HOUSE RESOLUTION 562

Concerning Properties Wrongfully Expropriated by
Formerly Totalitarian Governments, October 13, 1998.

Whereas totalitarian regimes, including Fascist and Communist
dictatorships, have caused immeasurable human suffering and loss, degrading not only every conceivable human right, but the human spirit itself.

Whereas the confiscation of property without compensation by
totalitarian regimes was often designed to victimize people
because of religion, ethnicity, national or social origin, or opposition to such regimes.

Whereas churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious properties, as well as properties such as hospitals, schools and orphanages owned by religious communities, were destroyed or confiscated as a means of breaking the spiritual devotion and allegiance of religious people and dismantling religious communities;

Whereas refugees from communism, in addition to being
wrongfully deprived of their property, were often forced to relinquish their citizenship in order to protect themselves and
their families from reprisals by the Communists who ruled their countries;

Whereas the participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have agreed to achieve or maintain
full recognition and protection of all types of property, including private property, and the right to prompt, just and effective compensation in the event private property is taken for
public use;

Whereas the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, have entered a post-Communist
period of transition and democratic development, and many countries have begun the difficult and wrenching process of
trying to right the wrongs of previous totalitarian regimes;

Whereas many countries in Central and Eastern Europe have enacted laws providing for the restitution of properties that were illegally or unjustly seized, nationalized, confiscated, or
otherwise expropriated by totalitarian regimes;

Whereas legal or administrative restrictions that require
claimants to reside in, or be a citizen or, the country in which
they seek restitution of, or compensation for, wrongfully expropriated property are arbitrary, discriminatory,and in
violation of international law;

Whereas the rule of law and democratic norms require that
the activity of governments and their administrative
agencies be exercised in accordance with the laws passed
by their parliaments or legislatures,

and such laws themselves must be consistent with
international human rights standards:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives -

(1) welcomes the efforts of many formerly totalitarian countries
to address the complex and difficult question of the status of wrongfully expropriated properties;

(2) urges countries which have not already done so to return
wrongfully expropriated properties to their rightful owners or,
when actual return is not possible to pay prompt, just and
effective compensation, in accordance with principles of justice and in a manner that ist just, transparent and fair;

(3) calls for the return of wrongfully expropriated properties to
religious communities;

(4) calls on Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia, and
any other nation whose laws or regulations limit restitution or
compensation for wrongfully expropriated properties to persons who reside in, or are citizens of, the country in which restitution
or compensation is sought, to remove such restrictions; and

(5) urges formerly totalitarian countries to pass and effectively
implement laws that provide for restitution of, or compensation
for, wrongfully expropriated property.

Sec. 2 The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the President.