II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2955 

To designate July 11 as National Day of Remembrance for the Victims 

of the Srebrenica Genocide. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2023 

Mrs. SHAHEEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To designate July 11 as National Day of Remembrance 

for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Srebrenica Genocide 

5 Remembrance Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The United States and the European Com9 munity recognized the Republic of Bosnia and 

10 Herzegovina as an independent state on April 7, 


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1 1992, and the United Nations admitted the Republic 

2 of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a member on May 22, 

3 1992. 

4 (2) During a campaign of aggression through5 out Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian 

6 War from 1992 to 1995, Bosniaks comprised the 

7 great majority of victims of systematic campaigns of 

8 war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide 

9 conducted by Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 

10 Serb paramilitary forces with the support of the 

11 Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 

12 (3) The Senate passed Senate Resolution 134 

13 in the 109th Congress expressing the sense of the 

14 Senate that, from April 1992 to November 1995, 

15 Serb forces committed aggression against the Re16 public of Bosnia and Herzegovina and genocide 

17 against Bosniaks, with direct support from authori18 ties in Serbia. 

19 (4) A primary objective of Bosnian Serb leader20 ship, supported by the Government of the Federal 

21 Republic of Yugoslavia, was to establish an eth22 nically homogenous Serb state within Bosnia and 

23 Herzegovina, known as ‘‘Republika Srpska’’. 

24 (5) Serb forces, under the command of subse25 quently convicted war criminals Ratko Mladic and 


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1 Radovan Karadzic, made a concerted effort to con2 trol the town of Srebrenica and surrounding areas, 

3 which had strategic importance to the Serb cam4 paign to create a Republika Srpska state from the 

5 inviolable territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

6 (6) Most of the population in Srebrenica was 

7 Bosniak, but attempts to erase Bosniaks from the 

8 national census impacted accurate reporting of and 

9 underestimated the number of Bosniaks in 

10 Srebrenica and surrounding areas and across Bosnia 

11 and Herzegovina. 

12 (7) Beginning in 1992, the humanitarian situa13 tion in Srebrenica and surrounding areas deterio14 rated, with Serb forces placing embargoes on food 

15 and critical supplies, which resulted in mass starva16 tion and civilian deaths. 

17 (8) In 1993, the United Nations, pursuant to 

18 Security Council resolutions 819 and 824, des19 ignated the towns of Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Zepa, 

20 Gorazde, Tuzla, and Bihac, in Bosnia and 

21 Herzegovina, as ‘‘safe areas’’, but failed to demili22 tarize or protect the designated areas, including that 

23 of Srebrenica in 1995, despite the deployment of the 

24 United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to 

25 Srebrenica. 


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1 (9) Upon entering Srebrenica in July 1995, 

2 Serb forces deported Bosniak women and girls in 

3 buses after torturing and raping many of them, fol4 lowing a nearly yearlong siege and starvation of the 

5 town and surrounding areas. 

6 (10) Serb forces separated military-age men 

7 and boys from other civilians in Srebrenica. 

8 (11) In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak 

9 men and boys were tortured and killed in and 

10 around the town of Srebrenica, including those men 

11 and boys that attempted to form a column and flee 

12 Srebrenica for safety but were attacked and killed by 

13 Serb forces. 

14 (12) The United Nations Convention on the 

15 Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno16 cide, adopted at Paris December 9, 1948, defines 

17 genocide as ‘‘any of the following acts committed 

18 with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a na19 tional, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: 

20 (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing seri21 ous bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 

22 (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of 

23 life calculated to bring about its physical destruction 

24 in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended 

25 to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly 


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1 transferring children of the group to another 

2 group’’. 

3 (13) The Srebrenica genocide remains the big4 gest single event of mass extermination in Europe 

5 since the end of World War II. 

6 (14) The bodies of executed Bosniak men and 

7 boys were dumped into mass graves, which were sub8 sequently dug up by Serb forces and moved to sec9 ondary or tertiary sites in an attempt to hide evi10 dence of the genocide that was committed against 

11 Bosniaks. 

12 (15) Remains of some of the victims of the 

13 Srebrenica genocide are still being discovered in 

14 2023. 

15 (16) In 1993, the United Nations established 

16 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 

17 Yugoslavia through Resolution 827, succeeded by 

18 the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal 

19 Tribunals, which investigated, prosecuted, and 

20 passed judgement on international crimes committed 

21 during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, includ22 ing during the Bosnian War and the Srebrenica 

23 genocide. 

24 (17) In November 1995, the peace agreement 

25 known as the ‘‘Dayton Accords’’ was concluded by 


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1 the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, 

2 and Serbia to end the war in Bosnia and 

3 Herzegovina. 

4 (18) The Dayton Accords resulted in the adop5 tion of a new constitutional regime that created 2 

6 entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 

7 and the Republika Srpska, in Bosnia and 

8 Herzegovina. 

9 (19) In a 1999 report on the fall of Srebrenica, 

10 the United Nations expressly recognized that the 

11 international community must accept its share of re12 sponsibility for failing to stop the Srebrenica geno13 cide. 

14 (20) Serbia issued an apology for crimes com15 mitted by Serb forces during the breakup of the 

16 former Yugoslavia, including in Bosnia and 

17 Herzegovina and at Srebrenica and surrounding 

18 areas, but did not recognize the mass murders in 

19 Srebrenica as genocide. 

20 (21) In 2004, the Government of the Republika 

21 Srpska entity issued an apology for crimes in 

22 Srebrenica and acknowledged the deaths of some, 

23 but not all, victims and did not recognize the mass 

24 murders in and around Srebrenica as genocide. 


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1 (22) In 2015, the Russian Federation vetoed a 

2 resolution at the United Nations Security Council 

3 condemning the mass murders at Srebrenica as 

4 genocide. 

5 (23) Since the Dayton Accords were concluded, 

6 political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina such as 

7 Milorad Dodik have undermined regional stability by 

8 engaging in genocide denial and spreading false in9 formation about the war crimes, crimes against hu10 manity, and genocide that took place during the 

11 Bosnian War. 

12 (24) Some political leaders have declined to cat13 egorize the mass murders at Srebrenica as genocide 

14 and continue to engage in harmful ethno-nationalist 

15 dialogue. 

16 (25) In 2021, the High Representative, who 

17 oversees the civilian implementation of the Dayton 

18 Accords, outlawed genocide denial in Bosnia and 

19 Herzegovina. 

20 (26) The European Union Force in Bosnia and 

21 Herzegovina (EUFOR) oversees the military imple22 mentation of the Dayton Accords as a successor to 

23 the Stabilization Force, the NATO-led multinational 

24 peacekeeping force that was deployed to Bosnia and 

25 Herzegovina following the Bosnian War. 


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1 (27) The United States and the international 

2 community have made significant efforts to uphold 

3 peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 

4 recognize the Srebrenica genocide, including by sup5 porting the work of local, national, regional, and 

6 international nonprofit and nongovernmental organi7 zations that preserve the memory of the victims of 

8 the Srebrenica genocide. 

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR THE VIC10 TIMS OF THE SREBRENICA GENOCIDE. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 36, United 

12 States Code, is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating the second section des14 ignated as section 146 (relating to Choose Respect 

15 Day) as section 147; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘§ 148. National Day of Remembrance for the Victims 

18 of the Srebrenica Genocide’’ 

19 ‘‘(a) DESIGNATION.—July 11 is National Day of Re20 membrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide. 

21 ‘‘(b) RECOGNITION.—All private citizens, organiza22 tions, and Federal, State, and local governmental and leg23 islative entities are encouraged to recognize National Day 

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1 cide through proclamations, activities, and educational ef2 forts to— 

3 ‘‘(1) pay tribute to the families of the more 

4 than 8,000 Bosniaks who were killed in July 1995, 

5 the Bosniak communities in Bosnia and 

6 Herzegovina, and the diaspora; 

7 ‘‘(2) condemn the genocide perpetrated in 

8 Srebrenica and surrounding areas and the war 

9 crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 

10 Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War; 

11 ‘‘(3) encourage continued efforts in Bosnia and 

12 Herzegovina, Southeast Europe, and the world to 

13 counter efforts to undermine respect for human 

14 rights and fundamental freedoms and to promote re15 spect for all ethnic and religious groups; 

16 ‘‘(4) acknowledge the role of the High Rep17 resentative in promoting truth about the Srebrenica 

18 genocide and maintaining peace and stability in Bos19 nia and Herzegovina; 

20 ‘‘(5) condemn the denial of the Srebrenica 

21 genocide, which has been recognized as genocide by 

22 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 

23 Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice, 

24 and condemns attempts to revise the history of the 

25 Bosnian War; 


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1 ‘‘(6) reaffirm support for the multi-ethnic and 

2 multi-confessional culture and territorial integrity of 

3 Bosnia and Herzegovina as the people of Bosnia and 

4 Herzegovina pursue further Euro-Atlantic integra5 tion; 

6 ‘‘(7) condemn inflammatory rhetoric, including 

7 that which is meant to destabilize Bosnia and 

8 Herzegovina and the broader region, stoke ethnic 

9 tensions, and promote social divisions related to de10 nying the Srebrenica genocide; 

11 ‘‘(8) call on the international community to 

12 continue to work toward the sustainable return of 

13 Bosniaks consistent with Annex 7 of the Dayton Ac14 cords throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and to 

15 Srebrenica, including by condemning ongoing vio16 lence and discrimination against, and attempts to 

17 disenfranchise, Bosniaks; 

18 ‘‘(9) encourage continued political reconciliation 

19 in the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in20 cluding the judicial system, including through the 

21 strengthening of democratic institutions and edu22 cational institutions; 

23 ‘‘(10) recognize that barriers to political or so24 cial reconciliation remain so long as national, reVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:59 Sep 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2955.IS S2955

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1 gional, and international actors engage in genocide 

2 denial and ethno-nationalist rhetoric; and 

3 ‘‘(11) further call on the international commu4 nity to continue educating current and future gen5 erations on the Srebrenica genocide, to promote rec6 ognition of the Srebrenica genocide, and, within all 

7 the legal means provided by law and consistent with 

8 respect for human rights, to refute and deter those 

9 who continue to deny the facts of the Srebrenica 

10 genocide.’’. 

11 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

12 The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 36, United 

13 States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 

14 the second section 146 and inserting the following: 

‘‘147. Choose Respect Day. 

‘‘148. National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide.’’. 

Æ 


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