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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 154

Concerning the need for immediate investigation into violations of international law in the former Yugoslavia and prosecution of persons responsible for those violations.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 23, 1993

Ms. MOLINARI (for herself, Mr. MCCLOSKEY, Mr. KING, Mr. LEVY, and Mr.

ENGEL) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Concerning the need for immediate investigation into violations of international law in the former Yugoslavia and

prosecution of persons responsible for those violations.

Whereas war and ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ in the former Yugoslavia

has uprooted more than 2,000,000 people in BosniaHerzegovina and an additional 500,000 people in Croatia, contributing to the largest refugee problem in Europe since World War II;

Whereas according to reports by the Department of State,

the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia have been

subjected to organized, systematic, and premeditated war

crimes and acts tantamount to genocide, including willful

killings, rape, forced impregnation, abuse of civilians in

detention centers, deliberate attacks on noncombatants,
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‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ through forcible expulsion and deportation of civilians, and torture of prisoners;

Whereas according to similar reports by the Department of

State, the people of Kosovo have been subjected to organized and premeditated crimes against humanity, including willful killings, abuse of civilians in detention centers,

and ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ through police harassment, abrogation of civil rights (such as the right to vote, freedom

of the press, and freedom of assembly), and forcible expulsion of civilians;

Whereas ‘‘inhumane acts’’ are considered ‘‘crimes against humanity’’ under the London Agreement that established

the guidelines for the Nuremberg Trials, and ‘‘torture or

inhumane treatment’’ and ‘‘willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health’’ are considered

‘‘grave breaches’’ of the Geneva Convention Relative to

the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949,

under Article 147 of that Convention;

Whereas the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal held

that, for purposes of international criminal law, the individual is a subject of international law, and that ‘‘international law imposes duties and liabilities upon individuals as well as upon states . . .’’;

Whereas the United Nations Security Council has reaffirmed

that persons who commit or order the commission of

grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions are individually responsible for such breaches;

Whereas on October 6, 1992, the United Nations Security

Council adopted Resolution 780, establishing the United

Nations Commission of Experts to collect information
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and evidence on violations of international law that have

been committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991;

Whereas since its establishment, the United Nations Commission of Experts has been handicapped by a lack of financial and technical resources, requiring it to struggle to

obtain and record data with respect to such violations;

Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 808 on February 22, 1993, and Resolution 827 on

May 25, 1993, establishing an International Tribunal to

investigate and prosecute persons responsible for such

violations;

Whereas Article 16 of the Statute of the International Tribunal provides for the appointment of a prosecutor for such

Tribunal and Article 18 of such Statute states that such

prosecutor is to assess any information of alleged war

crimes in the former Yugoslavia and ‘‘upon a determination that a prima facie case exists, the prosecutor shall

prepare an indictment . . .’’;

Whereas as of late September 1993 a prosecutor has yet to

be appointed by the United Nations Secretary General

and approved by the Security Council;

Whereas as of late September 1993 thousands of cases of reported war crimes and potential war crimes in the former

Yugoslavia have yet to be fully investigated; and

Whereas the expeditious investigation into such crimes is essential to ensure that evidence is not destroyed or lost

and that witnesses and survivors do not die or disappear:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—
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1 (1) calls on the President to direct the United

2 States Representative to the United Nations—

3 (A) to urge the United Nations to begin

4 formal investigations into violations of inter5 national law that have been committed in the

6 former Yugoslavia since 1991;

7 (B) to encourage the United Nations Com8 mission of Experts (established under United

9 Nations Security Council Resolution 780

10 (1992)) to begin using the approximately

11 $1,000,000 earmarked for such investigations

12 by immediately sending teams of investigators,

13 including 1 or more teams consisting of individ14 uals who have experience working with victims

15 of rape, to locations in Germany, Austria, Den16 mark, France, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia,

17 where thousands of victims of war crimes are

18 residing; and

19 (C) to urge the United Nations Secretary20 General to appoint, and the Security Council to

21 approve, not later than October 6, 1993, a

22 prosecutor for the International Tribunal in ac23 cordance with Article 16 of the Statute of the

24 International Tribunal, to aggressively continue

25 and expand upon such investigations and pros-
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1 ecute persons responsible for violations of inter2 national law in the former Yugoslavia in accord3 ance with Article 18 of such Statute;

4 (2) encourages the President to provide on tem5 porary assignment to the United Nations Commis6 sion of Experts or to the prosecutor of the Inter7 national Tribunal personnel of the United States

8 Government who have experience working with vic9 tims of rape and other heinous crimes for the pur10 pose of interviewing the victims of such crimes in

11 the former Yugoslavia and gathering legal evidence

12 relating to such crimes;

13 (3) requests the President to work with the

14 United Nations to establish a workable time sched15 ule which sets an aggressive calendar toward pursu16 ing prosecutions of persons responsible for violations

17 of international law in the former Yugoslavia; and

18 (4) calls on the United Nations Security Coun19 cil to withhold consideration of lifting the economic

20 sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

21 (Serbia and Montenegro) under United Nations Se22 curity Resolution 757 (1992) until all indictments

23 against those persons ultimately responsible for vio24 lations of international law in the former Yugoslavia
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1 have been issued by the International Tribunal and

2 such persons have surrendered for trial.

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