[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 118 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 118

   Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the culpability of 
    Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
       genocide in the former Yugoslavia, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 25, 1999

  Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Gilman, Mr. 
     Porter, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Greenwood, Ms. 
 Slaughter, Mr. King, Mr. Engel, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Hefley, 
   Mrs. Maloney of New York, and Mr. Olver) submitted the following 
     concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the culpability of 
    Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
       genocide in the former Yugoslavia, and for other purposes.

Whereas there is reason to mark the beginning of the conflict in the former 
        Yugoslavia with Slobodan Milosevic's rise to power beginning in 1987, 
        when he whipped up and exploited extreme nationalism among Serbs, and 
        specifically in Kosovo, including support for violence against non-Serbs 
        who were labeled as threats;
Whereas there is reason to believe that as President of Serbia, Slobodan 
        Milosevic has been responsible for the conception and direction of a war 
        of aggression, the deaths of hundreds of thousands, the torture and rape 
        of tens of thousands and the forced displacement of as many as 4,000,000 
        people, and that mass rape and forced impregnation were among the tools 
        used to wage this war;
Whereas ``ethnic cleansing'' has been carried out in the former Yugoslavia in 
        such a consistent and systematic way that it had to be directed by the 
        senior political leadership in Serbia, and Slobodan Milosevic has held 
        such power within Serbia and is therefore responsible for the conception 
        and direction of this policy;
Whereas, as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and 
        Montenegro), Slobodan Milosevic is responsible for the conception and 
        direction of the massive assaults by Yugoslavian and Serbian military, 
        security, special police, and other forces on innocent civilians in 
        Kosovo;
Whereas this assault on the people of Kosovo includes forced expulsions, looting 
        and burning, detentions, summary executions, rape, violations of medical 
        neutrality and the destruction of personal documents and registration 
        records, all with a high degree of premeditation and persistence;
Whereas the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
        defines ``genocide'' as ``any of the following acts committed with the 
        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'';
Whereas on May 25, 1993, United Nations Security Council Resolution 827 created 
        the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia located in 
        The Hague, the Netherlands (hereafter in this resolution referred to as 
        the ``Tribunal''), and gave it jurisdiction over all crimes arising out 
        of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia;
Whereas this Tribunal has publicly indicted 66 people for war crimes or crimes 
        against humanity or genocide arising out of the conflict in the former 
        Yugoslavia, and has issued a number of secret indictments that have only 
        been made public upon the apprehension of the indicted persons;
Whereas it is incumbent upon the United States and all other nations to support 
        the Tribunal by providing adequate funding and in-kind contributions, 
        and by supplying information that can aid the Tribunal's investigations, 
        prosecutions, and adjudications;
Whereas any lasting, peaceful solution to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia 
        must be based upon justice for all, including the most senior officials 
        of the government or governments responsible for conceiving, organizing, 
        initiating, directing, and sustaining the Yugoslav conflict and whose 
        forces have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide;
Whereas Slobodan Milosevic has been the single person who has been in the 
        highest government offices in an aggressor state since before the 
        inception of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, who has had the 
        power to decide for peace and instead decided for war, who has had the 
        power to minimize illegal actions by subordinates and allies and hold 
        responsible those who committed such actions, but did not, and who is 
        once again directing a campaign of ethnic cleansing against innocent 
        civilians in Kosovo while treating with contempt international efforts 
        to achieve a fair and peaceful settlement to the question of the future 
        status of Kosovo, and who permits other persons indicted by the Tribunal 
        to be protected from apprehension and to commit further crimes;
Whereas the 105th Congress adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 105 regarding 
        the culpability of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against 
        humanity, and genocide in the former Yugoslavia;
Whereas there remain concerns that, in order to reach a political settlement 
        regarding Kosovo, the United States and the international community 
        might not be fully providing information which can be used as evidence 
        of the culpability of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against 
        humanity, and genocide; and
Whereas the withholding of information which can be used as evidence to indict 
        and prosecute a person responsible for such crimes is morally 
        reprehensible: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the United States should publicly declare that it 
        considers the assault on the people of Kosovo to meet the 
        definition of genocide as defined by the Convention on the 
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
            (2) the United States should publicly declare that it 
        considers that there is reason to believe that Slobodan 
        Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
        (Serbia and Montenegro), has committed war crimes, crimes 
        against humanity, and genocide;
            (3) the United States should make collection of information 
        that can be supplied to the International Criminal Tribunal for 
        the former Yugoslavia for use as evidence to support an 
        indictment and trial of President Slobodan Milosevic for war 
        crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide a higher 
        priority;
            (4) any such information concerning President Slobodan 
        Milosevic already collected by the United States should be 
        provided to the Tribunal as soon as possible;
            (5) the United States should provide a fair share of any 
        additional financial or personnel resources that may be 
        required by the Tribunal in order to enable the Tribunal to 
        adequately address preparation for, indictment of, prosecution 
        of, and adjudication of allegations of war crimes and crimes 
        against humanity posed against President Slobodan Milosevic and 
        any other person arising from the conflict in the former 
        Yugoslavia, including in Kosovo;
            (6) the United States should engage with other member 
        states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and 
        other interested states in a discussion of information any such 
        state may hold relating to allegations of war crimes and crimes 
        against humanity or genocide posed against President Slobodan 
        Milosevic and any other person arising from the conflict in the 
        former Yugoslavia, including in Kosovo, and press such states 
        to promptly provide all such information to the Tribunal;
            (7) the United States should engage with other member 
        states of NATO and other interested states in a discussion of 
        measures to be taken to apprehend indicted war criminals and 
        persons indicted for crimes against humanity with the objective 
        of concluding a plan of action that will result in these 
        indictees' prompt delivery into the custody of the Tribunal; 
        and
            (8) the United States should urge the Tribunal to promptly 
        review all information relating to President Slobodan 
        Milosevic's possible criminal culpability for conceiving, 
        directing, and sustaining a variety of actions in the former 
        Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, that constitute genocide, crimes 
        against humanity, or war crimes, with a view toward prompt 
        issuance of a public indictment of Milosevic.
                                 <all>