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U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman Press Statement

Press Statement by James P. Rubin, Spokesman
January 11, 1999

United States Condemns Serbia's Denial of
Visas to Nobel Laureate and
Other International Academic Leaders

The United States strongly condemns Belgrade' s refusal to issue visas to an international delegation of prominent academics. The delegation had planned to travel to Belgrade to meet with Serbian professors under attack by their government's draconian University Act, and with leaders of the student group Otpor.

The delegation includes Jonathan Fanton, president of the New School University in New York, John Polyani, 1986 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, and Richard Rorty, one of the world's leading philosophers. They had planned to investigate the Milosevic regime's systematic effort to extinguish academic freedom and to purge university professors through the University Act. The group also sought to highlight the release of a new report by the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch on the ongoing assault on academic freedom.

Denying visas to academics of world stature is part of a larger assault on Serbian civil society. Less than two weeks ago, a student leader was beaten by alleged "street thugs" after he testified in Washington on the state of Serbian universities. International investigators of crimes against Kosovar Albanians as well as ethnic Serbs continue to have their visas denied.

Meanwhile, Serbia's media law continues to stifle independent voices. Serbia's media and university laws violate not only international human rights standards, but also Serbia’s own constitution. Halting academic exchange, repressing and intimidating journalists, professors, and students only reinforces a climate of fear and embitters the citizenry at large. Taken together, Serbian actions represent a comprehensive assault on human rights.

Once again, we call on Serbia to repeal the repressive media and university laws currently in place, and for the authorities to facilitate the issuance of visas and the free exchange of ideas. For all citizens of Serbia, respect for democratic values and human rights represents their only path back to Europe.

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