonging to such minorities to equality before the law, will afford them full opportunity for the actual enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms and will, in this manner, protect the legitimate interests in this sphere?; and

Whereas the Government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has failed to protect fully the rights of ethnic Albanians, in accordance with its obligation under the Act:

Now. therefore. be it

HCON 162 IH