IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 679 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the continuing 

effects of the genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in 

Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2007 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the continuing effects of the genocide, crimes against 

humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Whereas H. Res. 199 and S. Res. 134 (109th Congress) resolved that from April 1992 to November 1995, Serb 

forces committed aggression and genocide against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its population, 

with the direct support from authorities in Serbia and 

Montenegro; 

Whereas the perpetrators and the supporters of the aggression and genocide, including the Yugoslav People’s Army 

and its Ministry of Interior, the Army of Republika 

Srpska, the Police of Republika Srpska, and other regular and paramilitary forces under Serb control, intended 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
2 

•HRES 679 IH 

to destroy, through slaughter, rape, torture, and expulsion, the unique multiethnic culture of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina woven through a thousand years of tolerance, respect, mutual trust, and dignified coexistence of 

all of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ethnically and religiously 

diverse citizens; 

Whereas the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 

Yugoslavia (ICTY) has found numerous Serb political 

and military officials guilty of committing war crimes, 

crimes against humanity, and the crime of genocide 

against the non-Serb population of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 

Whereas the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its judgment of February 26, 2007, ruled that the execution of 

more than 7,000 civilians in and around Srebrenica in 

July 1995 by the institutions of the then self-styled 

Republika Srpska entity, and in particular its army and 

police, was a crime of genocide, as defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime 

of Genocide; 

Whereas Srebrenica and other areas of eastern Bosnia from 

which the victims of genocide hail continues to be under 

the jurisdiction of the Republika Srpska entity and its institutions, especially the Police of Republika Srpska, that 

committed genocide; 

Whereas the ICJ also ruled that Serbia had violated the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime 

of Genocide by failing to prevent the genocide in Bosnia 

and Herzegovina and punish its perpetrators; 

Whereas the ICJ’s judgment declares that significant sections 

of the documents detailing the proceedings of the SuVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:10 Sep 26, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR679.IH HR679

hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
3 

•HRES 679 IH 

preme Defense Council of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro) were redacted and 

therefore not available to the ICJ at the time of that 

judgment; 

Whereas the findings of the RS Srebrenica Commission report unequivocally stated that Republic of Srpska’s Interior Ministry (i.e. the Police of Republika Srpska) has 

‘‘failed to provide specific data on several hundred individuals deployed in Srebrenica in July 1995 under the direct or indirect auspices of the RS’’; 

Whereas the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina concluded that the Srebrenica Commission 

‘‘must complete the list of names, currently standing at 

892, of those implicated in the Genocide who are currently employed in BH or Republic of Srpska institutions, and forward a completed list to the BH Prosecutor 

and to the ICTY.’’; 

Whereas all countries are obliged not to recognize as lawful 

the situation created by the crime of aggression and the 

crime of genocide, as well as to cooperate in the application of measures designed to eliminate the consequences 

of such crimes; 

Whereas the General Framework Agreement for Peace in 

Bosnia and Herzegovina (commonly referred to as the 

‘‘Dayton Peace Accords’’), that was made possible 

through the strong leadership of the United States, ended 

the aggression, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against 

humanity against the Republic of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina and its non-Serb population, but it failed to 

achieve its intended goal of reversing the effects of those 

crimes; 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
4 

•HRES 679 IH 

Whereas due to the failure to ensure sustainable return of 

refugees and displaced persons to their homes of origins, 

as guaranteed by Annex VII of the Dayton Peace Accords, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

(Annex IV of the Dayton Peace Accords) has evolved into 

an ethno-territorial arrangement that now institutionalizes the results of the genocide, crimes against humanity, 

and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 

Whereas one of the most ominous of the ethno-territorial provisions of this Constitution is an entity voting mechanism, which allows a small number of Serb deputies from 

Republika Srpska in the Parliament of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina, constituting less than one-quarter of the 

Parliament, to block any proposed legislation or decision; 

Whereas the entity voting mechanism has been used to block 

various crucial State-level legislation, including the proposed changes to the Citizenship Law of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina which in its current form threatens to permanently deny over 500,000 Bosnians their Bosnian citizenship, effectively continuing the project of genocide and 

ethnic cleansing; 

Whereas 300,000 Bosnian-Americans live in the United 

States as fully engaged citizens with a significant potential to further strengthen the ties between the United 

States and Bosnia and Herzegovina; 

Whereas the political leadership of the Republika Srpska entity has continuously blocked all attempts to move beyond 

the ethno-territorial basis of the Dayton Constitution and 

create a fully democratic and functioning system of government, as has been demonstrated by, among other 

things, the Republika Srpska entity’s unwillingness to 

agree to the reform of the police force structures within 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
5 

•HRES 679 IH 

Bosnia and Herzegovina in line with the standards demanded by the European Union; 

Whereas Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that 

the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina need ‘‘a stronger 

energetic state capable of advancing the public good’’ and 

pledged that the United States will remain a dedicated 

partner to Bosnia and Herzegovina as it moves toward 

further Euro-Atlantic integration; 

Whereas Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns has unequivocally stated that the Dayton 

Peace Accords ‘‘cannot be the way that the people of 

Bosnia and Herzegovina organize themselves for the next 

ten years’’ and that ‘‘it is time for [the people of] Bosnia 

and Herzegovina . . . to go beyond the Dayton Accords 

and to build a modern constitutional state’’; 

Whereas the European Parliament and the Parliamentary 

Assembly of the Council of Europe have recently adopted 

Resolutions calling for an in-depth reform of the Dayton 

constitutional arrangements, and particularly for the reduction and elimination of the entity voting mechanism; 

Whereas there continues to be, within Republika Srpska ethnic exclusivity, which has effectively discouraged and prevented the return of the ethnically-cleansed non-Serb 

population to this region of Bosnia and Herzegovina; and 

Whereas the constitutional arrangements of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina must satisfy the interests of all of its people 

by guaranteeing full civil, cultural, individual, and religious rights to all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 

and promoting the integration of the entire region of 

Southeast Europe into the Euro-Atlantic political and security structures: Now, therefore, be it 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
6 

•HRES 679 IH 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) it is the sense of the House of Representa3 tives that— 

4 (A) Bosnia and Herzegovina should begin 

5 the process of adopting a new constitution that 

6 is based on civic representation and that fully 

7 eliminates the ethno-territorial arrangements 

8 which reflect and institutionalize the effects of 

9 the genocide, war crimes, and crimes against 

10 humanity committed in Bosnia and 

11 Herzegovina; 

12 (B) the new constitution should advance 

13 the principles of civic democracy, full equality 

14 of citizens, tolerance and protection of all ethnic 

15 groups, and should reflect the highest standards 

16 of individual human rights and liberties; 

17 (C) the new constitution should eliminate 

18 the ethnic power-sharing principles that reflect 

19 the ethnic divisions imposed by the perpetrators 

20 of the genocide, crimes against humanity, and 

21 war crimes; 

22 (D) the new constitution must restructure 

23 the ethno-territorial organization of Bosnia and 

24 Herzegovina and eliminate its division into enti25 ties, cantons, and municipalities with a view to 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
7 

•HRES 679 IH 

1 creating a single, unified economic space and 

2 increasing efficiency and sustainability of the 

3 country and its governing apparatus; 

4 (E) the entity voting mechanism, which 

5 has proved to be a serious obstacle to the func6 tioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Par7 liament, must be eliminated; 

8 (F) Srebrenica and other areas of eastern 

9 Bosnia should be placed under the exclusive ju10 risdiction of the institutions of Bosnia and 

11 Herzegovina in order to ensure that the situa12 tion created by genocide is not recognized as 

13 lawful; 

14 (G) the police reform in Bosnia and 

15 Herzegovina must create a single police struc16 ture, replacing entity police forces with a single 

17 police at the state level, and in particular elimi18 nating the Police of the Republika Srpska enti19 ty, which was identified in the ICJ judgment as 

20 one of the institutions of Republika Srpska that 

21 participated in the commission of the crime of 

22 genocide; 

23 (H) the Republika Srpska entity cannot 

24 persist under its current name which represents 

25 the ethnically-exclusive political philosophy of 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
8 

•HRES 679 IH 

1 its founders and which perpetuates the effects 

2 of the genocide and ethnic cleansing; 

3 (I) Serbia must immediately honor its 

4 international legal obligations towards Bosnia 

5 and Herzegovina, stemming from the Conven6 tion on the Prevention and the Punishment of 

7 the Crime of Genocide and the ICJ judgment, 

8 by immediately apprehending and transferring 

9 to the ICTY all individuals indicted for partici10 pating in the commission of the crime of geno11 cide, particularly Radovan Karadzic and Ratko 

12 Mladic; and 

13 (J) it is in the national interest of the 

14 United States that all individuals who are re15 sponsible for war crimes, genocide, and crimes 

16 against humanity in Bosnia and Herzegovina 

17 should be held accountable for their actions, 

18 and the Republika Srpska entity, Serbia, and 

19 Montenegro must therefore fully cooperate with 

20 the ICTY; 

21 (2) the United States reaffirms its strongest 

22 support for the independence, sovereignty, and terri23 torial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and sup24 ports the transformation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

25 into a state with governmental institutions commenVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:10 Sep 26, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR679.IH HR679

hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS
9 

•HRES 679 IH 

1 surate with EU and NATO membership, as this will 

2 ensure a lasting peace and greater prosperity for all 

3 of the people and states of the entire region; and 

4 (3) the House of Representatives calls for an 

5 immediate, refocused, and concentrated diplomatic 

6 effort by the United States to achieve the objectives 

7 stated in this Resolution in order to achieve defini8 tive success in reversing the effects of genocide in 

9 Bosnia and Herzegovina and building a modern, 

10 functional, self-sustainable, and a fully democratic 

11 state. 

Æ 


hmoore on PRODPC68 with HMBILLS