H. Res. 310 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

July 8, 2015. 

Whereas July 2015 will mark 20 years since the genocide at 

Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 

Whereas beginning in April 1992, aggression and ethnic 

cleansing perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces resulted in 

a massive influx of Bosniaks seeking protection in 

Srebrenica and its environs, which the United Nations 

Security Council designated a ‘‘safe area’’ within the 

Srebrenica enclave in Resolution 819 on April 16, 1993, 

under the protection of the United Nations Protection 

Force (UNPROFOR); 

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 

Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) helping to provide 

humanitarian relief to the displaced population living in 

conditions of massive overcrowding, destitution, and disease; 

Whereas early in 1995, an intensified blockade of the enclave 

by Bosnian Serb forces deprived the entire population of 

humanitarian aid and outside communication and contact, and effectively reduced the ability of the Dutch 
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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, took control of the 

town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995; 

Whereas an estimated one-third of the population of 

Srebrenica at the time, including a relatively small number of soldiers, attempted to pass through the lines of 

Bosnian Serb forces to the relative safety of Bosnian-government controlled 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 with seeming randomness seized by Bosnian Serb forces to be beaten, raped, or executed; 

Whereas Bosnian Serb forces deported women, children, and 

the elderly in buses, but held over 8,000 primarily 

Bosniak men and boys at collection points and sites in 

northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina under their control, and then summarily executed these captives and 

buried them in mass graves; 

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 eastern Bosnia and 

Herzegovina under their control; 

Whereas the International Commission for Missing Persons 

(ICMP) deserves recognition for its assistance to the rel-
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evant institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in accounting for close to 90 percent of those individuals reported 

missing from Srebrenica, despite active attempts to conceal evidence of the massacre, through the careful excavation of mass graves sites and subsequent DNA analysis 

which confirmed the true extent of the massacre; 

Whereas the massacre at Srebrenica was among the worst of 

many 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 

million people, more than 100,000 killed, tens of thousands raped or otherwise tortured and abused, including 

at concentration camps in the Prijedor area, with the innocent civilians of Sarajevo and other urban centers repeatedly subjected to traumatic shelling and sniper attacks; 

Whereas in addition to being the primary victims at 

Srebrenica, individuals with Bosniak heritage comprise 

the vast majority of the victims during the conflict in 

Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, especially among the 

civilian population; 

Whereas Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and 

Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 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 
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physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing 

measures intended to prevent births within the group; 

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 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 the ICTY, along with courts in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina as well as in Serbia, have indicted and in 

most cases convicted approximately three dozen individuals at various levels of responsibility 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, most notably Radovan Karadzic and Ratko 

Mladic whose trials are ongoing; 

Whereas both the ICTY and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have ruled that the actions of Bosnian Serb 

forces in Srebrenica in July 1995 constitute genocide; 

Whereas House Resolution 199, passed on June 27, 2005, 

expressed the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the aggression and ethnic cleansing committed by Serb 

forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina meets the terms defining genocide according to the 1949 Genocide Convention; 
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Whereas the United Nations has largely acknowledged its 

failure to fulfill its responsibility to take actions and 

make decisions that could have deterred the assault on 

Srebrenica and prevented the subsequent genocide from 

occurring; 

Whereas some prominent Serbian and Bosnian Serb officials, 

among others, have denied or at least refused to acknowledge that the massacre at Srebrenica constituted a genocide, or have sought otherwise to trivialize the extent and 

importance of the massacre; 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 as well as reconciliation among all 

of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s citizens: Now, therefore, be 

it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) affirms that 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; 
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(2) condemns statements that deny or question that 

the massacre at Srebrenica constituted a genocide; 

(3) urges the Atrocities Prevention Board, a United 

States interagency committee established by the Administration in 2012, to study the lessons of Srebrenica and 

issue informed guidance on how to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future, paying particular regard to troubled countries including but not limited to 

Syria, the Central African Republic, and Burundi; 

(4) encourages the United States to maintain and 

reaffirm its policy of supporting 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 economic opportunity, as 

well as to know the fate of missing relatives and friends; 

(5) recognizes the achievement of the International 

Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) in accounting 

for those missing in conflicts or natural disasters around 

the world and believes that the ICMP deserves justified 

recognition for its assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina 

and its relevant institutions in accounting for approximately 90 percent of those reported missing after the 
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Srebrenica massacre and 70 percent of those reported 

missing during the whole of the conflict in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina; 

(6) welcomes the arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 

(ICTY) of all persons indicted for war crimes, crimes 

against humanity, genocide, and grave breaches of the 

1949 Geneva Conventions, particularly those of Radovan 

Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, which has helped strengthen 

peace and encouraged reconciliation between the countries of the region and their citizens; 

(7) asserts that it is in the national interest of the 

United States that those individuals who are responsible 

for these crimes and breaches should continue to be held 

accountable for their actions, and that the work of the 

ICTY therefore warrants continued support until all 

trials and appeals have been completed; and 

(8) honors the thousands of innocent people killed 

or 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, as well as foreign nationals, including United States citizens, and those individuals in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other 

countries of the region who risked and in some cases lost 
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their lives during their brave defense of human rights 

and fundamental freedoms, and advocacy of respect for 

ethnic identity without discrimination. 

Attest: 

Clerk.