IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 36 

Calling for the end of impunity of unpunished Serbian sexual war crimes 

during the 1999 Kosovo war in the case of United States citizen and 

sexual war crime survivor Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman and other survivors 

of sexual and gender-based violence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2023 

Mr. ALLRED (for himself, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. VARGAS, and Mr. 

TORRES of New York) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Calling for the end of impunity of unpunished Serbian sexual 

war crimes during the 1999 Kosovo war in the case 

of United States citizen and sexual war crime survivor 

Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman and other survivors of sexual 

and gender-based violence. 

Whereas Vasfije Krasniqi was 16 years old during the 1999 

Kosovo war and living in Stanofc i Poshtem, Kosovo, 

then under the control of the Republic of Serbia, which 

was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and led 

by President Slobodan Milosevic; 

Whereas, on April 14, 1999, a Serbian police officer entered 

Ms. Krasniqi’s family home in Stanofc i Poshtem, 

Kosovo, looking for all male occupants, and ordered Ms. 


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Krasniqi to go to the police station to give a statement 

about her father and brothers, who were not present; 

Whereas the Serbian police officer threatened to shoot everyone present, including Ms. Krasniqi and her mother, before forcibly removing Ms. Krasniqi from the house and 

taking her to a Serbian village nearby; 

Whereas the Serbian police officer forced Ms. Krasniqi into 

an empty house off the main road and threw her onto 

dried corn stacks before taking her to his car, where he 

started raping her despite her yelling and screams for 

him to stop; 

Whereas Ms. Krasniqi was held at gunpoint and raped repeatedly before losing consciousness; 

Whereas, once Ms. Krasniqi regained consciousness, she 

begged the Serbian police officer to kill her, and the Serbian police officer responded by saying, ‘‘No, I won’t because you will suffer more this way’’, and threatened to 

take her to an area full of Serbian forces where more 

people would rape her; 

Whereas the Serbian police officer later went into a local 

store in the same village, from where an older, crippled 

Serbian man emerged and forced Ms. Krasniqi out of the 

car and took her to an unfinished house where he raped 

her; 

Whereas, a few hours later, Ms. Krasniqi was taken back to 

her village where she was left out on the street and told 

not to tell anyone about what had transpired; 

Whereas Ms. Krasniqi did not want to go home having to explain to anyone what had happened to her, but instead 

walked through the village cemetery and hoped that her 

life would come to an end then and there; 


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Whereas, upon arriving at her uncle’s house hours after the 

assault, Ms. Krasniqi did not have to say a word, as everyone knew what had happened, witnessing her scratches, bruises, cuts, and torn clothes; 

Whereas Ms. Krasniqi reported her case to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) the day after she was raped on 

April 15, 1999; 

Whereas, in March 1999, with the support of the United 

States, NATO began a 78-day air campaign against Serbian forces in Kosovo after efforts to negotiate an end to 

the Kosovo war collapsed, leading to Serbia’s agreement 

to cease all military activity in Kosovo and to facilitate 

the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, and the 

deployment of a NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR); 

Whereas the United Nations Security Council then passed 

Resolution 1244 on June 10, 1999, which established the 

United Nations Interim Administration Mission in 

Kosovo (UNMIK) as a temporary government until 

Kosovo’s own institutions had developed and demonstrated the capacity to self-govern, which included various powers, such as the authority to administer justice 

in Kosovo and the ability to investigate and prosecute serious crimes committed during the war; 

Whereas Ms. Krasniqi reported her case to UNMIK on September 10, 1999, with no outcome, as well as to the 

French KFOR on April 21, 2004, but inaction of both 

these bodies caused additional difficulties and delays in 

her case; 

Whereas Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 

2008, and has since received the recognition of over 100 

states, including the United States and 23 of the 28 EuVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC36.IH HC36

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ropean Union member states, though Serbia still rejects 

such claim; 

Whereas the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo 

(EULEX) was launched in 2008 as a civilian mission to 

support rule-of-law institutions, accountability, and compliance with international human rights standards in 

Kosovo within the framework of United Nations Security 

Council Resolution 1244, as well as to support the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in 

line with relevant Kosovo legislation; 

Whereas Ms. Krasniqi moved to the United States in 2001, 

naturalized as a citizen in 2006, and now lives in 

Rowlett, Texas, with her husband and two children, each 

of whom are also United States citizens, and she has also 

taken the last name Goodman; 

Whereas Ms. Krasniqi Goodman reported her case to 

EULEX authorities and gave five interviews from August 

2010 to July 2012, and witnesses gave several testimonies from February 2011 to August 2012; 

Whereas, on November 12, 2012, the Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) filed the indictment PPS nr. 89/2012 against the perpetrators Jovica 

Dejanovic (DOB 09/11/1954), the Serbian police officer, 

and Djordje Bojkovic (DOB 11/13/1940), the older and 

crippled Serbian man, with the then-District Court of 

Mitrovica, which was amended on November 30, 2012; 

Whereas the main trial was held between April 4 to 15, 2013, 

and on April 17, 2013, the Basic Court of Mitrovica announced the judgment that both perpetrators were acquitted of the charge of war crime against the civilian 


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population (rape), punishable under Articles 22 and 142 

CC SFRY; 

Whereas, on October 31, 2013, the SPRK Prosecutors submitted a joint appeal proposing that the judgment of the 

first instance court be modified and Jovica Dejanovic and 

Djordje Bojkovic be convicted of the criminal offense of 

war crime against civilian population, or in the alternative, to return the case to the court of first instance 

for a retrial; 

Whereas the Appellate Public Prosecutor moved the Court of 

Appeals to grant the appeal of the Special Prosecutors, 

and the Court of Appeals rendered its judgment on May 

27, 2014, and found both Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje 

Bojkovic guilty and convicted them of the war crime 

against civilians under Article 142 CC SFRY (now Article 153 CCRK), sentencing them to 12 years and 10 

years of imprisonment, respectively; 

Whereas, on July 2014, Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje 

Bojkovic filed their appeals against the judgment of the 

Court of Appeals PaKr 503/13 dated May 27, 2014, and 

the Supreme Court of Kosovo rendered a ruling for the 

immediate release of Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje 

Bojkovic from the detention on remand; 

Whereas Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic were released, and nobody has been held responsible for the sexual war crimes committed against Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman; 

Whereas all prior mechanisms for pursuing accountability for 

war crimes in Kosovo have fallen short in bringing perpetrators of sexual violence to justice, including the InterVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC36.IH HC36

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national Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, 

UNMIK, EULEX, and the Kosovo judicial system; 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC) reports that approximately 20,000 individuals 

were the victims of conflict-related sexual violence during 

the Kosovo war, and Human Rights Watch reports that 

rape was used as a weapon of war and instrument of ethnic cleansing by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war; 

Whereas 20 years later and after approximately 20,000 individuals raped, there has only been one perpetrator 

brought to justice, Zoran Vukotic, by the Prishtina Basic 

Court on July 5, 2021; 

Whereas the United Nations Security Council Resolution 

1820 was unanimously adopted on June 19, 2008, condemning the use of sexual violence as a tool of war, and 

declared that ‘‘rape and other forms of sexual violence 

can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a 

constitutive act with respect to genocide’’; 

Whereas the United Nations Security Council Resolution 

2467 was adopted on April 23, 2019, ‘‘recalling the responsibilities of States to end impunity and to prosecute 

those responsible for crimes of genocide, crimes against 

humanity, and war crimes, perpetrated against civilians’’; 

Whereas Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman testified before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on April 30, 2019, in a hearing titled ‘‘Kosovo’s 

Wartime Victims: The Quest for Justice’’, testifying for 

justice on behalf of her case and the 20,000 individuals 

raped during the Kosovo war; 

Whereas the Republic of Kosovo marked for the first time on 

April 14, 2023, the Day of Survivors of Sexual Violence 


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During the War in Kosovo that coincides with the date 

Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman was abducted by Serbian police and subsequently sexually assaulted; and 

Whereas the United States recognizes that preventing and responding to gender-based violence around the world is 

not only a matter of human rights, justice, equity, and 

equality, but is also a moral imperative and the strategic 

national interest of the United States and its global partners: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That Congress— 

3 (1) finds it reprehensible that no individuals 

4 have been found guilty for the sexual war crimes 

5 against Ms. Krasniqi Goodman; 

6 (2) strongly condemns the use of rape and 

7 other forms of sexual and gender-based violence as 

8 a weapon of war; 

9 (3) underscores the importance of transparent, 

10 accountable, and independent investigations into 

11 gender-based war crimes and atrocities; 

12 (4) commends the Government of the Republic 

13 of Kosovo for taking a tangible and multisectoral ap14 proach to address the sexual violence during the war 

15 in the country; 

16 (5) calls on the Government of the Republic of 

17 Kosovo to uphold commitments expressed and 

18 agreed to in the ‘‘Protocol for the Treatment of SexVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC36.IH HC36

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1 ual Violence Cases in Kosovo’’, and prioritize and 

2 expedite cases of rape and sexual assault from the 

3 1999 Kosovo War; 

4 (6) calls on the Government of the Republic of 

5 Serbia to— 

6 (A) bring individuals who are responsible 

7 for the sexual war crimes on April 14, 1999, of 

8 United States citizen Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman 

9 in Kosovo before justice pursuant to United 

10 Nations Security Council Resolutions 1820 and 

11 2467; 

12 (B) cease the protection and glorification 

13 of any individuals who were involved in war 

14 crimes during the Kosovo conflict and make it 

15 a priority to investigate and prosecute any such 

16 individuals; 

17 (C) enforce laws to ensure that known per18 petrators of sexual gender-based violence are 

19 held accountable and are brought before justice; 

20 and 

21 (D) prioritize the creation and sustainment 

22 of appropriate tracking and investigative mech23 anisms to extradite known perpetrators and 

24 convicted offenders of sexual gender-based vio25 lence during the Kosovo war in 1999 to Kosovo 


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1 to be brought to justice according to all conven2 tions; and 

3 (7) calls on the United States Government to— 

4 (A) uphold and strengthen its commit5 ments to counter and prevent the practice of 

6 gender-based violence in accordance with the 

7 ‘‘United States Strategy to Prevent and Re8 spond to Gender-Based Violence Globally’’; 

9 (B) elevate the case of Vasfije Krasniqi 

10 Goodman in future bilateral engagements with 

11 the Government of Serbia, especially in terms of 

12 accountability for war crimes committed against 

13 women and youth; 

14 (C) identify the specific factors that in15 crease the risks of gender-based violence and 

16 undermine access to services and safety; 

17 (D) monitor efforts by the Government of 

18 Serbia and its relevant ministries and offices to 

19 investigate and prosecute cases of sexual vio20 lence during the Kosovo war; and 

21 (E) devote sufficient funding to implement 

22 a variety of educational, research, and advocacy 

23 projects in Kosovo, including the training of ju24 diciary and law enforcement, as well as funding 

25 for a rehabilitation center focusing on physical 


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1 and psychological rehabilitation from war trau2 ma and sexual and domestic violence, and voca3 tional training and job integrating opportuni4 ties. 

Æ 


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