[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 35 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 35

 Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning systematic rape in the 
    conflict in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslovia.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             January 26 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

Mr. Lautenberg (for himself, Mr. Dole, Ms. Murray, Mr. Durenberger, Mr. 
Kennedy, Mr. Leahy, Mr. D'Amato, Mr. Pressler, Mr. Reid, Mr. Campbell, 
  Mr. Pell, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Riegle, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Bradley, and Mr. 
 Sasser) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate concerning systematic rape in the 
    conflict in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslovia.

Whereas the State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1992 
        states that ``massive systematic rape, committed by Bosnian Serb 
        military units and prison guards was used as an extension of `ethnic 
        cleansing' to terrify the population'';
Whereas a report by a European Community investigative team estimates that 
        20,000 women have been raped since the onset of hostilities;
Whereas women are protected against ``any attack on their honour, in particular 
        against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault'' 
        under Article 27 of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of 
        Civilian Persons in Time of War, 1949, and are protected against 
        ``outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and 
        degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution, and any form of 
        indecent assault,'' under Article 4 of Protocol II Additional to the 
        Geneva Convention, 1977;
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 rape is a deplorable and illegal act of violence in the United States 
        and in every country in Europe;
Whereas systematic rape in the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been denounced 
        under United Nations Security Council Resolution 798 (1992) and by the 
        Council of Ministers of the European Community in its declaration of 
        December 11, 1992;
Whereas former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger denounced atrocities in 
        this conflict and named individuals that should stand trial in an 
        international court for ``crimes against humanity'';
Whereas on August 11, 1992, the Senate approved Senate Resolution 330, 
        expressing the sense of the Senate that the United Nations Security 
        Council should convene a tribunal to investigate allegations of war 
        crimes and crimes against humanity committed within the territory of the 
        former Yugoslavia and to accumulate evidence, to charge, and to prepare 
        the basis for trying individuals believed to have committed or to have 
        been responsible for such crimes; and
Whereas the United Nations Commission of Experts has been appointed to collect 
        information and evidence for the eventual establishment of an 
        international tribunal to prosecute war crimes under international law 
        that are committed in this conflict: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That (a) the Senate considers--
            (1) rape, whether individual or mass rape, to be an 
        unacceptable means of warfare; and
            (2) rape and forced pregnancy to be ``crimes against 
        humanity'' under international law, regardless of the ethnicity 
        or religion of the victims or the perpetrators, and considers 
        that such offenses should be so recognized in any international 
        tribunal to try perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war 
        crimes.
    (b) The Senate strongly condemns the systematic and widespread rape 
of women and girls in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
    (c) The Senate commends--
            (A) former Secretary of State Eagleburger for denouncing 
        ``crimes against humanity'' in the conflict in Bosnia-
        Herzegovina and for calling for an international crimes 
        tribunal to prosecute such crimes; and
            (B) the adoption of United Nations Security Council 
        Resolution 798 (1992) and the declaration of December 11, 1992, 
        of the Council of Ministers of the European Community, both of 
        which denounced the systematic rape of Moslem women in this 
        conflict.
    (d) It is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the President of the United States should--
                    (A) publicly condemn systematic rape in this 
                conflict,
                    (B) state that rape, whether individual or mass 
                rape, and forced pregnancy, as tactics of war, are 
                crimes against humanity and war crimes, and
                    (C) vigorously support the establishment by the 
                United Nations of an international tribunal to 
                prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes;
            (2) the President of the United States should publicly 
        declare that the United States will offer no safe haven to war 
        criminals;
            (3) all countries and organizations participating in 
        humanitarian relief efforts in the former Socialist Federal 
        Republic of Yugoslavia should allocate resources for the 
        treatment of rape victims, including the training of relief 
        workers in the medical and psychological effects of rape;
            (4) all parties to the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina 
        should immediately take steps to protect the rights of women 
        and girls as recognized in the Geneva Conventions and, 
        specifically, to protect them from rape, forced pregnancy, and 
        the infliction of other indignities; and
            (5) the President of the United States should urge the 
        United Nations to provide adequate funding for the United 
        Nations Commission of Experts and an international tribunal for 
        the full investigation and prosecution of rape.
    Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this 
resolution to the President of the United States and the Secretary 
General of the United Nations.

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