Calling for the end of impunity of unpunished Serbian sexual war crimes during the 1999 Kosovo war in the case of United States citizen and sexual war crime survivor Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman and other survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

Calling for the end of impunity of unpunished Serbian sexual war crimes during the 1999 Kosovo war in the case of United States citizen and sexual war crime survivor Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman and other survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Whereas Vasfije Krasniqi was 16 years old during the 1999 Kosovo war and living in Stanofc i Poshtem, Kosovo, then under the control of the Republic of Serbia, which was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and led by President Slobodan Milosevic; Whereas, on April 14, 1999, a Serbian police officer entered Ms. Krasniqi’s family home in Stanofc i Poshtem, Kosovo, looking for all male occupants, and ordered Ms. Krasniqi to go to the police station to give a statement about her father and brothers, who were not present; Whereas the Serbian police officer threatened to shoot everyone present, including Ms. Krasniqi and her mother, before forcibly removing Ms. Krasniqi from the house and taking her to a Serbian village nearby; Whereas the Serbian police officer forced Ms. Krasniqi into an empty house off the main road and threw her onto dried corn stacks before taking her to his car, where he started raping her despite her yelling and screams for him to stop; Whereas Ms. Krasniqi was held at gunpoint and raped repeatedly before losing consciousness; Whereas, once Ms. Krasniqi regained consciousness, she begged the Serbian police officer to kill her, and the Serbian police officer responded by saying, No, I won’t because you will suffer more this way Whereas the Serbian police officer later went into a local store in the same village, from where an older, crippled Serbian man emerged and forced Ms. Krasniqi out of the car and took her to an unfinished house where he raped her; Whereas, a few hours later, Ms. Krasniqi was taken back to her village where she was left out on the street and told not to tell anyone about what had transpired; Whereas Ms. Krasniqi did not want to go home having to explain to anyone what had happened to her, but instead walked through the village cemetery and hoped that her life would come to an end then and there; Whereas, upon arriving at her uncle’s house hours after the assault, Ms. Krasniqi did not have to say a word, as everyone knew what had happened, witnessing her scratches, bruises, cuts, and torn clothes; Whereas Ms. Krasniqi reported her case to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) the day after she was raped on April 15, 1999; Whereas, in March 1999, with the support of the United States, NATO began a 78-day air campaign against Serbian forces in Kosovo after efforts to negotiate an end to the Kosovo war collapsed, leading to Serbia’s agreement to cease all military activity in Kosovo and to facilitate the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, and the deployment of a NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR); Whereas the United Nations Security Council then passed Resolution 1244 on June 10, 1999, which established the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) as a temporary government until Kosovo’s own institutions had developed and demonstrated the capacity to self-govern, which included various powers, such as the authority to administer justice in Kosovo and the ability to investigate and prosecute serious crimes committed during the war; Whereas Ms. Krasniqi reported her case to UNMIK on September 10, 1999, with no outcome, as well as to the French KFOR on April 21, 2004, but inaction of both these bodies caused additional difficulties and delays in her case; Whereas Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008, and has since received the recognition of over 100 states, including the United States and 23 of the 28 European Union member states, though Serbia still rejects such claim; Whereas the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) was launched in 2008 as a civilian mission to support rule-of-law institutions, accountability, and compliance with international human rights standards in Kosovo within the framework of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, as well as to support the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in line with relevant Kosovo legislation; Whereas Ms. Krasniqi moved to the United States in 2001, naturalized as a citizen in 2006, and now lives in Rowlett, Texas, with her husband and two children, each of whom are also United States citizens, and she has also taken the last name Goodman; Whereas Ms. Krasniqi Goodman reported her case to EULEX authorities and gave five interviews from August 2010 to July 2012, and witnesses gave several testimonies from February 2011 to August 2012; Whereas, on November 12, 2012, the Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) filed the indictment PPS nr. 89/2012 against the perpetrators Jovica Dejanovic (DOB 09/11/1954), the Serbian police officer, and Djordje Bojkovic (DOB 11/13/1940), the older and crippled Serbian man, with the then-District Court of Mitrovica, which was amended on November 30, 2012; Whereas the main trial was held between April 4 to 15, 2013, and on April 17, 2013, the Basic Court of Mitrovica announced the judgment that both perpetrators were acquitted of the charge of war crime against the civilian population (rape), punishable under Articles 22 and 142 CC SFRY; Whereas, on October 31, 2013, the SPRK Prosecutors submitted a joint appeal proposing that the judgment of the first instance court be modified and Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic be convicted of the criminal offense of war crime against civilian population, or in the alternative, to return the case to the court of first instance for a retrial; Whereas the Appellate Public Prosecutor moved the Court of Appeals to grant the appeal of the Special Prosecutors, and the Court of Appeals rendered its judgment on May 27, 2014, and found both Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic guilty and convicted them of the war crime against civilians under Article 142 CC SFRY (now Article 153 CCRK), sentencing them to 12 years and 10 years of imprisonment, respectively; Whereas, on July 2014, Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic filed their appeals against the judgment of the Court of Appeals PaKr 503/13 dated May 27, 2014, and the Supreme Court of Kosovo rendered a ruling for the immediate release of Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic from the detention on remand; Whereas Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic were released, and nobody has been held responsible for the sexual war crimes committed against Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman; Whereas all prior mechanisms for pursuing accountability for war crimes in Kosovo have fallen short in bringing perpetrators of sexual violence to justice, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, UNMIK, EULEX, and the Kosovo judicial system; Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that approximately 20,000 individuals were the victims of conflict-related sexual violence during the Kosovo war, and Human Rights Watch reports that rape was used as a weapon of war and instrument of ethnic cleansing by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war; Whereas 20 years later and after approximately 20,000 individuals raped, there has only been one perpetrator brought to justice, Zoran Vukotic, by the Prishtina Basic Court on July 5, 2021; Whereas the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820 was unanimously adopted on June 19, 2008, condemning the use of sexual violence as a tool of war, and declared that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide Whereas the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2467 was adopted on April 23, 2019, recalling the responsibilities of States to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, perpetrated against civilians Whereas Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman testified before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives on April 30, 2019, in a hearing titled Kosovo’s Wartime Victims: The Quest for Justice Whereas the Republic of Kosovo marked for the first time on April 14, 2023, the Day of Survivors of Sexual Violence During the War in Kosovo that coincides with the date Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman was abducted by Serbian police and subsequently sexually assaulted; and Whereas the United States recognizes that preventing and responding to gender-based violence around the world is not only a matter of human rights, justice, equity, and equality, but is also a moral imperative and the strategic national interest of the United States and its global partners: Now, therefore, be it That Congress— (1) finds it reprehensible that no individuals have been found guilty for the sexual war crimes against Ms. Krasniqi Goodman; (2) strongly condemns the use of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon of war; (3) underscores the importance of transparent, accountable, and independent investigations into gender-based war crimes and atrocities; (4) commends the Government of the Republic of Kosovo for taking a tangible and multisectoral approach to address the sexual violence during the war in the country; (5) calls on the Government of the Republic of Kosovo to uphold commitments expressed and agreed to in the Protocol for the Treatment of Sexual Violence Cases in Kosovo (6) calls on the Government of the Republic of Serbia to— (A) bring individuals who are responsible for the sexual war crimes on April 14, 1999, of United States citizen Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman in Kosovo before justice pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1820 and 2467; (B) cease the protection and glorification of any individuals who were involved in war crimes during the Kosovo conflict and make it a priority to investigate and prosecute any such individuals; (C) enforce laws to ensure that known perpetrators of sexual gender-based violence are held accountable and are brought before justice; and (D) prioritize the creation and sustainment of appropriate tracking and investigative mechanisms to extradite known perpetrators and convicted offenders of sexual gender-based violence during the Kosovo war in 1999 to Kosovo to be brought to justice according to all conventions; and (7) calls on the United States Government to— (A) uphold and strengthen its commitments to counter and prevent the practice of gender-based violence in accordance with the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally (B) elevate the case of Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman in future bilateral engagements with the Government of Serbia, especially in terms of accountability for war crimes committed against women and youth; (C) identify the specific factors that increase the risks of gender-based violence and undermine access to services and safety; (D) monitor efforts by the Government of Serbia and its relevant ministries and offices to investigate and prosecute cases of sexual violence during the Kosovo war; and (E) devote sufficient funding to implement a variety of educational, research, and advocacy projects in Kosovo, including the training of judiciary and law enforcement, as well as funding for a rehabilitation center focusing on physical and psychological rehabilitation from war trauma and sexual and domestic violence, and vocational training and job integrating opportunities.

Summary: This concurrent resolution calls upon Serbia to bring individuals who are responsible for the sexual war crimes against Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman in Kosovo during the 1999 war to justice and to cease the glorification and protection of individuals involved.  The concurrent resolution also condemns the use of rape and other gender-based violence in war,  calls upon Kosovo to prioritize and expedite prosecution of rape and sexual assault cases from the 1999 war, and  calls on the United States to uphold and strengthen commitments to counter and prevent the practice of gender-based violence.