United Nations Security Council draft resolution S/2015/508
Date: 2015-07-08 (meeting 7481)
Agenda: The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Vetoed by: RUSSIA/USSR

United Nations
Security Council
Distr.: General
8 July 2015
Original: English
S/2015/508
Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America:
draft resolution
The Security Council,
Reaffirming the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime
of Genocide (Convention),
Recalling that States bear the primary responsibility to protect civilians and
that they must respect and ensure the human rights of all individuals within their
territory and subject to their jurisdiction, as provided for by relevant rules of
international law, and further, reaffirming the primary responsibility of each
individual State to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing, and crimes against humanity,
Recalling the primary responsibility of the Security Council for the
maintenance of international peace and security and expressing its determination to
prevent genocide,
Recalling all judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY), as established by resolution 808 (1993) and subsequent
resolutions to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international
humanitarian law in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991, and further
recalling its Appeals Chamber judgment of 19 April 2004 (The Prosecutor vs.
Krstic) which held that genocide was committed at Srebrenica in 1995, and the
judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 26 February 2007 concluded
that the acts committed at Srebrenica were acts of genocide,
Noting that this year marks the twentieth anniversary of the genocide at
Srebrenica, in which over 8,000 lives were lost, thousands were displaced, and
families and communities were devastated,
Noting that Srebrenica and its surroundings was declared as a safe area
pursuant to its resolutions 819 (1993) and 836 (1993); acknowledging the enduring
need for the Security Council and Member States to strengthen further the
protection of civilians in armed conflict; and emphasizing that the United Nations,
including the Security Council, should heed early warning indications of potential
genocide and ensure prompt and effective action to prevent or end genocide, in
accordance with the Charter of the United Nations,
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S/2015/508
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Recognising that there were innocent victims on all sides during the conflict in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, including in Srebrenica and surrounding areas,

Stressing the important role in genocide prevention of the Secretary-General's
Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect
(Special Advisors), whose functions include acting as an early warning mechanism
to prevent potential situations that could result in genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights; and recognizing the role regular briefings on
human rights and international humanitarian law violations as well as hate speech
and incitement play in contributing to early awareness of potential genocide,

Welcoming the new Framework of Analysis developed by the Office of the
Special Advisers as one of the tools to assess the risk of genocide in any situation,
and encouraging Member States and regional and sub-regional organizations to use
relevant frameworks, as appropriate, for guidance in their prevention work,

Further recalling the responsibility of all Member States to comply with their
respective obligations to end impunity and to investigate and prosecute those
responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or other serious
violations of international humanitarian law and noting that the fight against
impunity for the most serious crimes of international concern committed against
civilians has been strengthened through the work on and prosecution of these crimes
by the International Criminal Court, in accordance with the principle of
complementarity to national criminal jurisdictions as set out in the Rome Statute, ad
hoc and mixed tribunals and specialized chambers in national tribunals,

Noting that the prosecution of persons responsible for genocide and other
international crimes in the ICTY and national justice systems, including the Court of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, remains central to the process of national reconciliation
and to the restoration and maintenance of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
further welcoming the strong regional cooperation between national prosecutors'
offices instrumental in fostering peace, justice, truth and reconciliation among
countries in the region,

Noting that it is estimated that there were thousands of cases of sexual
violence with victims on all sides during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
including at Srebrenica; further noting that rape and other forms of sexual violence
can constitute a crime against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to
genocide; and recalling that rape and other forms of sexual violence in armed
conflict are war crimes and constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions
and the Additional Protocol I thereto,

1. Condemns in the strongest terms genocide and all violations and abuses
of human rights and all violations of international humanitarian law;

2. Condemns in the strongest terms the crime of genocide at Srebrenica as
established by judgments of the ICTY and ICJ and all other proven war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed in the course of the conflict in Bosnia and
Herzegovina;

3. Agrees that acceptance of the tragic events at Srebrenica as genocide is a
prerequisite for reconciliation, calls upon political leaders on all sides to
acknowledge and accept the fact of proven crimes as established by the courts, and


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S/2015/508
in this context, condemns denial of this genocide as hindering efforts towards
reconciliation, and recognises also that continued denial is deeply distressing for the
victims;
4. Expresses its sympathy for and solidarity with the victims on all sides of
the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including those in Srebrenica, and for their
families, and calls on the responsible authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to
provide justice to the victims and long-term support to survivors, including
survivors of sexual violence;
5. Reaffirms once again its support for the Peace Agreement negotiated in
Dayton and signed in Paris on 14 December 1995, as well as for the Agreement on
implementing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina signed in Dayton on
10 November 1995 (S/1995/1021, annex) and calls upon the parties to comply
strictly with their obligations under those Agreements;
6. Underscores the fundamental importance of reconciliation based upon
dialogue, acceptance of past actions by all sides in the conflict and commitment to
justice and support for the victims, as a basis for strengthening security, stability
and prosperity both in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the wider region; and to this
end welcomes the recent agreement by the Parliament and political leaders of
Bosnia and Herzegovina to an ambitious reform agenda, which includes a
commitment to measures to accelerate the reconciliation process, and encourages all
citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina to work together to promote peace, justice,
tolerance, and reconciliation;
7. Welcomes the work of the International Commission on Missing Persons
and its assistance to the governments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and of the wider
region, in locating and identifying the remains of victims on all sides, which has
made an essential contribution to bringing perpetrators to justice;
8. Emphasizes the important role that women and civil society, including
women's organizations and formal and informal community leaders, can play in
mediation and post-conflict resolution; reiterating the continuing need to increase
success in preventing conflict by increasing the participation of women at all stages
of mediation and post-conflict resolution and by increasing the consideration of
gender-related issues in all discussions pertinent to conflict prevention;
9. Calls upon States to prevent and fight against genocide, and other serious
crimes under international law, reaffirms paragraphs 138 and 139 of the 2005 World
Summit Outcome Document (A/RES/60/1) on the responsibility to protect
populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against
humanity;
10. Calls upon States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention
to consider doing so as a matter of high priority, and, where necessary, to enact
national legislation in order to meet their obligations under that Convention;
11. Welcomes efforts to investigate and prosecute all those accused of serious
violations of international humanitarian law during the conflict in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, including the genocide at Srebrenica, calls upon all States to
cooperate with the ICTY, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal
Tribunals and national justice systems, including the Court of Bosnia and

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S/2015/508
Herzegovina, and requests the ICTY to complete its work as expeditiously as
possible, as a vital contribution to promoting peace, justice, truth and reconciliation;

12. Urges Member States to develop educational programmes that will instil
in future generations the lessons learned from past genocides, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity in order to help prevent their recurrence, as
appropriate;

13. Encourages Member States to consider designating national focal points
to address the protection of civilians from atrocities through effective prevention
and response and could meet regularly and coordinate steps to share best practices
on rapid response and atrocity prevention with other Member States, and relevant
regional and sub-regional mechanisms that work to prevent and respond to mass
atrocities, the Special Advisors, and other relevant United Nations bodies, and
acknowledges in this regard the global network of national focal points on the
responsibility to protect;

14. Reaffirms the importance of the lessons to be learned from the United
Nations failures in preventing the genocide at Srebrenica, as set out in the report of
the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution 53/35 (A/54/549),
and the call contained in the report for the international community to do its utmost
not to allow such horrors to recur, and resolves to take early and effective action to
prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy and to that end to employ all appropriate
means at its disposal, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations;

15. Acknowledges that serious violations or abuses of international human
rights or serious violations of international humanitarian law, including those
involving sexual and gender-based violence, can be an early indication of a descent
into genocide, and in this regard welcomes the United Nations' efforts to improve
its collective response to future risks of violations and abuses of international
human rights and violations of international humanitarian law through Human
Rights Up Front;

16. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure greater collaboration between
existing early warning mechanisms for genocide prevention and other serious
international crimes, in order to help to detect, assess and respond to sources of
tension and points of risks or identify vulnerable populations, and encourages the
Secretary-General to continue to refer to the Council information and analyses
which he believes could contribute in this regard.
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Voting result: 10 yes, 1 no, 4 abstentions
Votes by member:
country: Chad
vote: Y
country: Chile
vote: Y
country: France
vote: Y
country: Jordan
vote: Y
country: Lithuania
vote: Y
country: Malaysia
vote: Y
country: New Zealand
vote: Y
country: Spain
vote: Y
country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
vote: Y
country: United States of America
vote: Y
country: Russian Federation
vote: N
country: Angola
vote: A
country: China
vote: A
country: Nigeria
vote: A
country: Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
vote: A