H. Res. 199

In the House of Representatives, U.S., 

June 27, 2005.

Whereas in July 1995 thousands of men and boys who had 

sought safety in the United Nations-designated ‘‘safe 

area’’ of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the 

protection of the United Nations Protection Force 

(UNPROFOR) were massacred by Serb forces operating 

in that country; 

Whereas beginning in April 1992, aggression and ethnic 

cleansing perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces, while taking control of the surrounding territory, resulted in a 

massive influx of Bosniaks seeking protection in 

Srebrenica and its environs, which the United Nations 

Security Council designated a ‘‘safe area’’ in Resolution 

819 on April 16, 1993; 

Whereas the UNPROFOR presence in Srebrenica consisted 

of a Dutch peacekeeping battalion, with representatives 

of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 

the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the 

humanitarian medical aid agency Me ́decins Sans 

Frontie`res (Doctors Without Borders) helping to provide 

humanitarian relief to the displaced population living in 

conditions of massive overcrowding, destitution, and disease; 
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Whereas Bosnian Serb forces blockaded the enclave early in 

1995, depriving the entire population of humanitarian aid 

and outside communication and contact, and effectively 

reducing the ability of the Dutch peacekeeping battalion 

to deter aggression or otherwise respond effectively to a 

deteriorating situation; 

Whereas beginning on July 6, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces attacked UNPROFOR outposts, seized control of the isolated enclave, held captured Dutch soldiers hostage and, 

after skirmishes with local defenders, ultimately took control of the town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995; 

Whereas an estimated one-third of the population of 

Srebrenica, including a relatively small number of soldiers, made a desperate attempt to pass through the lines 

of Bosnian Serb forces to the relative safety of Bosnianheld territory, but many were killed by patrols and ambushes; 

Whereas the remaining population sought protection with the 

Dutch peacekeeping battalion at its headquarters in the 

village of Potocari north of Srebrenica but many of these 

individuals were randomly seized by Bosnian Serb forces 

to be beaten, raped, or executed; 

Whereas Bosnian Serb forces deported women, children, and 

the elderly in buses, held Bosniak males over 16 years of 

age at collection points and sites in northeastern Bosnia 

and Herzegovina under their control, and then summarily 

executed and buried the captives in mass graves; 

Whereas approximately 20 percent of Srebrenica’s total population at the time—at least 7,000 and perhaps thousands 

more—was either executed or killed; 
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Whereas the United Nations and its member states have 

largely acknowledged their failure to take actions and decisions that could have deterred the assault on Srebrenica 

and prevented the subsequent massacre; 

Whereas Bosnian Serb forces, hoping to conceal evidence of 

the massacre at Srebrenica, subsequently moved corpses 

from initial mass grave sites to many secondary sites 

scattered throughout parts of northeastern Bosnia and 

Herzegovina under their control; 

Whereas the massacre at Srebrenica was among the worst of 

many horrible atrocities to occur in the conflict in Bosnia 

and Herzegovina from April 1992 to November 1995, 

during which the policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing pursued by Bosnian Serb forces with the direct support of the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic and its 

followers ultimately led to the displacement of more than 

2,000,000 people, an estimated 200,000 killed, tens of 

thousands raped or otherwise tortured and abused, and 

the innocent civilians of Sarajevo and other urban centers 

repeatedly subjected to shelling and sniper attacks; 

Whereas Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and 

Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (done at Paris on 

December 9, 1948, and entered into force with respect to 

the United States on February 23, 1989) defines genocide as ‘‘any of the following acts committed with intent 

to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial 

or religious group, as such: (a) killing members of the 

group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to 

members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the 

group conditions of life calculated to bring about its 

physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing 

measures intended to prevent births within the group; 
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and (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group’’; 

Whereas on May 25, 1993, the United Nations Security 

Council adopted Resolution 827 establishing the world’s 

first international war crimes tribunal, the International 

Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), 

based in The Hague, the Netherlands, and charging the 

ICTY with responsibility for investigating and prosecuting individuals suspected of committing war crimes, 

genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of 

the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the territory of the 

former Yugoslavia since 1991; 

Whereas nineteen individuals at various levels of responsibility have been indicted, and in some cases convicted, for 

grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war, crimes against humanity, genocide, and complicity in genocide associated 

with the massacre at Srebrenica, three of whom, most notably Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, remain at 

large; and 

Whereas the international community, including the United 

States, has continued to provide personnel and resources, 

including through direct military intervention, to prevent 

further aggression and ethnic cleansing, to negotiate the 

General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina (initialed in Dayton, Ohio, on November 21, 

1995, and signed in Paris on December 14, 1995), and 

to help ensure its fullest implementation, including cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for 

the former Yugoslavia: Now, therefore, be it 
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Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—

(1) the thousands of innocent people executed at 

Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 1995, 

along with all individuals who were victimized during the 

conflict and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 

1992 to 1995, should be solemnly remembered and honored; 

(2) the policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing 

as implemented by Serb forces in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 meet the terms defining 

the crime of genocide in Article 2 of the Convention on 

the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; 

(3) foreign nationals, including United States citizens, who have risked and in some cases lost their lives 

in Bosnia and Herzegovina while working toward peace 

should be solemnly remembered and honored; 

(4) the United Nations and its member states 

should accept their share of responsibility for allowing 

the Srebrenica massacre and genocide to occur in Bosnia 

and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 by failing to take 

sufficient, decisive, and timely action, and the United 

Nations and its member states should constantly seek to 
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ensure that this failure is not repeated in future crises 

and conflicts; 

(5) it is in the national interest of the United 

States that those individuals who are responsible for war 

crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and grave 

breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, committed in 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, should be held accountable for 

their actions; 

(6) all persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) should 

be apprehended and transferred to The Hague without 

further delay, and all countries should meet their obligations to cooperate fully with the ICTY at all times; and 

(7) the United States should continue to support 

the independence and territorial integrity of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina, peace and stability in southeastern Europe 

as a whole, and the right of all people living in the region, regardless of national, racial, ethnic or religious 

background, to return to their homes and enjoy the benefits of democratic institutions, the rule of law, and eco-
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nomic opportunity, as well as to know the fate of missing relatives and friends. 

Attest:

Clerk.