IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 199 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the massacre 
at Srebrenica in July 1995. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 6, 2005 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) submitted the fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International 
Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives 
regarding the massacre at Srebrenica in July 1995. 
Whereas in July 1995 thousands of men and boys who had 
sought safety in the United Nations-designated ‘‘safe 
area’’ of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the 
protection of the United Nations Protection Force 
(UNPROFOR) were massacred by Serb forces operating 
in that country; 
Whereas beginning in April 1992, aggression and ethnic 
cleansing perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces, while tak-
ing control of the surrounding territory, resulted in a 
massive influx of Bosniaks seeking protection in 
Srebrenica and its environs, which the United Nations
•HRES 199 IH 
Security Council designated a ‘‘safe area’’ in Resolution 
819 on April 16, 1993; 
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 Fron-
tiers (Doctors Without Borders) helping to provide hu-
manitarian relief to the displaced population living in 
conditions of massive overcrowding, destitution, and dis-
ease; 
Whereas Bosnian Serb forces blockaded the enclave early in 
1995, depriving the entire population of humanitarian aid 
and outside communication and contact, and effectively 
reducing the ability of the Dutch peacekeeping battalion 
to deter aggression or otherwise respond effectively to a 
deteriorating situation; 
Whereas beginning on July 6, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces at-
tacked UNPROFOR outposts, seized control of the iso-
lated enclave, held captured Dutch soldiers hostage and, 
after skirmishes with local defenders, ultimately took con-
trol of the town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995; 
Whereas an estimated one-third of the population of 
Srebrenica, including a relatively small number of sol-
diers, made a desperate attempt to pass through the lines 
of Bosnian Serb forces to the relative safety of Bosnian- 
held territory, but many were killed by patrols and am-
bushes; 
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
•HRES 199 IH 
individuals were randomly seized by Bosnian Serb forces 
to be beaten, raped, or executed; 
Whereas Bosnian Serb forces deported women, children, and 
the elderly in buses, held Bosniak males over 16 years of 
age at collection points and sites in northeastern Bosnia 
and Herzegovina under their control, and then summarily 
executed and buried the captives in mass graves; 
Whereas approximately 20 percent of Srebrenica’s total popu-
lation at the time—at least 7,000 and perhaps thousands 
more—was either executed or killed; 
Whereas the United Nations and its member states have 
largely acknowledged their failure to take actions and de-
cisions that could have deterred the assault on Srebrenica 
and prevented the subsequent massacre; 
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 northeastern Bosnia and 
Herzegovina under their control; 
Whereas the massacre at Srebrenica was among the worst of 
many horrible atrocities to occur in the conflict in Bosnia 
and Herzegovina from April 1992 to November 1995, 
during which the policies of aggression and ethnic cleans-
ing pursued by Bosnian Serb forces with the direct sup-
port of authorities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
(Serbia and Montenegro) ultimately led to the displace-
ment of more than 2,000,000 people, an estimated 
200,000 killed, tens of thousands raped or otherwise tor-
tured and abused, and the innocent civilians of Sarajevo 
and other urban centers repeatedly subjected to shelling 
and sniper attacks;