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His Excellency Jacques Delors
July 24, 1990
Page 2
(e)The arbitrary dismissal of in excess of eight thousand Albanian workers from large and small enterprises;
(f)The selective firing and disciplining of Albanian professors and teachers;
(g)The closure of numbers of Albanian schools and the elimination of
Albanian language, history, and cultural instruction;
(h)The attempted silencing of Albanian journalists and broadcasters; and
(I)The segregation of the Albanian from the Serbian population through
redistricting and through the creation of separate schools, hospitals, and work
places.
All these repressive measures were calculated to prevent the Albanians in Kosova from participating equally in the political, economic, social, and cultural life of the Province by denying them such basic human rights and freedoms as the rights to liberty, peaceful assembly, engagement in public life, work, and education, as well as the freedoms of opinion and expression.
Despite the severe restrictions on these democratic rights, the democratic movements in Kosova have attracted large numbers of Albanian supporters. Tens of thousands of these supporters demonstrated the strength of their democratic convictions by taking part in peaceful proemocratlzation rallies organized throughout the Province of Kosova in January-February of this year, knowing full well that these would be brutally dispersed by Yugoslav and Serbian security forces wielding automatic assault weapons armed with high caliber live ammunition. This year, between the end of January and the beginning of February, at least thirty-four Albanians are known to have been killed by Yugoslav and Serbian security forces during those pro-democratization raffles.
Although the strict emergency measures imposed by the Yugoslav Federal and Serbian Republic Governments were formally lifted on April 21 this year, the Serbian police presence in Kosova increased substantially, with the Province?s day-to-day decision-making and administration of justice effectively placed under their control. The word ?democracy? became a ?slogan with hostile content? whose use resulted In sixty days imprisonment.
On June 29, the Serbian Parliament institutionalized this de facto police state in Kosova by promulgating the SpeciAl Circumstances in Kosova Act. The Act authorized the Serbian Government to dissolve the Kosova Provincial Assembly, disband its government, and introduce special measures to safeguard public order. Pursuant to these provisions, the Serbian speaker of the Kosova Assembly tried to postpone its session from July 2 to July 5. The members of the Assembly did not agree to the postponement and adopted a resolution proclaiming Kosova an ?independent unit of Yugoslavia? subject to free elections on July 2. In response,
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