IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 199 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the massacre 

at Srebrenica in July 1995. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2005 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 

Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 

regarding the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995. 

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 
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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 Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) helping to provide humanitarian relief to the displaced population living in 

conditions of massive overcrowding, destitution, and disease; 

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 
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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; 

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 authorities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 

(Serbia and Montenegro) 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; 
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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; (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 numerous members of the Bosnian Serb forces at 

various levels of responsibility have been indicted 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, some of whom have 

been tried and sentenced while others, including Radovan 

Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, remain at large; and 
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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 (initialled 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 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) the thousands of innocent people executed 

4 at Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 

5 1995, along with all individuals who were victimized 

6 during the conflict and genocide in Bosnia and 

7 Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, should be solemnly 

8 remembered and honored; 

9 (2) the policies of aggression and ethnic cleans10 ing as implemented by Serb forces in Bosnia and 

11 Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 meet the terms de12 fining the crime of genocide in Article 2 of the Con13 vention on the Prevention and Punishment of the 

14 Crime of Genocide; 

15 (3) foreign nationals, including United States 

16 citizens, who have risked and in some cases lost 

17 their lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina while working 
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1 toward peace should be solemnly remembered and 

2 honored; 

3 (4) the United Nations and its member states 

4 should accept their share of responsibility for allow5 ing the Srebrenica massacre and genocide to occur 

6 in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 by 

7 failing to take sufficient, decisive, and timely action, 

8 and the United Nations and its member states 

9 should constantly seek to ensure that this failure is 

10 not repeated in future crises and conflicts; 

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

12 States that those individuals who are responsible for 

13 war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and 

14 grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, 

15 committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, should be 

16 held accountable for their actions; 

17 (6) all persons indicted by the International 

18 Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) 

19 should be apprehended and transferred to The 

20 Hague without further delay, and all countries 

21 should meet their obligations to cooperate fully with 

22 the ICTY at all times; and 

23 (7) the United States should continue to sup24 port the independence and territorial integrity of 

25 Bosnia and Herzegovina, peace and stability in 
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1 southeastern Europe as a whole, and the right of all 

2 people living in the region, regardless of national, ra3 cial, ethnic or religious background, to return to 

4 their homes and enjoy the benefits of democratic in5 stitutions, the rule of law, and economic opportunity, 

6 as well as to know the fate of missing relatives and 

7 friends. 

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