[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 154 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 154

  Concerning the need for immediate investigation into violations of 
 international law in the former Yugoslavia and prosecution of persons 
                   responsible 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 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Concerning the need for immediate investigation into violations 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 Croatia, contributing to the largest refugee problem in Europe 
        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, ``ethnic 
        cleansing'' through forcible expulsion and deportation of civilians, and 
        torture of prisoners;
Whereas according to similar reports by the Department of State, the people of 
        Kosovo have been subjected to organized and premeditated crimes against 
        humanity, including willful killings, abuse of civilians in detention 
        centers, and ``ethnic cleansing'' through police harassment, abrogation 
        of civil rights (such as the right to vote, freedom of the press, and 
        freedom of assembly), and forcible expulsion of civilians;
Whereas ``inhumane acts'' are considered ``crimes against humanity'' under the 
        London Agreement that established the guidelines for the Nuremberg 
        Trials, and ``torture or inhumane treatment'' and ``willfully causing 
        great suffering 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 individual is a subject of international 
        law, and that ``international law imposes duties and liabilities upon 
        individuals 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 individually 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 and evidence on violations of international law that 
        have been committed in the former Yugoslavia since 1991;
Whereas since its establishment, the United Nations Commission of Experts has 
        been handicapped by a lack of financial and technical resources, 
        requiring it to struggle to obtain and record data with respect to such 
        violations;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 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 Tribunal 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 determination 
        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 reported 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 essential 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--
            (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 international law 
                that have been committed in the former Yugoslavia since 
                1991;
                    (B) to encourage the United Nations Commission 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 
                individuals who have experience working with victims of 
                rape, to locations in Germany, Austria, Denmark, 
                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 accordance with Article 16 of 
                the Statute of the International Tribunal, to 
                aggressively continue and expand upon such 
                investigations and prosecute persons responsible for 
                violations of international law in the former 
                Yugoslavia in accordance with Article 18 of such 
                Statute;
            (2) encourages the President to provide on temporary 
        assignment to the United Nations Commission of Experts or to 
        the prosecutor of the International Tribunal personnel of the 
        United States Government who have experience working with 
        victims of rape and other heinous crimes for the purpose 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 schedule which sets an aggressive 
        calendar toward pursuing prosecutions of persons responsible 
        for violations of international law in the former Yugoslavia; 
        and
            (4) calls on the United Nations Security Council to 
        withhold consideration of lifting the economic sanctions 
        against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and 
        Montenegro) under United Nations Security Resolution 757 (1992) 
        until all indictments against those persons ultimately 
        responsible for violations of international law in the former 
        Yugoslavia have been issued by the International Tribunal and 
        such persons have surrendered for trial.

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