[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
KOSOVO'S WARTIME VICTIMS: THE QUEST FOR JUSTICE
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
April 30, 2019
__________
Serial No. 116-28
__________
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman
BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York Member
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina
KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TED S. YOHO, Florida
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin
DINA TITUS, Nevada ANN WAGNER, Missouri
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York BRIAN MAST, Florida
TED LIEU, California FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
DEAN PHILLPS, Minnesota JOHN CURTIS, Utah
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota KEN BUCK, Colorado
COLIN ALLRED, Texas RON WRIGHT, Texas
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey STEVE WATKINS, Kansas
DAVID TRONE, Maryland MIKE GUEST, Mississippi
JIM COSTA, California
JUAN VARGAS, California
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas
Jason Steinbaum, Staff Director
Brendan Shields, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
Jahjaga, Atifete, Former President, Republic of Kosovo........... 8
Williams, Dr. Paul, Professor, Washington College of Law,
American University............................................ 27
Bytyqi, Ilir..................................................... 53
Krasniqi-Goodman, Vasfije........................................ 60
APPENDIX
Hearing Notice................................................... 86
Hearing Minutes.................................................. 87
Hearing Attendance............................................... 88
ADDITiONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY CHAIRMAN ENGEL
Written testimony of Mr. E. B.................................... 89
Written testimony of Mr. Liri Loshi.............................. 91
Written testimony of Mr. Liridon Markaj.......................... 93
Written testimony of Ms. Ferdonije Qerkezi....................... 95
Written testimony of Ms. H. U.................................... 98
Written testimony of Ms. N. N.................................... 100
Written testimony of Ms. Shyhrete Berisha........................ 102
KOSOVO'S WARTIME VICTIMS: THE QUEST FOR JUSTICE
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in Room
2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eliot Engel (chairman
of the committee) presiding.
Chairman Engel [presiding]. Good morning, everyone. The
committee will come to order.
Without objection, all members will have 5 days to submit
statements, extraneous material, and questions for the record,
subject to the length limitation in the rules.
Let me, first of all, welcome our witnesses.
This morning we will take a look back at the wars that
ravaged the Balkans two decades ago and shine a light on how
the victims in Kosovo are still seeking justice so many years
down the road. In this committee, I find it often helpful to
look back and consider what was happening on the global stage
at different times in history, and there was a lot going on 20
years ago.
In 1999, as we geared up for the new millennium, the euro
was established; three former Soviet Bloc countries, Hungary,
Poland, and the Czech Republic, became NATO allies; Boris
Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia, turning over the reins
of power to Vladimir Putin. And there was perhaps no more
precarious situation than in the Balkans. The Bosnian War had
recently ended, and the Dayton Agreement, concluded only a few
months earlier, was only then entering its earliest
implementation phase.
But in Kosovo, things were much, much worse. After 10 years
of crackdowns, violations of human rights, and severe ethnic
discrimination, Slobodan Milosevic, the butcher of the Balkans,
began a campaign to forcefully expel the ethnic Albanian
population of Kosovo. In doing so, he displaced nearly 1
million people to countries around Kosovo, killed more than
11,000 ethnic Albanians, and initiated a policy leading to the
rape of thousands of Kosovar women. Some 2,000 ethnic Serbs
also lost their lives in the war.
I would like to specifically call attention to a 2017
report from the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center, HLC,
titled, ``The Cover-up of Evidence of Crimes During the War in
Kosovo: The Concealment of Bodies Operation.'' Now, according
to HLC--this is what it said--``Since 2001, mass graves
containing the bodies of 941 Kosovo Albanians, mainly
civilians, killed outside combat situations in Kosovo during
1999, have been found in four locations in Serbia. The bodies
found in mass graves belong not only to males, but also to
females and children as well. The cause of their deaths in most
cases was a gunshot wound, mainly to the head, suggesting that
the victims did not die in combat, but as a result of
execution-style killings. The decision to conceal evidence of
crimes committed was planned as early as March 1999 at the
highest level of the government. No one has ever been held
accountable before courts in Serbia for the large-scale
operation of concealment of bodies of Kosovo Albanian victims
in mass graves.'' I want to repeat that because it is really
shocking. To this day, ``No one''--20 years--``no one has ever
been held accountable before courts in Serbia for the large-
scale operation of concealment of bodies of Kosovo Albanian
victims in mass graves.''
I also want to highlight the work of Human Rights Watch in
calling attention to the victims of Belgrade's policy of
forcible rape of up to 20,000 Kosovar women--20,000. In their
report, ``Kosovo: Rape as a Weapon of `Ethnic Cleansing,' ''
the Human Rights Watch laid out the case starkly. ``The
research found that rape and other forms of sexual violence
were used in Kosovo in 1999 as weapons of war and instruments
of systematic `ethnic cleansing'. Rapes were not rare and
isolated acts committed by individual Serbian or Yugoslav
forces, but rather were used deliberately as an instrument to
terrorize the civilian population, extort money from their
families, and push people to flee their homes. Rape furthered
the goal of forcing ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.''
But, to this day, 20 years later, there has been little to
no justice for the victims. Those who lost loved ones or who
were sexually assaulted themselves have been offered virtually
no avenues to confront the perpetrators. Yes, the U.S. mission
in Kosovo examined the crimes, but they did nothing to secure
justice for the victims.
EULEX considered several cases, but the effort was largely
fruitless, leading to only a small number of convictions. The
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the
ICTY, indicted Milosevic, who later died in prison, but it has
not achieved much else for the other Kosovars who suffered from
his army's war crimes. Regardless of the fact that the vast
majority of war crimes during the Kosovo War were committed by
forces under Belgrade's command, the same number of Kosovar
Albanians were indicted by the ICTY as Serbs, seven from each
country.
No one thinks people who committed war crimes should get
away with their actions, but nothing underscores the unbalanced
international justice arising from the Kosovo War more than
this false equivalency. The United States and our European
allies could have pressed for justice for the victims of
Milosevic's brutality, but, for the most part, we failed to
take any substantive action. Even worse, in my opinion, the
United States forced Kosovo to create a so-called ``Special
Court'' to address allegations of violations by members of the
Kosovo Liberation Army, the KLA. So, let's see what this means.
The Special Court addressed allegations of violations of
the Albanian minority by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army,
but did not do anything to the Serbs who committed such heinous
acts of violence. Very, very unbalanced. No one is saying the
KLA was somehow perfect and did not commit bad acts of its own,
but let's be crystal clear. The vast majority of crimes--the
vast majority--war crimes and crimes against humanity, were
committed by the Yugoslav and Serbian security forces. That is
a fact. There is no other way to look at what happened.
No matter, said the United States and the EU, Kosovo needs
a Special Court, and we proceeded to force it upon them.
Regrettably, I went along with this, so the pressure could come
off Pristina and the country could return to normal. All the
while, did the State Department come down nearly as hard on
Serbia, which committed the overwhelming bulk of the war
crimes? Did we and our European allies demand that, in exchange
for progress in EU ascension, Belgrade must address post-
conflict justice? No, we did not. We dumped it all on Kosovo.
Hence, Kosovo has a Special Court to investigate itself.
Shameful and wrong, in my opinion.
But, my friends, there may be a silver lining. The law
creating the Specialist Chambers allows the prosecutor to
indict anyone who committed war crimes in Kosovo during the
war. But, to this day, it seems the court is only pursuing
Albanians. I would suggest that anyone involved with this court
pay attention right now. This committee will be monitoring the
court closely to see that it addresses the perpetrators of all
crimes which can be prosecuted under its jurisdiction, not only
ethnic Albanians.
In the bigger picture, I think the justice for the victims
of the Kosovo War will never be achieved if we--and by ``we,''
I mean our State Department and the European Union--continue to
sweep the whole thing under the rug. That is why this hearing
is so important. It is critical that we hear firsthand from
those who were brutalized at the hands of Belgrade in 1998 and
1999 and from those who are pressing for justice.
We have an outstanding panel of witnesses this morning. I
look forward to introducing them and hearing their testimony.
But, first, I will yield to our ranking member, Mr. McCaul
of Texas, for any opening remarks he might have.
Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Before we start this morning's hearing, I want to address
the developing situation in Venezuela. The chairman and I both
got a briefing from Ambassador Bolton. I think things are
moving very rapidly, hopefully, in the right direction. I
continue to stand with the Venezuelan people and Interim
President Juan Guaido, and urge Maduro to step down to allow
peaceful transition in Venezuela and refrain from violence
against his own people. The Venezuelan people need the support
of the international community now more than ever, and I hope
my colleagues here from both sides of the aisle can stand
together in support of this cause for freedom and democracy.
Now to the subject of this hearing, the war in Kosovo was a
terrifying conflict that brought tremendous suffering to the
Balkans. Over the course of a year and a half, ethnic tensions
and violence forced families from their homes, took the lives
of innocent civilians, and left an untold number of people
scarred for life.
Many of us remember the gruesome images shown across our TV
screens or printed in the newspapers. Refugees were crammed
into trains and sent off to camps. A spokesman for the United
Nations Refugee Agency at the time said he was reminded of
``the darkest days at the end of World War II with refugees
streaming in all directions.''
We learned of horrifying war crimes that included torture,
rape, and a program of ethnic cleansing carried out by Serbian
forces. And by the end, there were 13,000 people that were dead
or missing and over 1.2 million people had been displaced. It
was a full-blown humanitarian crisis.
This would be the last major conflict of the 20th century
on a continent that is no stranger to war. And while an
operation carried out by NATO helped bring the hostilities to a
close in June 1999, the war never actually ended for many of
its victims. The horrors have stayed with the people who were
forced to endure them. Some survivors have yet to experience
justice for the crimes that were committed against them.
Although we have pledged to never forget what happened in
Kosovo 20 years ago, there are people who feel as if they have
already been forgotten.
Too many war criminals and perpetrators have yet to be
punished for their evil actions. And while this is a sad
reality, we can still take action and do something about this.
This hearing will allow us to discuss what happened and review
ways to seek the justice that needs to be served.
This morning we will hear directly from our witnesses who
can share their stories about what happened to them and their
family members. Their truths must continue to be told.
And I want to personally thank each of the witnesses here
today, and all of us commend you for your strength, your
courage, your commitments to peace.
Of note, I want to also welcome Ms. Goodman from my home
State of Texas.
I am hopeful that your testimoneys will shed light on these
atrocities that were committed and inspire others who have yet
to share their stories.
I would like to, finally, thank Chairman Engel for holding
this important hearing, and I urge my colleagues to find ways
in which we can work together to find the justice that has so
far eluded the victims of this conflict.
And with that, I yield back.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. McCaul, for your statement
and thank you for your involvement.
Let me, first, introduce the witnesses. I am pleased to
again welcome these distinguished witnesses to the Foreign
Affairs Committee.
First of all, we are honored by the presence of the former
President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga. President Jahjaga has
played a critical role in raising the stature of the victims of
Belgrade's policy of forcible rape of Kosovo's women. Her work
has helped raise awareness of how victims of wartime rape for
too long sat in shame and silence. She helped to de-stigmatize
the wounds, so that people could discuss their pain and be
compensated.
Among those who will share with us her tragedy today is
Vasfije Krasniqi-Goodman. Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman made history
when she became one of the first victims of Belgrade's campaign
of sexual assault to speak publicly about what happened to her.
I am deeply thankful for her courage and willingness to
describe her, regrettably, unsuccessful attempts to seek
justice for the crimes she endured.
A true retelling of the horrors of the Kosovo War would not
be complete without Ilir Bytyqi. The murder and mass burial of
his three brothers--all American citizens, by the way--the
murder and burial by Serbian security forces, that represents,
in my opinion, one of the worst crimes of the conflict.
Mr. Bytyqi, whom I know, thank you for sharing with the
committee your family's experience.
Finally, I would like to welcome Paul Williams, a professor
at the American University's Washington College of Law. My
daughter is a proud graduate of that school. He has worked with
issues affecting Kosovo for many years.
Our witnesses today, and so many others, still seek
justice, and I look forward to Professor Williams describing
what has happened with legal efforts in the past and what
avenues still remain available.
I will now recognize our witnesses for 5 minutes, each to
summarize their testimony. We will start with President
Jahjaga.
STATEMENT OF ATIFETE JAHJAGA, FORMER PRESIDENT, REPUBLIC OF
KOSOVO
Ms. Jahjaga. Honorable Mr. Chairman of the committee,
honorable ranking member, honorable members of the Foreign
Affairs Committee, ladies and gentlemen, as I speak here today,
I carry the burden of hundreds of thousands of lives that have
been shattered by the war in Kosovo. They want their stories to
be heard, and they demand justice for the crimes perpetrated
against them. It is not a burden to take lightly. We would like
to use this occasion to share their stories and seek support
for our ongoing quest for justice.
Around this time 20 years ago, NATO intervened in Kosovo to
stop the ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population
perpetrated by the Milosevic regime. We are forever grateful to
the United States for its leadership in ending the war and
opening a new chapter for Kosovo. Since then, we have been
going through the tremendous task of dealing with grief and
trauma, rebuilding our homes, building democratic institutions,
and seeking justice, all at once.
Our dignity and humanity were stripped away 20 years ago.
The Albanians in Kosovo, as the democratic majority, were the
target of some of the most grievous human rights violations.
The Serbian police and military under the Milosevic control
carried out widespread and systematic human rights abuses.
Other ethnic minorities were caught up in between, and although
not the target, suffered similar crimes.
During an ethnic cleansing campaign, in less than 2 months,
nearly 1 million Albanians were expelled from Kosovo. Inside
Kosovo, in a crusade of killings, Serbian forces rounded up
Albanian men and women of all ages in a door-to-door operation
to summarily execute them. They perpetrated indiscriminate
violence, separating families. They destroyed the social fabric
of our community.
During the Kosovo War, there were more than 100 mass
killings, 74 of which were recorded. Over 13,000 people were
brutally murdered in the war, according to the Humanitarian Law
Center, including 1,230 children under 18 whose lives and
dreams were instantly shattered, 80 percent of them Albanian.
There are still over 1,600 missing. An estimated number of
20,000 women were raped, according to the Centers for Disease
Control. Two-thirds of the homes and objects of historic value
were burned to ashes.
The devastation of war made a return to normalcy difficult.
The war did not only influence interethnic relations, it also
broke communities. The use of rape as a tool of war was meant
to make war everlasting.
I have met hundreds of women survivors of sexual violence.
Their fearful experience is still vivid. They still suffer from
physical injuries and severe PTSD. For many years, due to the
stigma unjustly placed upon them, they were isolated, deprived
of the life of opportunities, unable to even provide for
themselves and their families.
As a result, the vast majority of them live in dire
economic conditions and in need of support. Still, every single
one of them told me that, in order to move forward, they need
recognition and justice more than anything else.
While today very few cases have been prosecuted for this
crime, there has been no conviction, not a single one. Ladies
and gentlemen, the only way to help these women and men move
past the horrors of the war is the justice. Kosovo has
established a Special Court to ensure the mechanism of justice
for any wrongdoing on our part. This has not been easy for us.
It is beyond our comprehension that there have been more
indictments issued for alleged crimes of the Kosovo Liberation
Army than for the crimes of the Serbian forces committed in
Kosovo, which were part of a plan, a blueprint drafted,
orchestrated, and executed by the Milosevic regime.
The main perpetrators of the most horrific crimes are still
moving freely in Serbia and elsewhere. Serbian authorities even
deny that atrocities in Kosovo occurred and continue to use
Kosovo as a propaganda for internal political gains.
The shadow of the war still lingers over Kosovo. It is
present in the vivid memories and severe trauma of the
survivors. It is present in the agony and desperation of the
families of the missing people. It is present in the memory of
the loved ones lost to the power lust of the brutal regime.
Having experienced the devastation of war, all we want is a
future in peace. That is why we are committed to the dialog to
normalize relations with Serbia. We have already made all of
the comprehensible compromises in order to reach peace with
Serbia. From the Rambouillet Peace Agreement in 1999 to the
Ahtisaari Plan in 2007, Kosovo has made painful compromises.
However, under no circumstances will the people of Kosovo ever
allow their hard-fought-for independence, serenity, or
territory integrity to be placed into question.
Justice for the crimes committed during the Kosovo War is
long overdue, but it is not to be linked with a dialog with
Serbia. Justice is not a matter of a negotiation. It is a
legitimate right of everyone hurt by the war. This matter is
bigger than politics and all of us. Justice is a precondition
for the long-lasting peace. We owe it to the loved ones whom we
lost and the survivors still living with the open wounds. And
above all, we owe it to our future generation for them not to
go through what we did.
That is why today I call upon the esteemed Members of the
U.S. Congress to take a stand for justice, to hold Serbia
accountable for the crimes and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.
I thank you for the honor.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Jahjaga follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Engel. Thank you, President Jahjaga.
Dr. Williams?
STATEMENT OF PAUL WILLIAMS, PROFESSOR, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF
LAW, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
Dr. Williams. Good morning. Good morning, Chairman Engel,
Ranking Member McCaul, and members of the committee. It is a
honor to testify before you this morning. It is also a
privilege and an honor to share this platform with the other
individuals who will be testifying before the committee.
It is clear from their written testimony that the Kosovo
Albanian victims of the conflict in Kosovo suffer from an
accountability gap. During the course of the Yugoslav wars,
armed forces associated with the Serbian regime carried out
genocide, mass murder, torture, mass rape, mass deportation, as
a means to achieve Serbia's military and political objectives.
This campaign of terror and destruction was designed and
implemented at the highest levels of the Serbian regime. It
required tens of thousands of individuals willing to perpetrate
such crimes, and it left hundreds of thousands of victims in
its wake.
Every victim of an atrocity is entitled to justice, and
every perpetrator should be held accountable for their actions.
It is equally important, however, not to embrace the mantra all
sides are responsible, which can create a false sense of moral
equivalence among the parties.
During the Kosovo conflict, the forces associated with the
Serbian regime were responsible for the vast majority, upwards
of 80 percent, of the atrocities. They displaced nearly 1.4
million people--that is 90 percent of the Kosovo population--
killed over 11,000 civilians, and raped over 20,000 women.
Yet, the United Nations Yugoslavia Tribunal indicted an
almost equal number of alleged Serbian regime perpetrators and
alleged Kosovo Liberation Army perpetrators. None of the
indictments of the alleged Serbian perpetrators included
charges of rape or sexual violence as a standalone atrocity. In
total, the U.N. Yugoslav Tribunal only convicted six Serbian
regime perpetrators for the atrocities in the Kosovo conflict.
The domestic hybrid mechanisms created by the U.N. mission
in Kosovo, and subsequently, by the European Union rule-of-law
mission, disproportionately indicted Kosovo Albanians by a
factor of 10 to 1, and only convicted four Serbian regime
perpetrators, again, with no charges of rape as a standalone
atrocity crime.
In 2015, the international community exerted substantial
diplomatic pressure on the government of Kosovo to create the
Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor's
Office. The general diplomatic characterization of the court is
that it is designed to solely prosecute ethnic Albanians who
served in the Kosovo Liberation Army. If this characterization
is correct, then the court essentially grants de facto amnesty
to perpetrators who committed atrocities on behalf of the
Serbian regime, and it closes off effective justice for
hundreds of thousands of victims in Kosovo. No other
international or hybrid criminal tribunal has been ethnically
based or has denied justice to such a substantial number of
victims.
The accountability gap created by the actions of the
international community and the United States derives from the
20-years-old approach of the European Union to the conflict in
the former Yugoslavia: accommodation and appeasement of the
Serbian regime. This approach requires maintaining a perception
of moral equivalence among all the parties to the conflict.
However, false moral equivalence, the creation of ethnic-based
courts, the denial of access to justice for victims, and the
fostering of ethnic injustice undermines the legitimacy of
accountability mechanisms and their ability to promote
reconciliation, which is essential to create a durable peace.
The myopic focus of the international sponsors of the
Specialist Chambers is disappointing for two reasons. First, as
detailed in my written statement, the statute adopted by the
Parliament of Kosovo does not actually preclude the prosecution
of all individuals responsible for crimes committed in Kosovo,
and thus, could serve as a vehicle for justice for every
atrocity victim, regardless of ethnicity.
Second, the statute provides for state-of-the-art victim
representation and witness protection, which are key to the
successful prosecution of the conflict-related sexual violence.
The court has the potential to be an ideal mechanism to bring
justice for the 20,000 victims of rape in Kosovo.
In conclusion, to accomplish the restoration of the
integrity of the Specialist Chambers, the United States should
work with the government of Kosovo to affirm and, if necessary,
clarify that the mandate of the court covers all crimes
committed in the territory of Kosovo and is not limited to
prosecuting members of a specific ethnic group of alleged
perpetrators.
If necessary, the United States can work with Kosovo to
amend the statute to make this mandate unambiguously clear. The
United States should also work with the government of Kosovo to
encourage the Specialist Prosecutor's Office, a part of the
judicial system of Kosovo, to prioritize the investigation and
prosecution of rape and other conflict-related sexual violence.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Williams follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Dr. Williams.
Mr. Bytyqi?
STATEMENT OF ILIR BYTYQI
Mr. Bytyqi. Chairman Engel, Ranking Member McCaul, members
of the committee, thank you for hosting this important hearing
and inviting me to testify.
My name is Ilir Bytyqi.
Chairman Engel. Mr. Bytyqi, could you just pull the
microphone a little closer to your lips?
Mr. Bytyqi. Sure. Thank you.
My name is Ilir Bytyqi. On behalf of my family and other
victims of war crimes committed during the Kosovo War, I am
here to offer you the words of a simple message: victims cannot
be ignored. If you want lasting peace in the Balkans, we cannot
be ignored. If you care about justice, we cannot be ignored.
And if you all you want is simply the truth, we cannot be
ignored. As I hope to make clear today, this history is still
being written. This committee can help shape its course.
I come from an American-Albanian immigrant family in New
York. I grew up between the United States and Kosovo with lots
of siblings, including my brothers Fatose, Ylli, Agron, and
Mehmet. We were a close family, one for all, all for one. But
six boys in New York, imagine the headaches we gave my mother.
In the late 1990's, we started hearing about what was
happening in Kosovo. We were devastated to see images of our
friends/families being expelled from their homes and murdered
in their villages. We were worried sick thinking about my
mother, sister, and my brother Fatose who were in Kosovo at the
time.
Around this time, we got word from the American-Albanian
community in New York that people were going over to fight
against President Milosevic's barbaric campaign and ethnic
cleansing. Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet went without hesitation.
They were not scared. The last thing I told them was, ``Be
safe. You know I expect you to come back.''
Toward the end of the war, my brothers decided to stay in
Kosovo and help with the rebuild efforts. One day, they agreed
to go on a humanitarian mission to help some neighbors get to a
safe zone. Eventually, Serbian police came in unmarked cars and
in plain clothing and kidnapped my brothers. They took them to
the other side of Serbia, to Petrovo Selo. Two years later,
their bodies were found on top of a mass grave in Petrovo Selo
with their hands tied behind their backs and bullet holes
through the back of their heads. My brothers were sent to these
killing grounds because they were Albanians. They were murdered
because they were Americans.
This has devastating my family. For the past 20 years, my
brother Fatose and I have been fighting for justice because the
Serbian government will not. In 2015, then-Prime Minister
Alexander Vucic admitted as much. He looked my brother Fatose
in the eye and said in an uncertain manner, ``In my mind, only
two people are responsible for these murders.'' Then, he named
the names.
This is not some unsolved mystery. It is a simple matter of
will. Then, as the Prime Minister, and now as the President,
Alexander Vucic protects war criminals who murdered my
brothers. President Vucic has no shame about this. He has
threatened my family for our efforts. For 5 years now, he has
promised members of this committee and the United States Vice
President that he would resolve this case. Earlier this year in
Munich, President Vucic bragged to Serbian media that he told
members of this committee that NATO officials should be
extradited to Serbia, not the war criminals who murdered the
American citizens.
This is a systematic problem with Serbia. The government
consensually protects war criminals, creating a political
culture that intimidates witnesses and victims. Convicted war
criminals are regularly given a hero's welcome when they exit
the ICTU prison. Recently, President Vucic had the audacity to
call Slobodan Milosevic ``a great leader''.
Serbian war crimes answers are failing in many ways. They
issue very few indictments. The few indictments they allow are
low-level suspects and direct perpetrators. Superior officers
are shielded from scrutiny. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, the Humanitarian Law Center, the European
Commission, the European Parliament, and others, have each
noted this defect.
Recently, Serbia did not have a leading war crime
prosecutor for 18 months. When the Serbian Parliament finally
elected one, the candidate won based on the pledge of
prioritizing cases of Serbian victims, not the cases like ours.
These and many other problems are illustrated in lack of
effort and will to resolve war crimes. Mr. Chairman, this
effort affects other issues that I know you care deeply about.
There are still over 1300 missing persons from the war, many of
whom have not been found because of the coverup operations that
occurred at the end of the war. The main suspect in the Bytyqi
case and principal responsible over many of these covered
operations, to date, Serbia has not prosecuted a single person
for the coverups.
The good news is that concrete things that the Congress,
the European Union, Serbia, and even Kosovo can do can help
these causes. First of all, I urge you to do the following:
Pass the H.Con.Res. 32 resolution regarding the case that
was recently introduced by Republican Lee Zeldin, Chairman
Engel, and Republican Grace Meng. When the Congress speaks,
Serbia listens.
Make sure that the European Union counterparts prioritize
these issues, as Serbia is currently in the midst of their EU
ascension process. To date, Serbia has been allowed to open
relevant chapters just by making empty promises. This must
stop.
Consider legislation to give the President and my family
more tools to pursue justice in this case, where Americans are
killed abroad by foreign governments. Our advocates at Pretrial
Rights International have forwarded a legislative proposal to
some of your offices regarding these issues. We would be happy
to share with any other members of the committee.
Second, I urge the European Union to do one simple thing:
start prioritizing accountability for war crimes during both
the Serbia ascension process and during the related dialog
between Pristina and Belgrade. There are a number of ways to do
this.
Mr. Chairman, I strongly support your call to not allow
Serbia to enter the EU until it cleans up its act. Serbia
should not be allowed to enter the EU until it proves that it
can and will complete prosecute of mid--and high-ranking war
criminals and those responsible for the coverup operation.
Additionally, the international community has taken
creative approaches to work with the countries in the region
that have similarly faced problems, such as locating trials
outside the country borders. It is now time for the EU, the
United States, and the international partners to consider
similar options for Serbia.
Also, the EU should not shy away from difficulties, but
relate issues like justice sector cooperation between Serbia
and Kosovo. Both countries need to cooperate in all types of
cross-border criminal investigations. The EU should make sure
that they have agreement in place.
To Serbian leaders, I urge you to change your course. There
is no shame on facing one's past, only honor. Until Serbian
politicians/leaders support their efforts to honestly confront
Serbia's past, Serbia will never become a great nation that we
all know and hope it can be.
Finally, we are truly grateful for the many recognitions
that the Kosovo government has given to my family and other war
crime victims, but the Kosovo government can do more. It should
make war crime justice in Serbia and regional cooperation in
war crimes cases a frontline issue in the dialog with Serbia.
As a sovereign nation, Kosovo also has the right to take real
action in these cases. We urge you, the international
community, to start prioritizing these issues.
Thank you for your consideration of my testimony.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bytyqi follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Bytyqi.
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman?
Push the button and move the microphone closer, too.
STATEMENT OF VASFIJE KRASNIQI-GOODMAN
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Is this good?
Chairman Engel. We will see.
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Thank you.
Chairman Engel. Keep talking.
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Honorable Chairman Engel, Honorable
Ranking Member----
Chairman Engel. A little louder. If you can just move it
closer to you? Yes. Just speak directly into it and it will
pick up your voice.
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Honorable Chairman Engel, Honorable
Ranking Member McCaul, honorable members of the Foreign Affairs
Committee, ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all very
much for giving me the honor of sharing my story with you. I
hope it will shed some light on the depth of the issues that
you are considering here today.
On April 14, 1999, when I was only a 16-year-old child, a
Serbian police officer burst into my family's home. He was
looking for my father and my brothers, despite the fact that
they were not there. I was with my mother, my aunt, and my two
cousins. The police officer ordered us to show him our IDs.
After taking a look at my ID, he kept it and he said I had to
go to the police station to give a statement about the men of
our household.
At this moment, my uncle walked over from his house and
simply asked, ``Why are you taking our girl?'' The police
officer replied, ``Don't anybody move or I'll shoot
everybody.'' My mom told him to take her in my place. ``No,
she's a child,'' replied the police officer. ``She will not be
able to lie about the whereabouts of her father and brothers.''
The Serbian police officer then ripped me away from my
mother's arms and took me to the Serbian village nearby. He
walked me into an empty house just off of the main road and
threw me onto a stack of corn that was piled against the house.
I started to yell and I screamed at the top of my lungs. That
is when he took me inside of his car and he started raping me.
I remember everything. I was held at the gunpoint. He
abused me and raped me repeatedly. I was shocked and exhausted.
I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I cried
with no control, begging him to kill me. ``No,'' he said, ``I
will not because you will suffer more this way.'' He was right;
I have suffered greatly since then.
I remember he had a bandage on his left hand, and he was
saying that is where the Liberation Army shot him and he was
taking revenge on me. Every time that I screamed, he threatened
to take me to an area full of Serbian forces where more men
would rape me. After he was done assaulting me, he went into a
local store and left me alone in the car. I know the village
was primarily Serbians, so I was terrified to make a move.
Shortly after the policeman left, an older man came out of
the same store and walked toward me. He forced me outside of
the car and took me to an unfinished house. I distinctly
remember this man. He was an old man and he was crippled. There
in that house he raped me.
A few hours later, I was taken back to my village and left
on the street. I walked through the village cemetery, hoping
that my life would end just right then and there because I do
not want to go home to explain to anybody what has just
happened to me.
They told me not to tell anybody what had just happened.
They said to tell they was at the police station giving a
statement about the whereabouts of my father and my brothers.
Somehow I managed to make it to my uncle's house. I did not
have to explain anything what happened to me. By judging in the
conditions they saw me, they knew that no one takes a 16-year-
old child to the police station for a testimony just to return
her a few hours later with scratches, bruises, and torn up.
The next day I reported my case to the Kosovo Liberation
Army. Later, I reported it to the United Nations Mission in
Kosovo. I also reported everything to the European Union Rule
of Law Mission in Kosovo.
The perpetrators of this crime, they were identified
eventually. However, 20 years have passed. My torturers are not
being held accountable for the crimes that they have done and
they are still at large.
There are 20,000 women and men who suffered crimes of war,
sexual violence in Kosovo. All they want is justice. All I want
is justice.
Although today I live a happy life in Texas as a proud wife
and as a proud mother of two daughters who were born in the
United States, and, thankfully, they will never have to
encounter the tragedies that I experienced, I will never have a
peace with my past until justice is delivered.
Thus, today I call on the Representatives of the U.S.
Congress to address the impunity of war crimes and human rights
abuses that were committed in Kosovo by taking immediate action
to seek justice for all survivors.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman, and thanks
to all our witnesses.
Let me start with Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. This room got very
quiet. Thank you, first of all, for the courage of telling your
story. It is not an easy thing to have lived through,
obviously, and it is a very difficult thing to be able to go
public and tell everybody. But it is so important if we are
ever going to get justice for what happened during the war in
Kosovo. People like you and others, Mr. Bytyqi, have to have
the courage to speak. So, I want to thank you personally. I got
to know you a little bit last night at dinner.
And I want to thank all of our witnesses. Thank you. Thank
you so much.
President Jahjaga, I have worked with you so much during
these past several years, and thank you for your courage.
Dr. Williams, you have always spoken the truth.
And, Mr. Bytyqi, everyone in Kosovo knows the story of the
Bytyqi brothers. Everyone knows the story, and we are not going
to forget ever about your brothers. We are not going to stop
until we seek justice.
Let me start with President Jahjaga. Thank you for your
service to your country and your efforts to raise awareness
about the women who survived sexual violence during the Kosovo
War. It is very difficult, even 20 years later, to come to
grips with what was done to these women and to, sadly, say that
we have had 20 years and we have not done right by them.
Could you please share with the committee the ongoing
struggles of the victims of wartime rape? And how can we assist
your efforts to work with you in bringing people to justice?
Ms. Jahjaga. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much one more
time for giving a chance to us to be able to share with the
United States lawmakers and the global audience how the justice
has failed the victims of the war in Kosovo and what are the
steps necessary to be taken in order to move forward.
We want to bring forward the issue of the justice for the
war crimes and the crimes against humanity committed by the
Serbian regime, by the Milosevic regime, by the military
police, and by the paramilitary forces of Serbia. We want to
bring the justice for so many of the innocent who lost life. We
want to bring the justice for so many of the survivors of the
sexual violence. We want to bring the justice for so many of
the missing people.
Our dignity, Mr. Chairman, has been touched and our
humanity, and we have been stripped of that 20 years ago. Many
of the reports of the human rights and the verification reports
have shown, and many of the testimoneys of the witnesses of
these atrocities, and the crimes committed against humanity in
Kosovo show that Kosovo, the ethnic majority of Kosovo have
been violated and have been a target of some of the most
grievous crimes and the violation of the human rights.
The Milosevic regime wielded the absolute control over the
Serbian police, military, and paramilitary forces that they
have been ordered to conduct this series of the violations of
the human rights. It was mentioned here that an estimated
number of over 1 million people were made by force to leave
their homes for the purpose of the ethnic cleansing. Only
during the wartime, it was also mentioned here, over 13,000
people have been killed and massacred. In between then, I want
to repeat again, 1,230 of them children under the age of 18 and
an estimated number of 20,000 women and men raped, where rape
has been used as a tool of war.
Only between March and April 1999, about 1 million people
were forced to leave the country for the purpose of the ethnic
cleansing, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, in the very
beginning of this hearing today, toward the direction of
Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro, as the neighboring
countries, for our people to search for safe haven. These were
not only the countries that have received the refugees from
Kosovo, but we are forever grateful to many of the countries
and the nations, started from here, from the U.S., from
Germany, Austria, and many countries within Europe as far as
Israel, Australia, and New Zealand, that have opened their
doors to offer the safe haven for the people which were facing
the tremendous crimes and suffering during the wartime in
Kosovo. And here it was mentioned that the Western world did
not experience that type of the ethnic cleansing since the
Holocaust from the World War II, and it is a true statement.
And something that I really want to stop here, because it
was mentioned, before I go to the survivors of the sexual
violence. And I would like to use this opportunity to mention
three more cases in the realm of several other crimes and the
massacres that have been recorded also by the Humanitarian Law
Center in Kosovo, which is a long list of those that I want to
mention for the sake of this many lives that have been lost in
Kosovo by name, starting from February 28th of 1998 to June 6th
of 1999. And I want to go by every location of the crimes that
have been committed here.
It's Likoshan, Municipality of Gllogoc and Qirez, Prekaz i
Poshtem, Lubeniq, Poklek i Ri, Rahovec, Shtutica, Grejqefc,
Senik, Rezalla, Dubovc, Obri e Eperme, Racak, Rogova,
Neighborhood II and III of Skenderaj, Kotlina, Brestoc, Goden,
Ternje, Bellacerka, Krusha e Vogel, Krusha e Madhe, city of
Suhareka, city of Fushe Kosova, Celina, Padalishta, Duzhnje,
Samadrexha, Dardania Neighborhood in the city of Peja, Mamusha,
city of Gjakova, Krushevc, Izbica, city of Podujeva,
Samadrexha, Beleg, Polac, PaStatella, Joviq, Lubeniq, city of
Gjakova, city of Fushe Kosova, city of Gjakova, Nagavc, Marina,
Kralan.
Chairman Engel. President Jahjaga, we will submit, without
objection, all these names, so it will be in the official
record.
Ms. Jahjaga. Please.
Chairman Engel. We will submit that.
Chairman Engel. I just want to very quickly say one thing,
and then, I will turn it over to Mr. McCaul. I have been to
Kosovo many, many times. I have been there with my friend Harry
Bajraktari and with others as well.
I remember particularly in 1999 going to a city called
Peja, and every Albanian in that city, which was an Albanian
city, was forced out of their home. And as the people left
their homes, the Serbian forces torched each home, burned down
each home systematically one by one by one, until thousands
upon thousands of homes were all burned.
And someone presented me with pictures of every home in
Peja burning or charred, and I kept that. I still have that on
my dresser in my bedroom. So that every night it reminds me
that there's still a lot of work to be done.
The point that I want to make--and I guess it does not
really require an answer--but anybody who commits horrendous
crimes of war should be brought to justice. And we heard Ms.
Krasniqi-Goodman having the courage to say what you have said,
and thank you. And Mr. Bytyqi, your family, you know, I have
been to Kosovo where the monuments are to your family, to your
brothers. It is a well-known name.
The thing that annoys me the most is that, whatever
atrocities that were committed on either side have to be
brought to justice, but there were so many atrocities committed
against ethnic Albanians. It is not even near equality. And
yet, when you look at what the international community has
done, they have gone after Albanians much more than they have
gone after Serbs, when there is not even an equality there.
There were so many more atrocities committed against ethnic
Albanians, and to sort of pretend that there is this moral
equivalency is absolutely a disgrace. And as long as I have
anything to do with it, we are going to make that point and to
continue to demand that people who did the terrible things to
citizens that we heard from Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman, that these
people are brought to justice. So, I just want to say that.
Mr. McCaul?
Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to say thank you to Ms. Goodman for your courage to
come forward with that story. I know, as a former Federal
prosecutor dealing with victims, it is hard to relive that
experience.
And, Mr. Bytyqi, your brothers, it never quite leaves, and
it is PTSD of the worst kind. So, again, I want to thank you
for coming forward.
What I am kind of shocked by, Mr. Chairman is the fact that
we had over 13,000 people killed, 1.2 million people displaced;
it has been 20 years. We have a U.N. administration mission,
some sort of U.N. court involved, and only six people have been
convicted?
And I think, Dr. Williams, you said that rape is not even a
standalone crime that can be prosecuted.
So, again, I want to thank you for having this hearing. I
just find that completely unacceptable. So, perhaps, Madam
President and Dr. Williams, can you tell us what has been going
on over the last 20 years? Because those numbers just do not
add up to me.
Ms. Jahjaga. As I said earlier, we have an estimated number
of about 20,000 women and men that have been raped during the
wartime, where rape has been used as a tool of war. Like in
every other case, like also in our case in Kosovo, there has
been enormous stigma surrounding the survivors of the sexual
violence. And the reason why the rape has been used as a tool
of war by the police, military, and the paramilitary forces was
to emasculate the men of Kosovo and to destroy the very fabric
of our society.
And their main intention was to have the war last much
longer after it has officially ended. And they have achieved
that because, for 20 years after the end of the war, we still
have this very living evidence and the proof and the suffering
among the survivors, each and every one of them which are
living with these atrocities and with what they have gone
through during the wartime.
In many of those cases, the perpetrators of this horrendous
crime, they were telling, even out loudly, that we are going,
even though that the victims and the survivors were begging
them to kill them after they committed those acts, they said to
them that, ``No, we are going to leave you alive, so you can
live with this thing forever and you can remember what we have
done to you forever and for your entire life.''
And every single survivor of sexual violence, no matter in
which part of the country I have met--and I have met many of
them throughout the country, hundreds of them--they seek only
one thing. They seek for the justice. They seek for the
perpetrators whoever done these crimes to be put forward to the
justice and to be facing with the justice for the crimes that
have been unjustly committed upon them.
Unfortunately, this issue of the survivors of the sexual
violence, as you rightly said, Mr. McCaul, they have not
priority immediately after the end of the war, neither from the
international mission, neither from the provisional
institutions of Kosovo. Only the women activists were the open
door to the survivors of the sexual violence to offer, starting
from the psychological treatment and all the way down to the
physical and toward the medical treatment of others. Only back
in 2014, we, as the country, have started the institutional
approach and care toward the survivors of the sexual violence.
In that time, in my term as the President of the Republic
of Kosovo, I established the National Council for the Survivors
of the Sexual Violence, which opened a totally new chapter for
the survivors for rape, their integration, rehabilitation,
resocialization, and the access to the justice.
I mentioned the access to the justice, which is very
limited because, so far, we do not have a single perpetrator
that has been found guilty for all those crimes.
Mr. McCaul. And thank you for starting the National Council
for Survivors.
Ms. Jahjaga. And that is why we need--sir, there is a
tremendous need to establish the Special Court in order to
prosecute these cases of the war crimes and crimes against
humanity and the crimes of the sexual violence used as a tool
of war in Kosovo. I call upon this body, I call upon you, as
the U.S. Congress, as the body that has proven so far and has
lined up yourself in the right side of the history, and you
have proven that 20 years ago, in regard with the intervention
in Kosovo, to stop the war, to stop the genocide, and to stop
the ethnic cleansing, to condition Serbia and to keep Serbia
accountable for all of the crimes and atrocities that they did
toward the innocent people of Kosovo.
And it is really unjust to see that Serbia has a very open
part toward Euroatlantic integration. And I want from this body
to analyze all of the possible circumstances, to establish the
type of Special Court the way that we have established in
Kosovo for all of the crimes to be investigated by this body;
at the same time, Serbia to be conditioned in their path toward
the Euroatlantic integration.
Mr. McCaul. And I look forward to working with the chairman
on the idea of the Special Court.
And, Dr. Williams, my time is limited, but the United
Nations has wholly failed. I mean, as a Federal prosecutor for
many years, this is incompetence. It is inept. It is not
working. So, is this Special Court idea the answer?
Dr. Williams. A Special Court with a clarified mandate is
the answer. There are three reasons why the U.N. mission
failed. The Yugoslavia Tribunal was timid and tardy in its
indictments. When it indicted Milosevic, it said to itself, we
have indicted the most senior political leader; take the box on
Kosovo. They indicted a handful of other small individuals.
They, then, had a 2-year trial, and he died during the trial.
So, justice was not achieved.
The U.N. mission in Kosovo, the EU mission in Kosovo simply
were not equipped, were not interested, and did not exercise
the jurisdictional mandate that they possessed.
And then, the third reason, as I mentioned in my testimony,
is this sense of moral equivalency. The European Union
approach, which the United States falls into once in a while,
is that we need to integrate Serbia into Europe. If we say all
sides are responsible, the Croats, the Bosnians, the Kosovars,
the Serbs, it is easier to accommodate and appease the existing
regime in Serbia. You saw this at Dayton. You saw this at
Rambouillet.
And then, you have the Special Court, which is the worst
possible court one could imagine, which is a court specifically
designed only to prosecute one ethnic group for one set of
crimes. That is its public characterization. A close reading of
the statute--and you know, as a prosecutor, you look at the
statute of the court; it can apply to all crimes and crimes
committed by all perpetrators, and provide justice for all
victims, but it is going to need direction.
The important thing to remember is this court was created
by the Parliament of Kosovo. The government of Kosovo possesses
the authority to clarify, reframe, and, if necessary, amend the
statute to make it crystal clear that it is not just an
ethnically based court. And I would encourage--I will stop
there.
Mr. McCaul. Thank you.
Chairman Engel. Thank you.
Ms. Bass?
Ms. Bass. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And let me just take a
moment to thank you for your leadership on this issue for a
very long time. I am aware of that.
I did want you to continue on talking about the Special
Court, to try to understand exactly what you think would be the
best.
And then, I also wanted to hear in terms of our role, the
role of the United States, and whether or not you feel that we
have played a positive role in terms of bringing the
perpetrators of war crimes to justice.
And, gentleman, I am sorry, I do not want to mispronounce
your name. You described your brothers and you said they were
Americans. And I just was wondering specifically what the U.S.
did in your situation.
So, I throw those questions out to the panel.
Dr. Williams. The Special Tribunal has a unique founding.
There was a report crafted by the Council of Europe, again, as
part of this approach of moral equivalence. It focused on its
face exclusively against crimes committed by ethnic Albanians,
but it did acknowledge that there were a number of crimes
committed by a number of parties, and that is important. It was
not the emphasis of the report, but it did acknowledge that a
lot of what we have spoken about here today, about the
preponderance of the crimes being committed by the Serbian
regime.
The statute has an odd jurisdictional mandate. The
jurisdictional mandate is for crimes related to the report of
the Council of Europe. Now no lawyer would write a statute that
would lay out the jurisdiction, and then, reference it to a
report by a diplomat, but that is what you have.
And then, there was tremendous pressure put on the
government of Kosovo to adopt this, and then, to physically
move the court to the Netherlands. And that is where the
opportunity comes to turn this court around and make it
successful. There are international judges, international
prosecutors, and there is a list of defense attorneys that are
both Albanian, Serbian, and international.
The problem is, as lawyers, we look at the statute and we
can say, yes, this can be used to bring about accountability
for all perpetrators, for all victims, and provide justice for
all witnesses. And in particular--I emphasized this in my
written statement--it has state-of-the-art witness protection,
which makes it ideal for prosecuting sexually related crimes
for conflict abuse or conflict-related sexual violence.
But the diplomatic momentum is that it is a narrow ethnic-
based court, and unless the U.S. Government takes some action
or works closely with the Kosovars to provide them the
political cover to reframe----
Ms. Bass. What do you see that action being?
Dr. Williams. This action would be a statement by the
Department of State explaining what the mandate actually
covers. The U.S. Government provides funding for this court
because it is an internationalized, hybrid tribunal; to
condition this funding on the proper interpretation of its
mandate and to send necessary personnel and resources.
And I will end with 10 seconds of, when I was at the State
Department in the early 1990's, the Yugoslavia Tribunal was set
up. The Americans moved money, they moved personnel, and the
American Government was heavily involved in crafting the
Security Council resolution, the mandate, the statute of the
Yugoslav Tribunal, because America knew how important justice
was going to be for durable peace. That has waned in these last
few years and needs to be reinvigorated.
Ms. Bass. OK. And I know I am just about out of time, but I
would like for you to respond. And then, I wanted to know if
Madam President had a comment she wanted to make.
Mr. Bytyqi. Thank you.
The Bytyqi brothers were all American citizens in the
1990's when the atrocity of the Serbs, the Milosevic regime was
put on the Albanian people in Kosovo. At the time, we had our
parents there, my brother, younger brother, my sister, and my
mother. And we heard that the American-Albanian community are
gathering up together to go fight over with the support of the
U.S. Government. And they went and fought. They did what any
soldier would do, protect one from the other.
And where the U.S. Government stands, the U.S. Government
does do a lot, but the problem is Serbia.
Ms. Bass. What was the response when they found your
brothers' bodies? What did the U.S. Government do?
Mr. Bytyqi. They did everything--they started, we started
prosecuting. After a couple of years, there was a prosecutor.
The U.S. Government--the Serbian government does not cooperate.
They talk the talk, but they do not walk the walk. They will
give you empty promises, which has been happening for the past
20 years. The President himself, he keeps the criminals close
allies to himself.
Ms. Bass. OK. And then, Madam President, is there anything
you would like to add?
Mr. Bytyqi. Thank you.
Ms. Bass. Thank you.
Ms. Jahjaga. Thank you very much. And actually, I would not
have more else to add than what Dr. Williams has already
explained as regards the structure of the Special Court, which
should only require some of the amendments of the current
structure of the Special Court, which has been already
established. And it was very well said here that no court
should be established only in certain ethnic-based in there.
Proofs and evidences are already there because they have
been there for about 20 years. And these are very well-
documented by many of the international human rights reports.
And it only has the political backing or the political support
starting from here, from this body. It was very well-described
by Dr. Williams, starting from your side toward the State
Department, and then, back to the European channels.
And again, about the necessary diplomatic pressure and the
political pressure in the authorities of Serbia to be able to
show the same readiness as we have shown in the case of Kosovo
in establishing this certain crime, because this is not only in
the interest of Kosovo because this is also in the interest of
the long-lasting peace in the entire region of the southeastern
part of Europe.
It is not our intention to create a monster out of one
nation of the Serbia. Our intention is to have Serbia and the
Serbian authorities to hold accountable and responsible
everyone who has committed these crimes toward the innocent
people of Kosovo.
Chairman Engel. Thank you. Thank you, President Jahjaga.
Before I call on Mr. Chabot, I want to acknowledge all the
people who came from all over the country, particularly from
New York, to be here with us today to witness what is
happening. I am very happy to see all of you, and I want to
single out Councilman Mark Gjonaj, who is here in the audience
as well. Thank you very, very much. And, of course, Harry
Bajraktari and all the people that I know so well.
Mr. Chabot?
Mr. Chabot. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank
you very much for holding this hearing. I think this was very
important for you to do so, and I know that you have personally
been very involved in this issue for many, any years. And I
think Members on both sides of the aisle respect your
dedication and your commitment to it.
I have not been to the region or to Kosovo nearly as many
times as you have. I have been there, learned a lot when I was.
And coincidentally, the Dayton Accords occurred just up the
road from my district. I represent Cincinnati, Ohio. Dayton is
just north of my district.
And I saw you nodding, Dr. Williams. My first question, I
wanted to ask you, and the ranking member, Mr. McCaul, I got a
sense from him. He is as outraged as a lot of us are about how
the U.N. and the world has really, I think, failed miserably in
this. The Dayton Accords did get the war more or less ended, at
least the physical shooting and the bombings, and that type of
thing. But, in holding guilty parties accountable, it has just
filed miserably.
And hearing especially the two witnesses that felt this
with their families, it is just horrific what you all had to go
through, and the courage of you coming here again today puts
all of us, I think on both sides, in awe that you are able to
come before a committee like this and testify. So, thank you
for doing that. It is important that the world hear this.
So, I guess, Dr. Williams, let me just ask you this: as
horrible as this has been, there are other atrocities and mass
killings that have occurred. Obviously, Rwanda comes to mind,
Cambodia, South Africa, as the reconciliation afterwards. Is
there anything that we can learn from how they handled some of
these things that did or did not happen here? Or what can we
learn, because we need to learn as much as possible from this?
Dr. Williams. Thank you.
By way of full disclosure, my father's family is from
Dayton, Ohio. So, we are kindred spirits there.
The thing we can learn, there are two things we can learn
about dealing with accountability and reconciliation. The
first, it is important to understand the nature of the
individuals that we have negotiated with to create the Dayton
Accords, to create the Rambouillet Accords, and what sort of
countermeasures must be subsequently employed.
Three of the four signatories of the Dayton Accords--
Karadzic, Milosevic, and Tudjman--were indictable or indicted
for war crimes. Karadzic and Milosevic were indicted; Tudjman
died before the prosecutor said she was about to indict him.
The two chief negotiators for Serbia at the Rambouillet
Accords, Milutinovic and Sahinoviàc, were also both
indicted for crimes against humanity.
So, you have to bear in mind that, while we negotiate or
the U.N. negotiates with these individuals to get to yes, to
get a peace agreement, you are not going to find justice as
part of the peace process, which is why you have these
tribunals.
And what we found in Sierra Leone, in the Ivory Coast, in
Rwanda, in Cambodia, and in other places where there are
tribunals, is you need a holistic approach. You need an
accurate historical record, which the tribunals, but also truth
commissions, non-amnesty-based truth commissions, help to
provide. You need victim catharsis.
So, in Rwanda, there was the genocide. The International
Tribunal prosecuted nearly 60 individuals, but, then, you had
local prosecutions and you had gacaca courts at the community.
And over 100,000 individuals have been processed through the
system that Rwanda created. So, the victims have their say. In
a tribunal, it is the perpetrators who have their say. They are
the ones on trial. Milosevic represented himself. But, in truth
commissions or localized mechanisms, or these hybrid type of
tribunals that the Specialist Chambers could be, you have the
opportunity for victims' representation, victims' counsel.
And then, you need memorialization and you need
recognition, and it must be a comprehensive package. You have
not had that in Kosovo. And that lesson has not been learned
from all of these other tribunals that we have seen.
So, negotiate peace with whoever you have to. Indict and
hold accountable those responsible for atrocity crimes. And
then, expand that mechanism and develop other mechanisms for
victim catharsis, historical records.
And importantly, as Madam President had noted, to deny
collective guilt. And I was very careful in my testimony to
talk about Serbian regime perpetrators because, although it is
tens of thousands, it is not millions and it is not the entire
Serbian population. And you need to identify and pull out those
responsible, so that there is a denial of collective guilt and
you can have reconciliation and durable peace.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you very much.
And, Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. If I could just
thank the panel, again, for their tremendous testimony. And
hopefully, we will, as a Nation, along with the world, act upon
this. So, thank you very much.
Chairman Engel. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chabot.
Ms. Spanberger?
Ms. Spanberger. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much to the witnesses for being here. I
especially want to thank you, Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Thank you
for your testimony today. I appreciate you bringing a voice not
just to your experience, but to the experiences of so many
victims.
And to Mr. Bytyqi, I am so sorry for the loss of your
brothers Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet. Thank you for honoring them
by being here today.
I would like to continue the conversation a bit about the
discussion related to the need for a Special Court. My area of
interest is in recognizing that, in 2014, Kosovo law was
amended to recognize victims of conflict-related sexual
violence as war victims. And this made them eligible for
reparations. However, thus far, only 1300 women have applied.
I am curious if you believe that, were there to be a shift
in the accountability process, the creation of this Special
Court that you have talked about, Madam President, do you think
that would change the pathway for victims of sexual violence to
come forward, and would that have an impact on this catharsis
that you, Dr. Williams, have spoken about as well?
Ms. Jahjaga. Well, ma'am, absolutely, it will shift. As I
said in the very beginning, the issue of the survivors of the
sexual violence has never been the priority, neither for the
international community immediately after the end of the war,
neither for the provisional institutions of Kosovo. They have
been living in the tremendous stigma from the society. And
actually, that did not only happen with the survivors of sexual
violence in Kosovo, but it happens in every past war, in past
conflicts of societies. There is always a tendency of pointing
the fingers toward the survivors rather than pointing the
fingers toward the perpetrators.
And it took for us about 13 years after the end of the war
to be able to change the course and to be able to pass the
necessary step for the survivors of the sexual violence to have
institutional care, as you referred and I have already filed in
my statement. By the creation of the National Council, which in
a month after the work of the National Council, the legal
status has been recognized toward all of the survivors of the
sexual violence as the civilian victims of the war.
The Committee for the Ratification of the Status of the
Civilian Victims of the War has started its work in February
2018. Until now, we have about over 1,000 applicants. And
definitely, this has reflected indirectly, and in each and
every survivor that I talk to them personally, before this
process has started, about four or 5 years ago, will you be
able to step forward and ask for your justice? And actually,
they have been hesitating. But now has been created a totally
different momentum that each and every one of them is willing
to come forward.
And as I said in the very first statement, no matter what
kind of circumstances they live, no matter that they live in a
very dire economic situation, the only word that is being
spelled out continuously by each and every survivor--and we
have heard today also by Vasfije--is that we want justice. We
want the justice and we want to see whoever has done this
horrendous crime to be faced with the justice.
And by putting the focus on perpetrators, we also have seen
that the stigma around the survivors has kind of like shifted
in another direction that has been created, a different
momentum. And this is happening today. It is going to be
another momentum for the survivors of the sexual violence, for
the justice that they have been lacking for about 20 years.
And not to forget that we already lost so many of them.
Some of them have left us. They died due to the consequences of
what they have been going through.
And so, many times when I have been arguing with many of
the lawyers, with many of the prosecutors in the country, when
it was a matter of the evidence, you do not need more evidence
than the survivors of the sexual violence. In most of those
cases, they were not done or they were not conducted alone.
They were conducted in the presence of the family. They were
conducted in the presence of the entire village. They have been
conducted in the presence of the in-laws and a much wider group
into that.
So, evidences are there. Everything is ready. What we need
is the proper platform and mechanism, such as a Special Court
to be able to proceed and move forward to bring, for the first
time after 20 years, the long-lasting peace in the hearts and
minds in each and every survivor.
Ms. Spanberger. Thank you, Madam President. And thank you
so much for your advocacy on behalf of the people of Kosovo.
And I am out of time, Mr. Chair. So, I yield back. Thank
you.
Chairman Engel. OK. Thank you very much.
I am going to call on Mr. Zeldin in a moment. But, before I
do that, I want to say to Mr. Bytyqi, I have had President
Vucic of Serbia in my office twice right here in this building,
and twice when I questioned him about your brothers, he
promised me that he would have a solution for me where people
who committed this heinous crime would be brought to justice.
And both times he showed that his word means absolutely nothing
because there was never a followup. And even when I tried to
followup with him many, many months later, he gave me
reassurances again, and, of course, nothing. So, it is pretty
clear that the highest levels of the Serbian government are not
willing to do anything. And I just saw him again for a third
time in Germany a couple of months ago and raised it with him
again, and we got the same old, the same old ridiculous
dodging. It is really just disgraceful.
And I know that Congressman Zeldin is your Representative.
He and I wrote to Secretary Pompeo about your case and other
post-conflict justice issues, and we are going to continue to
be relentless when it comes to bringing back truth and getting
some justice for you and your family and your brothers.
Mr. Zeldin?
Mr. Zeldin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
hearing. And I can personally attest, from being with Chairman
Engel in that meeting in Munich with President Vucic, and
having many other conversations with the chairman and his team
over the course of not just the last few months while he has
been chair, but years, it is a very personal in a very positive
way, laser-like focus on this issue. And I just want to thank
the chairman and his team for making such a dedicated effort
with a ton of follow-through.
It is one thing to have a meeting with a constituent or
someone in our country. They share a personal story, and maybe
you forget about it in the weeks or the months that follow. But
I think it is an important message. I know that President Vucic
and his team pay attention to today's hearing. They are
watching. It is an important message that they receive that, on
both sides of the aisle, this issue is not going away. And if
it is the 20th anniversary of what happened to the Bytyqi
brothers and we are still here having this conversation, and
they might have thought 5 or 10 or 15 years ago that, fast-
forward to 2019, that we would just stop talking about it. If
you look around this entire room, there are not seats. They are
plenty more people who would be filling these seats if we had
them. And that should also send a powerful message to President
Vucic and his team because they have goals for their country.
And I believe, and I agree with what Mr. Bytyqi said, and
what Ms. Goodman said, that justice absolutely must be part of
any of those talks for a future relationship. For a Serbian
relationship with the United States, it requires justice for
the victims.
This my third term serving in this committee, and I have
heard a lot of personal stories on different topics for
different nations around the world. I have to say that nothing
was as emotional and gut-wrenching as listening to your story,
Ms. Goodman, and your strength to be able to be here and to
share that story with Congress and with the American people. It
is a testament to your strength of character, and there is a
lot of respect for you just to be here and be able to share
those reflections with us.
And I think it really highlights for all of my colleagues,
as they read through House Concurrent Resolution 32, as they
talk to their teams about what that text means, what the
message means; that, hopefully, if they were not in this room
to hear it, to replay the witness testimony from Mr. Bytyqi and
Ms. Goodman especially, and sign on. We need every member of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee to sign onto House
Concurrent Resolution 32. We need every Member of Congress to
be supportive of House Concurrent Resolution 32, and to send a
powerful message beyond today to President Vucic and his team
that all of their goals for what they want with their
neighbors, what they want with a wider region, with the United
States, it all requires, well, the demand and the insistence of
the United States must include justice.
In December 2018, the Department of State designated Goran
Radosavljevic--it was under Section 7031(c)--due to his
involvement in these war crimes. I am grateful that this
designation was made by the State Department. Goran's name has
been referenced in other meetings that have taken place with
colleagues, and he is known to be a suspect in the murder of
the Bytyqi brothers.
And when Chairman Engel and I sat with President Vucic in
Munich, it was explained that there has not been enough
evidence in order to bring a prosecution. But the family wants
their day in court. Based off the evidence that exists, the
United States feels comfortable to make this designation back
in December 2018. We have heard it acknowledged through people
who have met with President Vucic in other settings, including
Mr. Bytyqi was in the room when he heard it out of President
Vucic's mouth, and others acknowledging that Goran is a
suspect.
So, what does that mean? Whatever evidence you have now, 20
years later, it is time for a trial. It is time for a day in
court. This issue is not going to go away. And for the sake of
U.S.-Serbian relations, and for Serbian relations with their
counterparts in their region, for everything that they seek,
that justice is what this committee, hopefully, will continue
to demand.
And once again, thank you to Chairman Engel because I know
that, as President Vucic watches today, he knows that on both
sides of the aisle that we will not let this issue go. And that
is the key. Justice is the key, and that is what the United
States must continue to demand.
And I yield back.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Zeldin.
Mr. Gonzalez?
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My question will be for Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Ms. Goodman,
thank you for being here with us. Thank you for your courage
and willingness to tell your story to the committee. I know
that it cannot be easy, but I am sure what you are doing means
a great deal for women not only in Kosovo, but around the
world, especially the thousands we face sexual violence during
war. And I want you to know that we all here deeply care what
you are saying and what happened to you and many others, and we
want to do all we can to help women in Kosovo to find justice.
With that being said, I have a special question for you and
for Mr. Bytyqi. Do you feel that, as United States citizens,
our government has lived up to your expectations in how we
should have sought justice for you at this moment in time? And
what would you expect, if not that?
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Thank you.
I have been a U.S. citizen for 13 years. When I was going
through the trial with my case, all the trials available to me,
the basic court, the appeals court, the supreme court. The
United States did not do nothing for me, no, they did not, but
neither did my country, Kosovo. So, they let me down. But I am
hoping maybe now it is something that we can start working on
to seek justice, if it is not for my case, at least for the
other 20,000 men and women, because we do need justice.
Mr. Gonzalez. Well, as my colleague on the other side of
aisle suggested, we will never forget what happened, and we
will continue to look for justice for you and others who have
suffered these atrocities.
And, Mr. Bytyqi, I would like to hear from you as well.
Mr. Bytyqi. Thank you, Mr. Gonzalez.
Yes, the U.S. could do more. They could put an amount of
pressure and take swift and precautional measures that Serbia
delivers justice to my brothers, not only for my brothers, but
the rest of the victims of the Kosovo Albanian war crimes
committed.
As you know, before I stated that, when Congress speaks,
Serbia listens. The only way is political pressure on Serbia.
That is the only way Serbia will cooperate, no other way. They
will promise you heaven, but they will not deliver. As you have
heard Chairman Engel, he was promised a few times. My family
was promised. Members of this committee were promised. Nothing,
nothing.
Instead of prosecuting the criminals, he holds them dearly
to himself, close to his lobby. Practically, they work still in
the government of Serbia. Criminals that killed my brothers are
still in power in Serbian government.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you. Thank you. And I see you visibly
shaken.
And, Ms. Goodman, thank you for your courage to come and
express so vividly what happened to us, because this is the way
we learn and how we can continue this fight until the end,
until we can finally bring those to justice.
My next question is to Ms. Goodman again. You brought your
case to the UNMIK and the and the EULEX, where no action,
nothing was founded, and your case was taken up in the Kosovo
court system with two Serb policemen indicted. And ultimately,
the supreme court dismissed their case. Do you have plans for
further legal action against your perpetrators any other way?
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Thank you.
Yes, we do have plans maybe to go through the chain of
command. That is my only option at this point.
Mr. Gonzalez. But have you not reached the last place,
being the supreme court of the country? Or are you saying the
international community?
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. The supreme court of my country, it
is a closed case. Now they are going to go through the chain of
command. They are going to reopen my case and go through the
chain of command.
Mr. Gonzalez. Well, I am very sorry the international
community has failed you, and we, the United States, will
continue pushing this to the end and we will not forget.
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Thank you.
Mr. Gonzalez. And I yield back.
Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. We need your help. Thank you.
Chairman Engel. Thank you.
Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for convening
this important hearing, and to our distinguished witnesses for
bearing witness to an extremely ugly truth that still needs to
be rectified in terms of accountability.
And I do want to thank all of you. Dr. Williams, your
testimony about the accountability gap--you know, during the
conflict, I remember traveling to Stankovic and met with
hundreds of refugees who were the lucky ones who made their way
over the border to relative safety, but, obviously, so many
others never were able to make that trek and suffered horribly
under Slobodan Milosevic.
And I think it is very timely, 20 years later, to be
calling for all of the unmet needs when it comes to justice,
which has not been served well. As you point out, the number of
sexual assaults, about 20,000 individuals were the victims of
conflict-related sexual violence, and that is almost a carbon
copy of what happened in other parts of that region,
particularly in Bosnia. I remember chairing a hearing with
Bianca Jagger who had borne witness to exactly what was
happening to Bosnian women, and the same happened to Croatian
women. And still, there has yet to be a full prosecution of
those who have committed these crimes. And this is a fresh
reminder that we need to redouble efforts.
If you could speak to the evidence that was gathered by
UNMIK, which obviously disappointed in the extreme? Why were
they so feckless in their work? And is that evidence still
available?
I mean, one of the things we learned in Srpska as well,
Republican Srpska, was that one of the reasons why
reconciliation could not happen is because people were living
right next door to people who had committed atrocities,
including in Srebrenica, and elsewhere.
So, it is the same thing, obviously, in Kosovo. I wonder if
you could speak to that evidence, whether or not it is still
usable. I remember when the original court for the former
Yugoslavia was constituted, all of us were concerned, and I
actually offered an amendment on it to ensure that we captured
that information, because you cannot do a prosecution
effectively if you do not have actionable data and information.
So, if you could speak to that, whether or not that information
still could be used, eye witness accounts, for example?
And again, I came a little late. So, I do not want to be
redundant on other questions, but I will look at the record and
go over your testimoneys very carefully.
But thank you so much, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for
this hearing.
Chairman Engel. Thank you.
Ms. Omar?
Mr. Smith. I think Professor Williams wanted to answer.
Chairman Engel. Oh, I am sorry.
Dr. Williams. If there is time permitting----
Chairman Engel. There is time.
Mr. Williams [continuing]. I would like to provide a brief
answer.
Chairman Engel. I jumped the gun.
Dr. Williams. Thank you, Congressman Smith.
On paper, you would hear that the files gathered by UNMIK
were transferred to EULEX, and then, those would be made
available to the Specialist Chambers. But you can sort of
imagine your crazy uncle's garage and a filing system. And that
is my fear, is that when these testimoneys were taken, when the
witnesses' testimony was made available, the investigators for
UNMIK/EULEX were not trained and did not prioritize conflict-
related sexual violence.
There is an incidence where NATO troops took over 50
testimoneys and provided them to UNMIK, and UNMIK essentially
said, well, what do you want us to do with these? And the NATO
forces are saying the victims are coming to us and telling us
their stories; you need to get out there in the field and set
up proper investigations.
So, I think what you would find is that there are plenty of
leads and there are plenty of witnesses willing to tell their
story and to identify the perpetrators. And that is what is
unique about Kosovo, is the deep, deep commitment of the
victims to seeing justice be done, so that there can be
reconciliation and they can live alongside their neighbors.
It is going to need the resources that the Specialist
Chambers has, and it is going to need the infrastructure that
the Specialist Chambers has. And there are two things that are
important about the Specialist Chambers. One is a comprehensive
witness protection program, which, again, when you are talking
about conflict-related sexual violence, that is very important.
And then, second, they actually have a provision for
victims' counsel. So, when you go to the court, there are the
judges; there is the prosecution; there is the defense, and the
victims actually have the third podium, so that they can be
represented. And they can bring the evidence. They can ask
questions. They can cross-examine. They can make submissions.
So, it provides that role of the victims to basically
rebuild the integrity of what is a failed justice process.
Again, you can only do that if you clarify, reframe, and
possibly amend the statute of the Specialist Chambers. But that
is the only way you are going to get a durable peace in the
Balkans.
Thank you.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Smith.
Ms. Omar?
Ms. Omar. Thank you.
I want to start by saying to Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman how much
I admire your courage for coming here today and sharing your
story. We could all visibly see how shaken you are and how much
you are still being traumatized by what happened to you 20
years ago.
And to Madam President, so much of your testimony deeply
resonates with me. Like both of you, I am a survivor of war.
I particularly wanted to talk to you guys about the use of
sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war, which you both
spoke about in such clear and heartbreaking terms. As I am sure
you know, the U.N. recently put a resolution on the use of rape
as a weapon of war. It was severely watered-down at the
insistence of the United States. This is outraged me, as it
should outrage every American.
In the first place, I want to assure you that the
administration's position does not reflect that of the American
people and does not reflect that of Congress, and it certainly
does not reflect my position. As we continue to partner on
justice mechanisms in Kosovo, you have allies in Congress on
making such complete accountability. It is made not only for
the survivors of war in Kosovo, but those around the world. And
this concludes the complete range of necessary reparations,
including access to sexual and reproductive health care for
victims.
Madam President, I am hoping that you could tell us about
your experience in leading the effort in Kosovo, what is
necessary to fully address the victims of sexual violence in
war, and how the United States can tangibly help address this.
Ms. Jahjaga. Madam Omar, thank you very much.
And as I already mentioned also in my long statement filed
for your information, we, as a country, as the institution,
telling you this truth, we did not know how to handle with the
issue of the survivors of the sexual violence for the
continuous 13 years after the end of the war, due to the stigma
and due to the taboo topic that was existing among our society.
But the turning point for the status of the survivor has
been in 2014 with the National Council of the Survivors of the
Sexual Violence. We started the process of the rehabilitation,
reintegration, resocialization, and access on the justice. Just
1 month after the work of the National Council, the law for the
war values has been amended, which has recognized the status of
the survivors of the sexual violence as the civilian victims of
the war, which automatically has guaranteed and granted the
rise for the life-term pension, which is directly linked with
their reintegration, rehabilitation processes that have been
put already within the system, the legislative system of
Kosovo.
It is the budget has been also approved by the government
of Kosovo last year, and we are in the process of the
proceeding of the application through the verification
committee approved by the government of Kosovo, which is a very
slow process going, but we are very much satisfied because this
will be another step forward on their continuous demand and the
requirement for the access on the justice, which is also the
precondition. Because with the application and the coming
forward to speak about the atrocities that they have gone
through, they would be able for the first time to share their
stories, starting from the committee, but also which will
indirectly empower the survivors to come forward and to seek so
much needed justice that has been lacking for the 20 years
after the end of the war.
Madam Omar, we will never be able to offer our survivors
with a full recognition, with a full reparation, or justice.
But I am telling you the truth. That has been overdue for these
past 20 years after the end of the war. And if we do not act
now, which is the main reason why we are here today, to
establish the necessary mechanism of the Special Court which
will be exclusively investigation, investigating the war
crimes, crimes against humanity, and include in there rape that
has been used as a tool of war, this will be forever a burden
and burning in our conscience, and we should not allow this. It
has been enough happening for these past 20 years.
Ms. Omar. Yes. Thank you so much for your presence and your
testimony and the work that you are doing. It really speaks to
the role women play in reconciliation and sort of helping
communities we build, as we are storytellers, we are the
revivals of our communities. And to you and to everyone who had
suffered the horrific war in Kosovo, my heart is with you.
Thank you. I yield back.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Ms. Omar.
Mr. Burchett?
Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member. I
appreciate you all being here.
I come from this at a little different angle, I guess. My
father fought in the Second World War in the Pacific, and he
visited, went back to one of the islands that he was on the
invasion on, but the other one he did not. And as a child, I
remember him telling me some of the horrific stories of things
they found out that, in fact, I guess the Japanese were doing
to the Koreans and these ladies that they had actually
kidnapped. And my father was invited back for the anniversary
of that invasion, and he would not go. Looking back on that
now, I think I understand why, because of some of the horrific
things he saw that were done to those folks at the hands of the
Japanese.
Do I call you President? Is that correct? I am going to try
your last name, Jahjaga. Not close? Close? Close? I got it? All
right. Well, thank you, ma'am.
I am from east Tennessee. The chairman always thinks I am
from his hometown in New York, but I am not, by my accent.
[Laughter.]
But I am concerned about the Serbians have such low
political will, that that is political correct--I just think it
is gutless--to investigate these war crimes. And what more can
we do as a country, and I can, as a Congressman from Tennessee,
do to put pressure on the Serbian government to bring some
justice about?
And the followup of that would be, is there any hope that
we could have some cooperation between the law enforcement and
the judicial institutions in Kosovo and Serbia? And I just
throw that out to the panel. And, Madam President, if you want
to take a shot at it, that would be great.
Ms. Jahjaga. Mr. Burchett, thank you very much. And to tell
you the truth, that was the closest ever I had on pronouncing
on surname.
Mr. Burchett. Well, thank you.
Ms. Jahjaga. Well, you mention the word ``low political
will''. If I may say, there is no political will at all. So
far, we have not seen that to be shown or to be expressed by
none of the leadership of Kosovo. On top of that, they have
been using Kosovo and the crimes that they have done unjustly
toward the innocent people of Kosovo for the political gains
within their own country. And they are getting very easily off
with that. And the world, the rest of the democratic world, it
is not recognizing that, or it is allowing for Serbia to get
off very easily with this matter.
On purpose, I did mention that it is not our intention to
create a monster out of one nation, like the people of Serbia.
People of Kosovo have no problem with the people of Serbia.
What we want is from the Serbian people, and from the Serbian
leadership, to take the responsibility and to take for
accountability, and to keep them accountable for the crimes
that they have done unjustly toward the innocent people of
Kosovo. It has been way too far, 20 years. We are speaking
about 20 years' time.
You mentioned an issue of the cooperation of the law
enforcement and others. From somebody that has a law
enforcement background myself, there is no cooperation
whatsoever when we speak about the war crime cases.
And do you want me to tell you that Serbia is continuing
with their ongoing fight to stop Kosovo's membership in all of
the international and regional organizations, including the
INTERPOL and Europol? Just last year, Kosovo has been voted
against the membership in INTERPOL, which is one of the basic
international institutions for the cooperation on the matters
of the rule of law. So, while Kosovo has shown readiness all
the time, we have been always facing with the denials from
Serbia to have whatsoever cooperation.
And for the cooperation in the rule of law, we are not only
speaking in the war crime cases; we are speaking also the day-
to-day cases, which are a handicap for Kosovo's progress.
Because of the lack of the cooperation for Serbia, we have that
level of organized crime and the corruption taking place in the
northern part of Kosovo, which Serbia is keeping hostage or is
controlling their parallel and illegal structures which are
operating in the northern part of the country.
Mr. Burchett. I yield back the remainder of my time, Mr.
Chairman.
Thank you, ma'am.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Burchett.
Mr. Phillips?
Mr. Phillips. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and for your
steadfast efforts relative to the Balkans generally and Kosovo
particularly.
And to each of our witnesses, and all of you that took the
time to be here today. It makes a big impact on us.
And I want to salute you, Ms. Goodman, and you, Mr. Bytyqi.
Your stories deeply affect me, and perhaps most importantly,
inspire me. And they say that sunshine it the best
disinfectant. And now that we have illuminated the truth, I
believe it is time to start paving the path to justice.
To that end, the tools available to us are somewhat
limited, but foreign aid is surely one of them. Yet, if we
reduce foreign aid to Serbia, it likely pushes them closer to
the Russian sphere. Yet, maintaining the status quo does
nothing to inspire a change in attitude.
So, my question begins with you, Dr. Williams. How do we
address this conundrum? What leverage do you think might be
available to us to affect or assert the pressure that is
needed, particularly as it relates to how we use our foreign
aid?
Dr. Williams. Thank you, Congressman Phillips.
We have an amazing ally in the Balkans, the State of
Kosovo, the country of Kosovo. And so, oftentimes, when we
think about influencing a State's behavior, we will think about
what type of sanctions we might put on Serbia, what type of
limit on aid, what type of truth, sunlight we can bring to
bear.
But I think it is also important to remember that we need
to have Kosovo's back. They are trying to become a member of
INTERPOL. They are trying to become a member of the United
Nations. They adopted this Specialist Chambers with this
distorted mandate. They are contemplating reframing it and
reshaping it.
The United States needs to double down on its support for
those things that the government of Kosovo, the country of
Kosovo, is doing to try to pave the path toward justice. So,
there are a number of mechanisms that the U.S. Government has
in its toolkit to pressure countries. But here you have a case
where there is a country you can work very closely and very
effectively with, and we have a long history and, quite
frankly, a special relationship with the country of Kosovo. And
that would be where I would encourage the U.S. Government to
put its energy to work to bring about a sense of justice for
the victims and to put its resources in that direction.
Mr. Phillips. Thank you, Dr. Williams.
Madam President, if you might opine on the same question?
Ms. Jahjaga. Mr. Williams was very right that the United
States actually has no stronger ally than Kosovo and the
Albanian people, the entire region of the southeastern part of
Europe. And the United States can help to affect the truth and
justice in your foreign policy with Serbia, and that has to be
one of the priority requirements. It has to be part of the
foreign policy of the United States toward the neighboring
country, our neighboring country of Serbia.
And use every mechanism possible that the United States and
this committee can do to make pressure for the establishment of
the Special Court or defining the new mandate and the mission
of the already-existing Special Court to include also the
crimes committed against Albanians.
Mr. Phillips. Thank you, Madam President.
Before I yield back my time, I just remind everybody that
we must be relentless. It is never a time to give up. And I
think over time, if each of us with the same end game in mind
worked together in a bipartisan fashion on this side, and all
of you collectively, we will see the change that we desire.
I yield back my time.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Phillips.
Mr. Vargas?
Mr. Vargas. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I kind of knew
you before I got here because of the family that lived with us.
We were very fortunate in that, when we were seeing what was
happening with the atrocities in Kosovo, my wife and I decided
to adopt a family from Kosovo. And so, we did. And so, the
family lived with us for 2 years: Brahim, Sevdie, Lirije--
although she writes it ``Lareege''; we used to teach her that
it was ``Lareege,'' but it is Lirije, and Blerina. So, they
lived with us for 2 years.
They were from a place called Podujevo--at least that is
how I pronounce it--not from Pristina because so many people
that I met later on were from Pristina. And so, I heard of all
the atrocities, all the terrible things. But I also heard of
Mr. Engel because of all the work that you did and, in
particular, Bill Clinton. When I had a picture of Bill Clinton,
they were very excited to see that.
But I have to say they live in San Diego now. They are
doing extremely well. One of the daughters, she is the person
who runs, the manager of a Wells Fargo branch. The other one is
in college still. Both the husband and the wife are doing
extremely well. He is like my seventh brother. I have six
brothers. He is like the seventh, and she is like the fourth
sister that I have. They are wonderful, wonderful human beings
and people, and we love them deeply.
But the atrocities that they saw, thank God that they
avoided many of them, although their life was very difficult.
They went to Macedonia. From Macedonia, they were airlifted to
Fort Dix, New Jersey. And from Fort Dix, New Jersey, they came
to our house in San Diego. And again, they lived with us for
almost 2 years.
But I am horrified that we have not done more on these war
crimes. And one of the things that was interesting to me, I
always used to ask Brahim, I said, ``How did you live before?
Were you always fighting?'' He said, ``No, it was amazing.'' He
said that, ``Neighbors that we knew were turning us in, saying
that these are Muslims, these are Kosovars, people that we had
known forever that were our friends, how they turned against
us.'' And some of the people had committed atrocities. And that
we have not been able to bring these people to justice is I
think a real travesty.
So, Dr. Williams, I would like to ask you, I mean, I
thought that the tribunal was going to work better, frankly,
and it has not. And why is that? I mean, we know that the
crimes are there. I have been listening to all the testimony.
Crimes are there. The victims are there. The evidence is there.
It seems like the will is not there. What do we need to do, Dr.
Williams? Because I think we have to have a better resolution
than we have today.
Dr. Williams. Thank you, Congressman Vargas.
The difficulty with the Specialist Chambers, the tribunal,
is that it has a distorted origin. It came about because there
was this misperception that there had not been justice for all.
But, as we have seen in the testimony, the Yugoslav Tribunal,
and then, the EU and the U.N. domestic tribunal, bent over
backward to pursue moral equivalency, to create all sides
equal. And then, somehow this court popped about to prosecute
ethnic Albanians associated with the Kosovo Liberation Army,
and there was not the thought or the need to perceive how it
would become distorted as it was implemented.
That said, it is an internationalized tribunal. It is a
Kosovo tribunal, but it is a hybrid and it is based in The
Hague. And you can read the statute to actually provide
accountability for all of the perpetrators and justice for all
of the victims, but there has not been the political will to do
that.
When you look at the public statements of the European
officials or those that comment on the court, they still echo
the perception that it is an ethnically based tribunal just
focused on the Kosovo Albanians. It is legally incorrect, but,
as a lawyer, I can tell you that does not really matter.
Mr. Vargas. Right.
Dr. Williams. It is the public perception of the diplomats.
And that is why you need a counter-narrative. All perpetrators
should be held accountable. All victims should have access to
justice.
And this tribunal, which is a state-of-the-art tribunal and
has learned lessons from a dozen other international hybrid
tribunals, is the place to go.
Mr. Vargas. Well, I hate to say it, but my time is almost
up. But I have to tell you, I mean, there is no moral
equivalency here. Most of the atrocities were committed by the
Serbs against the Kosovars. I mean that is reality.
And so many of the people who committed these horrible
crimes, you have heard, have not been brought to justice. And I
think we have to figure out a way to put more pressure on, not
only to have the back of our friends, but also those that
committed these crimes, sure, we need to apply more pressure to
bring these people to justice.
President, yes?
Ms. Jahjaga. Mr. Vargas, if I may, because Dr. Williams has
mentioned that there has not been a political will. It is true;
it has never been a political will. And to tell you the truth,
there is never a political will from none of the parties, would
be the political will, if there is no sufficient pressure
coming from the bodies which are required. And that is what we
are requiring from you, the necessary pressure and the
mechanisms to be used toward Serbia to hold them accountable
and to moving in that direction, to keep them--to build in this
political will, as they are supposed to have from day one.
Mr. Vargas. Thank you, and I agree with you completely.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Vargas.
I want to just take a prerogative to comment on something
that Dr. Williams had mentioned. And that is that you would
think that, 20 years later, we would have been more down the
line; we would have accomplished more; we would have done more.
And President Jahjaga said it as well. It is really
disappointing that the political will of the rest of the world
has not really been there. It is just unbelievable.
And, if you go to Kosovo, there is no more pro-American
country than Kosovo. You get stopped in the street by
strangers. They know we are Americans. They want to be part of
us. They want us to be part of them. And I just think the
people of Kosovo deserve so much more.
Mr. Sherman?
Mr. Sherman. Mr. Chairman, we have served on this committee
together for 23 years. And during those 23 years, I have seen
your dedication to the innocent victims in Kosovo. And I have
seen other Members of Congress get involved in a particular
issue or focus on a particular part of the world, but I have
never seen any of our colleagues put their head and their heart
into a human rights issue as you have for the people of Kosovo.
I had the opportunity to visit the refugees 20 years ago,
and it is appropriate to have this hearing now, not because
something happened 20 years, but because of what is continuing
to happen, and more importantly, not happen.
I want to say a few words of praise for the United States.
As we have learned today, America can do more, should do more,
must do more. But, looking around the world, America is
depicted as a nation that will always take a position against
people or nations that are predominantly Muslim or of Muslim
heritage. But, in fact, no nation did more to protect the
people of Kosovo, of all religions, a nation of predominantly
Muslim heritage. No nation did more to protect the Bosniaks and
the people of Bosnia. And chairing the Asia Subcommittee, no
nation is currently doing more for the Rohingya and for the
Uighur. Now we need to do more, but the world, especially the
Muslim world or the countries that are predominantly of Muslim
heritage, need to understand America's role and that others
have not done as much. Of course, we bombed Serbia twice, once
for to protect the people of Kosovo and once to protect the
people of Bosnia.
I will ask all the witnesses, but starting with Dr.
Williams, what specific steps should the United States take to
help the country of Kosovo? And particularly focus on how do we
get Kosovo into INTERPOL. That just makes us all less safe. If
you are in favor of crime, then you want to keep countries out
of INTERPOL. What argument is there to exclude them, and what
pressure can the United States put on that one issue and other
issues? And then, we will turn to Madam President.
Dr. Williams. Thank you, Congressman Sherman.
The United States has tremendous leverage when addressing
questions of the former Yugoslavia and, in particular, Kosovo.
As you noted, the Americans, through NATO, led the humanitarian
intervention to stop the violence and atrocities in Kosovo. It
was the American airplanes which were doing the no-fly zone
over Bosnia and engaged in the airstrikes to protect the people
of Bosnia, as well as the U.N. peacekeepers.
Even 20 years later, the United States has tremendous moral
authority when it comes to addressing issues in the Balkans.
And it is appropriate for the United States to draw down on
that moral authority when insisting that Kosovo become a member
of INTERPOL, when seeking to promote its membership in the
United Nations.
Kosovo is recognized by over 100 countries, but is not a
member of the U.N. And so, this has some consequences for its
ability----
Mr. Sherman. But is there a particular strategy, Madam
President, that we should use with regard to INTERPOL, the
U.S., or other international organizations?
Ms. Jahjaga. Congressman Sherman, thank you very much.
And first of all, I want to express our deepest thanks and
gratitude on behalf of all people of Kosovo for the great
support and the help that we have been getting from the people
of the United States of America and from institutions of the
United States of America. We would not be able to come this far
the way we have come if we did not have you alongside with us,
which we appreciate that a lot.
Kosovo, all of the progress that we have done so far, we
have done in the coordination and in the close collaboration
with all of our allies, starting from the United States of
America. Not only Kosovo, but the entire region, is the
investment and the cooperation between the countries and
between the Western countries.
But, somehow, we are in the halfway, that we need, if I may
use the term, the final push in order to be in the other half,
that we do not endanger any of the processes or any of the
progress of sliding back that we have jointly invested so much
in this past two or three decades.
You have referred to the composition of Kosovo. Actually,
Kosovo is a very multi-ethnic and a multi-religious community
where all of the community groups have been living together for
the past several of the decades. To tell you the truth, that
has been one of the biggest strengths, that we have been able
always to buildupon that; that none of that has been the reason
why the war has started in Kosovo, but the reason has been for
the power struggle and for the egos of certain political gains
which within the night that turns their neighbors into the
enemies in there.
And so, Kosovo, in all of its initiatives, no matter being
a member State of the regional organization or the
international organizations, started from the United Nations.
So far as Dr. Williams has mentioned, we have been recognized
by over 110 countries around the world. We are closely
operated----
Mr. Sherman. Is there any particular thing we could do----
Ms. Jahjaga. Yes.
Mr. Sherman [continuing]. At INTERPOL to press them in the
right direction?
Ms. Jahjaga. We are closely cooperating and there is a
strategy in place by the government of Kosovo, which we have
shared with all of the authorities here and with other allies,
what has to be supported.
But the priority thing is to kind of like make that
necessary pressure toward Serbia, toward all of their
supporters, like Russia and China and other countries, to not
use the veto against the Kosovo in every single thing, because
they are not only harming Kosovo, but they harming, also, other
processes which are related to the safety and the security of
our citizens in the entire region of the southeastern part of
Europe.
Chairman Engel. Thank you, Mr. Sherman.
Let me, in conclusion, say that this was a very excellent
hearing. I think that a lot of points were raised, and I think
the whole situation is there. It is going to, obviously, be
broadcast all across the country on C-SPAN.
And anything that we can continue to do to draw light on
the fact that this was 20 years ago, and the people have still
not seen justice.
I wanted to just add one thing, and that was not only has
Serbia kept Kosovo out of INTERPOL, but also out of other
agencies as well. And it seems to me that, if we are talking
about ascension to the European Union by both Kosovo and
Serbia, that it shows an incredible amount of bad faith on the
Serbian part for them to continue to block, or attempt to
block, Kosovo from becoming part of these important
organizations. It shows very bad faith, and I think we have to
talk about that more and more.
So, let me conclude by saying this has been a very
important and enlightened hearing. I think that the issues have
all come out.
I want to thank our panelists. All four of you were really
excellent and really brought home another aspect of why it is
so important for us to act now.
And I want to tell you that I have gone around the world,
but Americans will not be greeted better in any place in the
world than in Kosovo. Truly, the country has a love affair with
Americans, and I have had a love affair with Kosovo.
So, I want to thank all the people who made their way here
from New York and other places.
I want to thank our witnesses, President Jahjaga, Dr.
Williams, Mr. Bytyqi, and Ms. Krasniqi-Goodman. Thank you so
much. And we will continue to seek justice for all the people
who deserve it. Thank you.
The hearing is now closed.
[Whereupon, at 12:20 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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