BOSNIA-KOSOVA-SERBIA

WHEREAS, the AFT shares with the AFL-CIO and the American public, in general, anguish over the ongoing siege and slaughter of the citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as those of Kosova and Croatia by the forces of communist Serbia. We are especially outraged over the accounts of the stated Serbian objective of "ethnic cleansing" and the creation of concentration camps under the guise of "detention centers; and"

WHEREAS, the AFT has received a request from the Kosova teachers' union for assistance and solidarity support in their struggle to reopen Albanian schools that were closed by Serbian forces and allow the 1/2 million students to return to their classrooms:

RESOLVED, that the AFT endorse the position of the AFL-CIO Executive Council on 'Sarajevo and Beyond: Conflict in the Former Yugoslav Republics:'

The siege of Sarajevo by Serbian irregular forces, armed and supported by Slobodan Milosevic's government, has visited death, destruction and famine on a multinational city of 300,000. Only through the heroic efforts of the U.N.'s "Blue Helmets" has mass starvation thus far been averted.

The AFL-CIO condemns the Communist Serbian and Yugoslav government's war against Sarajevo and the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as sustained attacks on the people of Kosova and Croatia. The carnage is not an “ethnic civil war.” It is an imperial war waged by Serbian President Milosevic to carve out a Greater Serbia through “ethnic cleansing” that includes wholesale murder, starvation, terrorism, the establishment of concentration camps and the expulsion of entire populations from their homes.

The AFL-CIO also condemns the Serbian government's repression of independent trade unions and other emerging democratic institutions pressing for peace. Arrests and torture are commonplace. Food is distributed selectively by the state-controlled unions, and information is twisted by state-run media. Workers continue to live in fear. At this difficult time, the AFL-CIO stands with those struggling for peace and democracy and pledges support to beleaguered free trade unions ravaged by the Milosevic regime.

The governments of the United States and the European Community have failed to prevent war or to force a cease fire. Bush administration policy that strongly endorsed a single Yugoslav state sent the wrong signal to the Milosevic regime, which believed it had a free hand in preserving a disintegrating Yugoslavia.

Amid escalating violence that has claimed thousands of lives and created hundreds of thousands of refugees, decisive international action must now be taken to put an end to the war and to remove Milosevic and his supporters from power. Economic sanctions, while essential, are no longer enough. The AFL-CIO urges the U.S. government, the European Community and the U.N. Security Council to examine every option, including the use of multilateral force, to resolve the crisis.

Without U.S. leadership to put an end to the violence and repression, Americans may one day be called upon to fight in a greatly widened war in the heart of Europe. Multilateral international action taken now can prevent that from happening.

RESOLVED, that the AFT call on the United Nations to monitor conditions in the Serbian "detention camps" and to take necessary actions to stop Serbian aggression against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosova and Croatia.