IV
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 154
Concerning the need for immediate investigation into violations of inter-
national law in the former Yugoslavia and prosecution of persons respon-
sible 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 re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Concerning the need for immediate investigation into viola-
tions 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 Bosnia-
Herzegovina and an additional 500,000 people in Cro-
atia, contributing to the largest refugee problem in Eu-
rope 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 depor-
tation of civilians, and torture of prisoners;
Whereas according to similar reports by the Department of
State, the people of Kosovo have been subjected to orga-
nized and premeditated crimes against humanity, includ-
ing willful killings, abuse of civilians in detention centers,
and ‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ through police harassment, abro-
gation of civil rights (such as the right to vote, freedom
of the press, and freedom of assembly), and forcible ex-
pulsion of civilians;
Whereas ‘‘inhumane acts’’ are considered ‘‘crimes against hu-
manity’’ under the London Agreement that established
the guidelines for the Nuremberg Trials, and ‘‘torture or
inhumane treatment’’ and ‘‘willfully causing great suffer-
ing 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 indi-
vidual is a subject of international law, and that ‘‘inter-
national law imposes duties and liabilities upon individ-
uals 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 individ-
ually 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 Commis-
sion of Experts has been handicapped by a lack of finan-
cial and technical resources, requiring it to struggle to
obtain and record data with respect to such violations;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted Reso-
lution 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 Tribu-
nal 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 determina-
tion 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 re-
ported 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 es-
sential to ensure that evidence is not destroyed or lost
and that witnesses and survivors do not die or disappear:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress—
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(1) calls on the President to direct the United
States Representative to the United Nations—
(A) to urge the United Nations to begin
formal investigations into violations of inter-
national law that have been committed in the
former Yugoslavia since 1991;
(B) to encourage the United Nations Com-
mission of Experts (established under United
Nations 
Security 
Council 
Resolution 
780
(1992)) to begin using the approximately
$1,000,000 earmarked for such investigations
by immediately sending teams of investigators,
including 1 or more teams consisting of individ-
uals who have experience working with victims
of rape, to locations in Germany, Austria, Den-
mark, France, Croatia, Kosovo, and Serbia,
where thousands of victims of war crimes are
residing; and
(C) to urge the United Nations Secretary-
General to appoint, and the Security Council to
approve, not later than October 6, 1993, a
prosecutor for the International Tribunal in ac-
cordance with Article 16 of the Statute of the
International Tribunal, to aggressively continue
and expand upon such investigations and pros-
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ecute persons responsible for violations of inter-
national law in the former Yugoslavia in accord-
ance with Article 18 of such Statute;
(2) encourages the President to provide on tem-
porary assignment to the United Nations Commis-
sion of Experts or to the prosecutor of the Inter-
national Tribunal personnel of the United States
Government who have experience working with vic-
tims of rape and other heinous crimes for the pur-
pose of interviewing the victims of such crimes in
the former Yugoslavia and gathering legal evidence
relating to such crimes;
(3) requests the President to work with the
United Nations to establish a workable time sched-
ule which sets an aggressive calendar toward pursu-
ing prosecutions of persons responsible for violations
of international law in the former Yugoslavia; and
(4) calls on the United Nations Security Coun-
cil to withhold consideration of lifting the economic
sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(Serbia and Montenegro) under United Nations Se-
curity Resolution 757 (1992) until all indictments
against those persons ultimately responsible for vio-
lations of international law in the former Yugoslavia
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have been issued by the International Tribunal and
such persons have surrendered for trial.
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