Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Act of 2023

Bill: 118-s-2955
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]
Introduced: 2023-09-27
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2023-09-27
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-09-27
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Act of 2023</strong></p><p>This bill designates July 11 as National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide. The designation pays tribute to victims of violence related to Serbian military actions against the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s.<br/></p>

tv_txt: II 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2955 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES September 27 (legislative day, September 22), 2023 Mrs. Shaheen introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To designate July 11 as National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Act of 2023 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The United States and the European Community recognized the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state on April 7, 1992, and the United Nations admitted the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a member on May 22, 1992. (2) During a campaign of aggression throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995, Bosniaks comprised the great majority of victims of systematic campaigns of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide conducted by Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serb paramilitary forces with the support of the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. (3) The Senate passed Senate Resolution 134 in the 109th Congress expressing the sense of the Senate that, from April 1992 to November 1995, Serb forces committed aggression against the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and genocide against Bosniaks, with direct support from authorities in Serbia. (4) A primary objective of Bosnian Serb leadership, supported by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was to establish an ethnically homogenous Serb state within Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as Republika Srpska . (5) Serb forces, under the command of subsequently convicted war criminals Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, made a concerted effort to control the town of Srebrenica and surrounding areas, which had strategic importance to the Serb campaign to create a Republika Srpska state from the inviolable territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (6) Most of the population in Srebrenica was Bosniak, but attempts to erase Bosniaks from the national census impacted accurate reporting of and underestimated the number of Bosniaks in Srebrenica and surrounding areas and across Bosnia and Herzegovina. (7) Beginning in 1992, the humanitarian situation in Srebrenica and surrounding areas deteriorated, with Serb forces placing embargoes on food and critical supplies, which resulted in mass starvation and civilian deaths. (8) In 1993, the United Nations, pursuant to Security Council resolutions 819 and 824, designated the towns of Srebrenica, Sarajevo, Zepa, Gorazde, Tuzla, and Bihac, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as safe areas , but failed to demilitarize or protect the designated areas, including that of Srebrenica in 1995, despite the deployment of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) to Srebrenica. (9) Upon entering Srebrenica in July 1995, Serb forces deported Bosniak women and girls in buses after torturing and raping many of them, following a nearly yearlong siege and starvation of the town and surrounding areas. (10) Serb forces separated military-age men and boys from other civilians in Srebrenica. (11) In July 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were tortured and killed in and around the town of Srebrenica, including those men and boys that attempted to form a column and flee Srebrenica for safety but were attacked and killed by Serb forces. (12) The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted at Paris December 9, 1948, defines genocide as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, 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 physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group . (13) The Srebrenica genocide remains the biggest single event of mass extermination in Europe since the end of World War II. (14) The bodies of executed Bosniak men and boys were dumped into mass graves, which were subsequently dug up by Serb forces and moved to secondary or tertiary sites in an attempt to hide evidence of the genocide that was committed against Bosniaks. (15) Remains of some of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide are still being discovered in 2023. (16) In 1993, the United Nations established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia through Resolution 827, succeeded by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which investigated, prosecuted, and passed judgement on international crimes committed during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, including during the Bosnian War and the Srebrenica genocide. (17) In November 1995, the peace agreement known as the Dayton Accords was concluded by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia to end the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (18) The Dayton Accords resulted in the adoption of a new constitutional regime that created 2 entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (19) In a 1999 report on the fall of Srebrenica, the United Nations expressly recognized that the international community must accept its share of responsibility for failing to stop the Srebrenica genocide. (20) Serbia issued an apology for crimes committed by Serb forces during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at Srebrenica and surrounding areas, but did not recognize the mass murders in Srebrenica as genocide. (21) In 2004, the Government of the Republika Srpska entity issued an apology for crimes in Srebrenica and acknowledged the deaths of some, but not all, victims and did not recognize the mass murders in and around Srebrenica as genocide. (22) In 2015, the Russian Federation vetoed a resolution at the United Nations Security Council condemning the mass murders at Srebrenica as genocide. (23) Since the Dayton Accords were concluded, political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina such as Milorad Dodik have undermined regional stability by engaging in genocide denial and spreading false information about the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide that took place during the Bosnian War. (24) Some political leaders have declined to categorize the mass murders at Srebrenica as genocide and continue to engage in harmful ethno-nationalist dialogue. (25) In 2021, the High Representative, who oversees the civilian implementation of the Dayton Accords, outlawed genocide denial in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (26) The European Union Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR) oversees the military implementation of the Dayton Accords as a successor to the Stabilization Force, the NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force that was deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina following the Bosnian War. (27) The United States and the international community have made significant efforts to uphold peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and recognize the Srebrenica genocide, including by supporting the work of local, national, regional, and international nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that preserve the memory of the victims of the Srebrenica genocide. 3. National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide (a) In General Chapter 1 of title 36, United States Code, is amended— (1) by redesignating the second section designated as section 146 (relating to Choose Respect Day) as section 147; and (2) by adding at the end the following: 148. National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide (a) Designation July 11 is National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide. (b) Recognition All private citizens, organizations, and Federal, State, and local governmental and legislative entities are encouraged to recognize National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide through proclamations, activities, and educational efforts to— (1) pay tribute to the families of the more than 8,000 Bosniaks who were killed in July 1995, the Bosniak communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the diaspora; (2) condemn the genocide perpetrated in Srebrenica and surrounding areas and the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War; (3) encourage continued efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Southeast Europe, and the world to counter efforts to undermine respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to promote respect for all ethnic and religious groups; (4) acknowledge the role of the High Representative in promoting truth about the Srebrenica genocide and maintaining peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina; (5) condemn the denial of the Srebrenica genocide, which has been recognized as genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice, and condemns attempts to revise the history of the Bosnian War; (6) reaffirm support for the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional culture and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina as the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina pursue further Euro-Atlantic integration; (7) condemn inflammatory rhetoric, including that which is meant to destabilize Bosnia and Herzegovina and the broader region, stoke ethnic tensions, and promote social divisions related to denying the Srebrenica genocide; (8) call on the international community to continue to work toward the sustainable return of Bosniaks consistent with Annex 7 of the Dayton Accords throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and to Srebrenica, including by condemning ongoing violence and discrimination against, and attempts to disenfranchise, Bosniaks; (9) encourage continued political reconciliation in the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the judicial system, including through the strengthening of democratic institutions and educational institutions; (10) recognize that barriers to political or social reconciliation remain so long as national, regional, and international actors engage in genocide denial and ethno-nationalist rhetoric; and (11) further call on the international community to continue educating current and future generations on the Srebrenica genocide, to promote recognition of the Srebrenica genocide, and, within all the legal means provided by law and consistent with respect for human rights, to refute and deter those who continue to deny the facts of the Srebrenica genocide. . (b) Technical and conforming amendments The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 36, United States Code, is amended by striking the item relating to the second section 146 and inserting the following: 147. Choose Respect Day. 148. National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Srebrenica Genocide. .