European Parliament resolution on Srebrenica
Date: 2005-07-07
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: European integration, International Criminal Tribunal, Western Balkans, common foreign and security policy, crime against humanity, economic reconstruction, peaceful co-existence, peacekeeping, war crime

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Is in particular appalled by the recent sentencing to long terms of forced labour of Mikola Statkevič,
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the chairman of the Belarussian Social Democratic Party (‘Narodnaja Hramada’), Paval Seviarynec, one of the
Young Front leaders, and Andrei Klimau, a businessman and member of the 13th Supreme Soviet;

Calls on the Belarussian authorities to stop the expulsion of young democrats from universities and
12.
higher-education establishments, and declares its full support for those students who were expelled from
such establishments for promoting democratic values and defending human rights and who went on hunger
strike on 25 May 2005;

13. Welcomes the inauguration of the European Humanities University for Belarussian students in exile
in Vilnius, and calls on the Commission and Member States to assist the that University in the pursuit of its
teaching and research programmes;

Calls on the Member States to recognise the degrees awarded by the European Humanities University
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by way of confirmation of a high level of competence and outstanding academic skills, and calls on Euro-
pean universities to enter into a closer cooperation with it;

Emphasises once again that the further development of EU relations with Belarus will also continue
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to depend on the progress made towards democratisation and reform in the country and access for Bela-
russians to objective, free and transparent media;

Calls on the Council and the Commission to raise the issue of Belarus with the Russian authorities so

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as to define common action to bring about concrete democratic changes in that country;

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Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the parliaments and
governments of the Member States, and the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE and the Council of
Europe.

P6_TA(2005)0296

The Balkans: 10 years after Srebrenica

European Parliament resolution on Srebrenica

The European Parliament,

— having regard to its previous resolutions on Bosnia-Herzegovina and the western Balkans, in particular

that on the state of regional integration in the western Balkans adopted on 14 April 2005 (1),

— having regard to the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) for the countries of the western
justice, reconciliation

Balkans initiated by the EU in 1999 in an effort to promote democratisation,
and peace in the region,

— having regard to the declaration of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki of 21 June 2003
highlighting the European perspective of the western Balkan countries, which will become an integral
part of the EU once they meet the established criteria,

— having regard to the conclusions of the last European Council held in Brussels on 16 and 17 June 2005

reaffirming its commitment to full implementation of the Thessaloniki agenda,

— having regard to UN Security Council Resolutions 827 of 25 May 1993, 1244 of 10 June 1999, 1551

of 9 July 2004 and 1575 of 22 November 2004,

— having regard to the report by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the

Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla del Ponte, to the UN Security Council on 13 June 2005,

— having regard to Rule 103(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0131.

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A. whereas, on 11 July 1995, the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, which was proclaimed a safe area by
the UN Security Council resolution of 16 April 1993, fell to the Bosnian Serb forces led by General
Ratko Mladic and under the direction of the then president of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadzic,

B. whereas, during several days of carnage after the fall of Srebrenica, more than 8 000 Muslim men and
boys, who had sought safety in this area under the protection of the United Nations Protection Force
(Unprofor), were summarily executed by Bosnian Serb forces commanded by General Mladic and by
paramilitary units, including Serbian irregular police units which had entered Bosnian territory from
Serbia,

C. whereas this tragedy, declared an act of genocide by the ICTY, took place in a UN-proclaimed safe
haven, and therefore stands as a symbol of the impotence of the international community to intervene
in the conflict and protect the innocent,

D. having regard to the multiple violations of the Geneva Convention perpetrated by Bosnian Serb troops
including deportations of thousands of women, children and

against Srebrenica's Muslim civilians,
elderly and the rape of a large number of women,

E. whereas in spite of the enormous efforts made to date to discover and exhume mass and individual
graves and identify the bodies of the victims, the searches conducted until now do not offer a complete
reconstruction of the events in and around Srebrenica,

F. whereas there cannot be real peace without justice, and full and unrestricted cooperation with the ICTY
remains a basic requirement for further continuation of the process of integration into the EU for the
countries of the Western Balkans,

G. whereas General Radislav Krstic of the Bosnian Serb army is the first person found guilty by the ICTY
of aiding and abetting the Srebrenica genocide, but the two most prominently indicted persons, Ratko
Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, are still at large ten years after the tragic events,

H. whereas the shortfalls in the EU decision-making mechanisms and the lack of a genuine common

foreign and security policy also played a negative role in the determination of the events,

I. whereas the EU budgetary allocations for relations with the western Balkans have been constantly and
significantly reduced every year since 2002; whereas the region must be allocated adequate funding to
take into account the gradual shift from physical reconstruction to institution-building and pre-acces-
sion assistance, as well as its strategic importance to the EU,

J. whereas Bosnia-Herzegovina has moved its negotiating table from Dayton to Brussels, and the project

of an EU future enjoys great popular support in the country,

1.
Condemns in the strongest possible terms the Srebrenica massacre; commemorates and honours the
victims of the atrocities; expresses its condolences to and solidarity with the families of the victims, many of
whom are living without final confirmation of the fate of their fathers, sons, husbands or brothers; recog-
nises that this continuing pain is aggravated by the failure to bring those responsible for these acts to justice;

Calls on the Council and Commission to pay adequate remembrance to the tenth anniversary of the
2.
Srebrenica-Potocari act of genocide, stressing that this unbearable shame in Europe should be considered
forever the last massacre carried out in the name of ethnic ideology; states that it will do everything in its
power to prevent such acts of monstrous barbarism from happening in Europe ever again;

3.
Expresses its deepest concern that Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are still at large in the region,
and calls on the Republika Srpska and on Serbia-Montenegro to take urgent action in order to locate
Karadzic and Mladic and bring them to justice; considers the apparent popular support enjoyed by Karadzic
and Mladic in some parts of the region to be an insult to the memory of the victims and a major obstacle
to reconciliation;

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4.
Expresses its wholehearted support for the valuable and difficult work of the ICTY, and reiterates that
full cooperation with the Tribunal is a precondition for closer cooperation with the EU; emphasises that all
countries in the region should meet their obligations to cooperate fully with the ICTY at all times; regards
the capture, transfer and condemnation of those guilty of war crimes as a minimum act of recognition for
the thousands of war crimes victims in Srebrenica and elsewhere;

5.
Stresses the importance of securing peace and stability in the western Balkans and the role that full
implementation of the Thessaloniki agenda plays in achieving the objectives of the stabilisation and associ-
ation process; emphasises that full and unrestricted cooperation with the ICTY remains an essential require-
ment for further continuation of the process of integration with the EU;

6.
Recalls that the UN peacekeeping mandate and force failed to protect the assigned safe areas; calls on
the UN and the relevant international institutions to put into practice the lessons learned from this failure
and to be truly prepared for future peacekeeping missions;

7.
Is deeply disturbed and shocked by the video footage recently released at The Hague tribunal and aired
on channels across the world, depicting the cold-blooded execution of six prisoners in civilian clothing and
presenting irrefutable evidence of what actually took place; stresses the fact that this footage clearly shows
the notorious ‘Scorpions Unit’, a Serb paramilitary group associated with the national army and police,
cravenly murdering civilians near Srebrenica;

8. Welcomes the reaction of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to the release of the video footage,
resulting in the arrest of the former members of the ‘Scorpions Unit’ identified in the video; supports the
decision of the Serbian President, Boris Tadic, and the President of Serbia-Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, to
pay respect at the Potocari memorial on the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre;

9.
Regrets deeply that the Serbian Parliament failed to adopt a draft resolution recognising and formally
condemning the Srebrenica massacre and giving a sign of willingness to cope with the past and contribute
to reconciliation and the peaceful resolution of the problems of the region;

10.
Expresses its sincere preoccupation in regard to the still considerable part of Serbian public opinion
which does not recognise war crimes against Muslim civilians; strongly encourages the Serbian Government
to take action to confront the nation with its past and curb the hero-worship of indicted war criminals;
recognises the airing of the recent Srebrenica video footage on the evening news by Serbian television
channels to be a first step in this direction, but emphasises that much more needs to be done to trump
the historical distortions that are held as truth by the population;

Supports the call made by Lord Ashdown, the High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the
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Bosnian Serb ministers to specify the number of troops and identify all individuals from outside Bosnia
involved in the video footage;

Praises the work and the commitment of all those who during these years have never stopped
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searching for the truth, and calls on the Council, the Commission and the Member States to provide them
with the necessary means to continue their work, inter alia, by helping speed up the very costly process of
identifying the victims;

Regrets the fact that the conditions for the return of refugees and internally displaced people to the

13.
region have still to be fully met;

Stresses that the European integration perspective offered to all the countries of the Balkans and the
14.
Stabilisation and Association Process should form the catalyst for a domestic drive for reforms and demo-
cratic consolidation and should assist all countries in the region in developing a common understanding of
their tragic past and creating a basis for a better future; emphasises that this future depends to a very large
extent on the countries of the region themselves;

15.
Reaffirms the commitment of the European Union to assisting the applicant and potential applicant
countries of the Balkans in their preparation for membership, and calls for adequate instruments and fund-
ing in this regard during the next financial perspective that match the ambitions of the Union and the
legitimate expectations of the countries of the region;

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16.
Notes that the Dayton agreement has been an important instrument for bringing peace to the region
but is aware that Dayton is no longer an appropriate framework also with respect to future integration with
the EU; urges the Council and all parties concerned, therefore, to support initiatives aimed at adapting the
agreement by consensus; stresses that the citizens of all the country's entities and ethnicities must assume
their responsibility in order to reach a new constitutional settlement and create a viable state for all;

Expresses its serious concern at the economic and social situation; stresses that the solution to this
17.
crucial
issue is the key to stable development in the region; calls on the governments and the EU to
recognise that economic and social development is the top priority for the peoples of the region and to
act accordingly; underlines the importance of enhancing regional and crossborder cooperation and recon-
ciliation between the peoples of the western Balkan countries as well as with their neighbours;

18.
Stresses the importance of policies of reconciliation, and emphasises the important role of the relig-
ious authorities, the media and the educational systems in this difficult process, so that civilians of all
ethnicities may overcome the tensions of the past and begin a peaceful and sincere coexistence fit for endur-
ing stability and economic growth; in this respect asks for consideration to be given to establishing a truth
and reconciliation commission in Bosnia-Herzegovina;

Stresses that the lessons learned from Srebrenica and the wars in former Yugoslavia must serve as the

19.
basis for a strengthening of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy;

20.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission, the governments of
the Member States, the Government and Parliament of Bosnia-Herzegovina and its entities, and the govern-
ments and parliaments of the countries of the western Balkans.

P6_TA(2005)0297

Relations between the EU, China and Taiwan and security in the Far East

European Parliament resolution on relations between the EU, China and Taiwan and security in the
Far East

The European Parliament,

— having regard to its resolution of 14 April 2005 on the annual report from the Council to the Euro-
pean Parliament on the main aspects and basic choices of CFSP, including the financial implications for
the general budget of the European Communities — 2003 (1),

— having regard to its resolution of 28 April 2005 on the Annual Report on Human Rights in the World

2004 and the EU's policy on the matter (2),

— having regard to the Commission Communication on ‘Europe and Asia: A Strategic Framework for

Enhanced Partnerships’ (COM(2001)0469),

— having regard to its resolution of 13 April 2000 on Taiwan (3),

— having regard to Rule 103(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas relations between China and Taiwan are continuing to deteriorate owing to recent threats by
China against Taiwan and the ongoing stationing of hundreds of missiles in the southern provinces of
China facing Taiwan,

B. whereas tensions have arisen in relations between Japan and China, caused by Chinese riots against

Japanese interests and calls to boycott Japanese products,

(1) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0132.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2005)0150.
(3) OJ C 40, 7.2.2001, p. 428.