IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 118

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the culpability of Slobodan

Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in

the former Yugoslavia, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 25, 1999

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. GILMAN, Mr.

PORTER, Mr. HOYER, Mr. FORBES, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. GREENWOOD, Ms.

SLAUGHTER, Mr. KING, Mr. ENGEL, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr.

HEFLEY, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, and Mr. OLVER) submitted the

following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the culpability of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes

against humanity, and genocide in the former Yugoslavia,

and for other purposes.

Whereas there is reason to mark the beginning of the conflict

in the former Yugoslavia with Slobodan Milosevic’s rise

to power beginning in 1987, when he whipped up and exploited extreme nationalism among Serbs, and specifically

in Kosovo, including support for violence against nonSerbs who were labeled as threats;

Whereas there is reason to believe that as President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic has been responsible for the con-
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ception and direction of a war of aggression, the deaths

of hundreds of thousands, the torture and rape of tens

of thousands and the forced displacement of as many as

4,000,000 people, and that mass rape and forced impregnation were among the tools used to wage this war;

Whereas ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ has been carried out in the

former Yugoslavia in such a consistent and systematic

way that it had to be directed by the senior political leadership in Serbia, and Slobodan Milosevic has held such

power within Serbia and is therefore responsible for the

conception and direction of this policy;

Whereas, as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

(Serbia and Montenegro), Slobodan Milosevic is responsible for the conception and direction of the massive assaults by Yugoslavian and Serbian military, security, special police, and other forces on innocent civilians in

Kosovo;

Whereas this assault on the people of Kosovo includes forced

expulsions, looting and burning, detentions, summary

executions, rape, violations of medical neutrality and the

destruction of personal documents and registration

records, all with a high degree of premeditation and persistence;

Whereas the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment

of the Crime of Genocide defines ‘‘genocide’’ as ‘‘any of

the following acts committed with the 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 in-
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tended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly

transferring children of the group to another group’’;

Whereas on May 25, 1993, United Nations Security Council

Resolution 827 created the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia located in The Hague,

the Netherlands (hereafter in this resolution referred to

as the ‘‘Tribunal’’), and gave it jurisdiction over all

crimes arising out of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia;

Whereas this Tribunal has publicly indicted 66 people for war

crimes or crimes against humanity or genocide arising

out of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, and has

issued a number of secret indictments that have only

been made public upon the apprehension of the indicted

persons;

Whereas it is incumbent upon the United States and all other

nations to support the Tribunal by providing adequate

funding and in-kind contributions, and by supplying information that can aid the Tribunal’s investigations,

prosecutions, and adjudications;

Whereas any lasting, peaceful solution to the conflict in the

former Yugoslavia must be based upon justice for all, including the most senior officials of the government or

governments responsible for conceiving, organizing, initiating, directing, and sustaining the Yugoslav conflict and

whose forces have committed war crimes, crimes against

humanity, and genocide;

Whereas Slobodan Milosevic has been the single person who

has been in the highest government offices in an aggressor state since before the inception of the conflict in the

former Yugoslavia, who has had the power to decide for
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peace and instead decided for war, who has had the

power to minimize illegal actions by subordinates and allies and hold responsible those who committed such actions, but did not, and who is once again directing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against innocent civilians in

Kosovo while treating with contempt international efforts

to achieve a fair and peaceful settlement to the question

of the future status of Kosovo, and who permits other

persons indicted by the Tribunal to be protected from apprehension and to commit further crimes;

Whereas the 105th Congress adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 105 regarding the culpability of Slobodan

Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and

genocide in the former Yugoslavia;

Whereas there remain concerns that, in order to reach a political settlement regarding Kosovo, the United States

and the international community might not be fully providing information which can be used as evidence of the

culpability of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes

against humanity, and genocide; and

Whereas the withholding of information which can be used as

evidence to indict and prosecute a person responsible for

such crimes is morally reprehensible: Now, therefore, be

it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—

3 (1) the United States should publicly declare

4 that it considers the assault on the people of Kosovo

5 to meet the definition of genocide as defined by the
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1 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of

2 the Crime of Genocide;

3 (2) the United States should publicly declare

4 that it considers that there is reason to believe that

5 Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Federal Repub6 lic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), has com7 mitted war crimes, crimes against humanity, and

8 genocide;

9 (3) the United States should make collection of

10 information that can be supplied to the International

11 Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for use

12 as evidence to support an indictment and trial of

13 President Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes

14 against humanity, and genocide a higher priority;

15 (4) any such information concerning President

16 Slobodan Milosevic already collected by the United

17 States should be provided to the Tribunal as soon as

18 possible;

19 (5) the United States should provide a fair

20 share of any additional financial or personnel re21 sources that may be required by the Tribunal in

22 order to enable the Tribunal to adequately address

23 preparation for, indictment of, prosecution of, and

24 adjudication of allegations of war crimes and crimes

25 against humanity posed against President Slobodan
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1 Milosevic and any other person arising from the con2 flict in the former Yugoslavia, including in Kosovo;

3 (6) the United States should engage with other

4 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organi5 zation (NATO) and other interested states in a dis6 cussion of information any such state may hold re7 lating to allegations of war crimes and crimes

8 against humanity or genocide posed against Presi9 dent Slobodan Milosevic and any other person aris10 ing from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, in11 cluding in Kosovo, and press such states to promptly

12 provide all such information to the Tribunal;

13 (7) the United States should engage with other

14 member states of NATO and other interested states

15 in a discussion of measures to be taken to appre16 hend indicted war criminals and persons indicted for

17 crimes against humanity with the objective of con18 cluding a plan of action that will result in these

19 indictees’ prompt delivery into the custody of the

20 Tribunal; and

21 (8) the United States should urge the Tribunal

22 to promptly review all information relating to Presi23 dent Slobodan Milosevic’s possible criminal culpa24 bility for conceiving, directing, and sustaining a vari25 ety of actions in the former Yugoslavia, including
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1 Kosovo, that constitute genocide, crimes against hu2 manity, or war crimes, with a view toward prompt

3 issuance of a public indictment of Milosevic.

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