IV
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 304
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the culpability of Slobodan
Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in
the former Yugoslavia, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 21, 1998
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. HOYER, Mr. PORTER, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. OLVER, Mr. KING, and Mr. MCGOVERN) sub-
mitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on International Relations
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the culpabil-
ity of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against
humanity, and genocide in the former Yugoslavia, and
for other purposes.
Whereas there is reason to mark the beginning of the conflict
in the former Yugoslavia with Slobodan Milosevic’s rise
to power beginning in 1987, when he whipped up and ex-
ploited extreme nationalism among Serbs, and specifically
in Kosovo, including support for violence against non-
Serbs who were labeled as threats;
Whereas there is reason to believe that as President of Ser-
bia, Slobodan Milosevic was responsible for the concep-
tion and direction of a war of aggression, the deaths of
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hundreds of thousands, the torture and rape of tens of
thousands and the forced displacement of nearly
3,000,000 people, and that mass rape and forced impreg-
nation were among the tools used to wage this war;
Whereas ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ has been carried out in the
former Yugoslavia in such a consistent and systematic
way that it had to be directed by the senior political lead-
ership in Serbia, and Slobodan Milosevic has held such
power within Serbia that he is responsible for the concep-
tion and direction of this policy;
Whereas, as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia and Montenegro), Slobodan Milosevic is respon-
sible for the conception and direction of assaults by
Yugoslavian and Serbian military, security, special police,
and other forces on innocent civilians in Kosovo which
have so far resulted in an estimated 300 people dead or
missing and the forced displacement of tens of thousands,
and such assaults continue;
Whereas on May 25, 1993, United Nations Security Council
Resolution 827 created the International Criminal Tribu-
nal for the former Yugoslavia located in The Hague, the
Netherlands (hereafter in this resolution referred to as
the ‘‘Tribunal’’), and gave it jurisdiction over all crimes
arising out of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia;
Whereas this Tribunal has publicly indicted 60 people for war
crimes or crimes against humanity arising out of the con-
flict in the former Yugoslavia and has issued a number
of secret indictments that have only been made public
upon the apprehension of the indicted persons;
Whereas it is incumbent upon the United States and all other
nations to support the Tribunal, and the United States
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has done so by providing, since 1992, funding in the
amount of $54,000,000 in assessed payments and more
than $11,000,000 in voluntary and in-kind contributions
to the Tribunal and the War Crimes Commission which
preceded it, and by supplying information collected by the
United States that can aid the Tribunal’s investigations,
prosecutions, and adjudications;
Whereas any lasting, peaceful solution to the conflict in the
former Yugoslavia must be based upon justice for all, in-
cluding the most senior officials of the government or
governments responsible for conceiving, organizing, initi-
ating, directing, and sustaining the Yugoslav conflict and
whose forces have committed war crimes, crimes against
humanity and genocide; and
Whereas Slobodan Milosevic has been the single person who
has been in the highest government offices in an aggres-
sor state since before the inception of the conflict in the
former Yugoslavia, who has had the power to decide for
peace and instead decided for war, who has had the
power to minimize illegal actions by subordinates and al-
lies and hold responsible those who committed such ac-
tions, but did not, and who is once again directing a cam-
paign of ethnic cleansing against innocent civilians in
Kosovo while treating with contempt international efforts
to achieve a fair and peaceful settlement to the question
of the future status of Kosovo: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the United States should publicly declare
that it considers that there is reason to believe that
Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Federal Repub-
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SEC. 2. The Clerk of the House of Representatives
shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the President.
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