Number: RS20154
Title: KOSOVO: REFUGEE ASSISTANCE AND TEMPORARY RESETTLEMENT
Authors: Lois B. McHugh, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division; and Joyce C. Vialet, Domestic Social Policy Division 
Abstract: The State Department estimates that 90% of Kosovar Albanians fled or were driven from their homes since March 1998 by Yugoslav forces, with the majority leaving between March and June of 1999. At the height of the crisis, over 780,000 of them were in camps in the region, primarily Albania and Macedonia, two countries with little capacity for providing for them. Another 150,000 were scattered around Europe, principally in Germany and Switzerland, and 29 countries are providing temporary refuge to 91,000 outside of the region. On April 16, the Administration requested an emergency supplemental which included money for humanitarian assistance in Kosovo. On April 21, Vice President Gore announced 20,000 Kosovars would be resettled in the United States. The 20,000, with close family ties or in vulnerable circumstances, would come from Macedonian camps, and be admitted to the United States under the refugee provisions of the immigration law. The actual number is expected to be 14,850. P.L. 106-31 (H.R. 1141), signed on May 21, appropriates more than $1 billion in humanitarian programs for Kosovo. With the peace agreement of June 9, the refugees returned quickly and the donor countries are focusing on temporary humanitarian aid and long-term reconstruction aid to Kosovo. Most of the reconstruction aid is expected to come born the Europeans. Additional U.S. assistance is expected to be appropriated in the regular foreign aid and defense appropriation legislation.
Pages: 6
Date: Updated September 1, 1999