H. Res. 310 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
July 8, 2015. 
Whereas July 2015 will mark 20 years since the genocide at 
Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina; 
Whereas beginning in April 1992, aggression and ethnic 
cleansing perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces resulted in 
a massive influx of Bosniaks seeking protection in 
Srebrenica and its environs, which the United Nations 
Security Council designated a ‘‘safe area’’ within the 
Srebrenica enclave in Resolution 819 on April 16, 1993, 
under the protection of the United Nations Protection 
Force (UNPROFOR); 
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 
Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) helping to provide 
humanitarian relief to the displaced population living in 
conditions of massive overcrowding, destitution, and dis-
ease; 
Whereas early in 1995, an intensified blockade of the enclave 
by Bosnian Serb forces deprived the entire population of 
humanitarian aid and outside communication and con-
tact, and effectively reduced the ability of the Dutch
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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, took control of the 
town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995; 
Whereas an estimated one-third of the population of 
Srebrenica at the time, including a relatively small num-
ber of soldiers, attempted to pass through the lines of 
Bosnian Serb forces to the relative safety of Bosnian-gov-
ernment controlled territory, but many were killed by pa-
trols and ambushes; 
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 
individuals were with seeming randomness seized by Bos-
nian Serb forces to be beaten, raped, or executed; 
Whereas Bosnian Serb forces deported women, children, and 
the elderly in buses, but held over 8,000 primarily 
Bosniak men and boys at collection points and sites in 
northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina under their con-
trol, and then summarily executed these captives and 
buried them in mass graves; 
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 eastern Bosnia and 
Herzegovina under their control; 
Whereas the International Commission for Missing Persons 
(ICMP) deserves recognition for its assistance to the rel-
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evant institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in account-
ing for close to 90 percent of those individuals reported 
missing from Srebrenica, despite active attempts to con-
ceal evidence of the massacre, through the careful exca-
vation of mass graves sites and subsequent DNA analysis 
which confirmed the true extent of the massacre; 
Whereas the massacre at Srebrenica was among the worst of 
many atrocities to occur in the conflict in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina from April 1992 to November 1995, during 
which the policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing pur-
sued by Bosnian Serb forces with the direct support of 
the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic and its fol-
lowers ultimately led to the displacement of more than 2 
million people, more than 100,000 killed, tens of thou-
sands raped or otherwise tortured and abused, including 
at concentration camps in the Prijedor area, with the in-
nocent civilians of Sarajevo and other urban centers re-
peatedly subjected to traumatic shelling and sniper at-
tacks; 
Whereas in addition to being the primary victims at 
Srebrenica, individuals with Bosniak heritage comprise 
the vast majority of the victims during the conflict in 
Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, especially among the 
civilian population; 
Whereas Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and 
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as 
‘‘any of the following acts committed with intent to de-
stroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or 
religious group, as such: (a) killing members of the 
group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to 
members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the 
group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
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physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing 
measures intended to prevent births within the group; 
and (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to an-
other group’’; 
Whereas, on May 25, 1993, the United Nations Security 
Council adopted Resolution 827 establishing the Inter-
national Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 
(ICTY), based in The Hague, the Netherlands, and 
charging the ICTY with responsibility for investigating 
and prosecuting individuals suspected of committing war 
crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and grave 
breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the territory 
of the former Yugoslavia since 1991; 
Whereas the ICTY, along with courts in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina as well as in Serbia, have indicted and in 
most cases convicted approximately three dozen individ-
uals at various levels of responsibility for grave breaches 
of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws 
or customs of war, crimes against humanity, genocide, 
and complicity in genocide associated with the massacre 
at Srebrenica, most notably Radovan Karadzic and Ratko 
Mladic whose trials are ongoing; 
Whereas both the ICTY and the International Court of Jus-
tice (ICJ) have ruled that the actions of Bosnian Serb 
forces in Srebrenica in July 1995 constitute genocide; 
Whereas House Resolution 199, passed on June 27, 2005, 
expressed the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the aggression and ethnic cleansing committed by Serb 
forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina meets the terms defin-
ing genocide according to the 1949 Genocide Convention;
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Whereas the United Nations has largely acknowledged its 
failure to fulfill its responsibility to take actions and 
make decisions that could have deterred the assault on 
Srebrenica and prevented the subsequent genocide from 
occurring; 
Whereas some prominent Serbian and Bosnian Serb officials, 
among others, have denied or at least refused to acknowl-
edge that the massacre at Srebrenica constituted a geno-
cide, or have sought otherwise to trivialize the extent and 
importance of the massacre; and 
Whereas the international community, including the United 
States, has continued to provide personnel and resources, 
including through direct military intervention, to prevent 
further aggression and ethnic cleansing, to negotiate the 
General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina (initialed in Dayton, Ohio, on November 21, 
1995, and signed in Paris on December 14, 1995), and 
to help ensure its fullest implementation, including co-
operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for 
the former Yugoslavia as well as reconciliation among all 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s citizens: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) affirms that the policies of aggression and eth-
nic cleansing as implemented by Serb forces in Bosnia 
and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 meet the terms de-
fining the crime of genocide in Article 2 of the Conven-
tion on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of 
Genocide;
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(2) condemns statements that deny or question that 
the massacre at Srebrenica constituted a genocide; 
(3) urges the Atrocities Prevention Board, a United 
States interagency committee established by the Admin-
istration in 2012, to study the lessons of Srebrenica and 
issue informed guidance on how to prevent similar inci-
dents from recurring in the future, paying particular re-
gard to troubled countries including but not limited to 
Syria, the Central African Republic, and Burundi; 
(4) encourages the United States to maintain and 
reaffirm its policy of supporting the independence and 
territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, peace 
and stability in southeastern Europe as a whole, and the 
right of all people living in the region, regardless of na-
tional, racial, ethnic, or religious background, to return 
to their homes and enjoy the benefits of democratic in-
stitutions, the rule of law, and economic opportunity, as 
well as to know the fate of missing relatives and friends; 
(5) recognizes the achievement of the International 
Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) in accounting 
for those missing in conflicts or natural disasters around 
the world and believes that the ICMP deserves justified 
recognition for its assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina 
and its relevant institutions in accounting for approxi-
mately 90 percent of those reported missing after the
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Srebrenica massacre and 70 percent of those reported 
missing during the whole of the conflict in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina; 
(6) welcomes the arrest and transfer to the Inter-
national Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 
(ICTY) of all persons indicted for war crimes, crimes 
against humanity, genocide, and grave breaches of the 
1949 Geneva Conventions, particularly those of Radovan 
Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, which has helped strengthen 
peace and encouraged reconciliation between the coun-
tries of the region and their citizens; 
(7) asserts that it is in the national interest of the 
United States that those individuals who are responsible 
for these crimes and breaches should continue to be held 
accountable for their actions, and that the work of the 
ICTY therefore warrants continued support until all 
trials and appeals have been completed; and 
(8) honors the thousands of innocent people killed 
or executed at Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 
July 1995, along with all individuals who were victimized 
during the conflict and genocide in Bosnia and 
Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, as well as foreign na-
tionals, including United States citizens, and those indi-
viduals in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other 
countries of the region who risked and in some cases lost
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their lives during their brave defense of human rights 
and fundamental freedoms, and advocacy of respect for 
ethnic identity without discrimination. 
Attest: 
Clerk.