[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 24, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7019-S7021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 105--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS 
 REGARDING THE CULPABILITY OF SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC FOR WAR CRIMES IN THE 
                           FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

  Mr. D'AMATO submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 105

         
       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 was 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 nearly 3,000,000 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 that he is 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 assaults by Yugoslavian 
     and Serbian military, security, special police, and other 
     forces on innocent civilians in Kosovo which have so far 
     resulted in an estimated 300 people dead or missing and the 
     forced displacement of tens of thousands, and such assaults 
     continue;
       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 60 people for 
     war crimes or crimes against humanity arising out of the 
     conflict in the former Yugoslavia and has issued a

[[Page S7020]]

     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, and the United States 
     has done so by providing, since 1992, funding in the amount 
     of $54,000,000 in assessed payments and more than $11,000,000 
     in voluntary and in-kind contributions to the Tribunal and 
     the War Crimes Commission which preceded it, and by supplying 
     information collected by the United States 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; and
       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: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) the United States should publicly declare that it 
     considers that there is probable cause to believe that 
     Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of 
     Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), has committed war crimes, 
     crimes against humanity and genocide;
       (2) the United States should make collection of information 
     that can be supplied to the Tribunal for use as evidence to 
     support an indictment and trial of President Slobodan 
     Milosevic for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and 
     genocide a high priority;
       (3) any such information concerning President Slobodan 
     Milosevic already collected by the United States should be 
     provided to the Tribunal as soon as possible;
       (4) 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;
       (5) the United States should engage with other members of 
     the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other interested 
     states in a discussion of information any such state may hold 
     relating to 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, and press such states to 
     promptly provide all such information to the Tribunal;
       (6) the United States should engage with other members of 
     the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 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;
       (7) 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 have had the effect of 
     genocide, of other crimes against humanity, or of war crimes, 
     with a view toward prompt issuance of a public indictment of 
     Milosevic; and
       (8) upon issuance of an indictment of President Slobodan 
     Milosevic for war crimes or crimes against humanity by the 
     Tribunal, the United States should adopt a policy of having 
     no dealings with President Milosevic at any level in any 
     context other than as a defendant before the Tribunal, and 
     should make every effort to support his immediate 
     apprehension.
       Sec. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy 
     of this resolution to the President.

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, today I submit a resolution that 
calls for President Slobodan Milosevic of the rump Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia to be indicted publicly by the International Criminal 
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (the War Crimes Tribunal), under its 
jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide 
committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia on or after January 
1, 1991. This step is long overdue.
  As early as December 1992, then-Secretary of State Lawrence 
Eagleburger publicly identified Milosevic as one of several individuals 
who could and should be held personally accountable for war crimes. I 
am confident that Secretary Eagleburger, in making this serious charge, 
was fully informed of the underlying facts that would form the basis of 
a prima facie case against Milosevic and which could be used to support 
his indictment.
  Still, there are some who have questioned whether a case against 
Milosevic can really be established. This issue was addressed in 
testimony before the Helsinki Commission in 1995 by Cherrif M. 
Bassiouni, who headed the U.N.'s Commission of Experts, the body first 
tasked with examining war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Professor 
Bassiouni's work set the stage for the establishment of the 
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
  Professor Bassiouni's Commission had exhumed numerous mass grave 
sites, interviewed thousands of victims of rape and torture, and 
examined overwhelming quantities of other evidentiary materials. Based 
on this far-reaching study of the first two years of the Yugoslav 
conflict, Professor Bassiouni stated:

       At first, many thought that this was a sort of haphazard 
     type of situation. We subsequently found that this was not 
     haphazard, particularly in Bosnia, as you know, but also 
     throughout most of the territory of the former Yugoslavia . . 
     . there is no doubt that, in a large territorial expanse, 
     over a significant period of time, the same patterns of 
     behavior occurred, and the same administrative organization 
     characterized the acts of ethnic cleansing--who did it, and 
     how it was done . . . Particularly interesting is the way 
     ethnic cleansing was done. It was done with plausible 
     deniability in mind.

  When Professor Bassiouni was explicitly questioned about the 
possibility of indicting Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic--Karadzic was 
also named by Eagleburger and has since been publicly indicted, not 
once but twice--Professor Bassiouni said ``It is unlikely that a number 
of similar incidents occurring over long periods of time, which were so 
well-publicized, could not have been known to the senior political 
leadership as well.'' Since then, the evidence against Milosevic has 
only mounted, particularly as cases have proceeded before the Tribunal 
in The Hague.
  In spite of the overwhelming evidence of war crimes in this conflict 
and the clear command responsibility of Milosvic for his agents, no 
public indictment against him has yet been issued. In fact, it has been 
suggested by some that Milosevic has been granted de facto immunity 
based on a misguided belief that he is necessary for the implementation 
of the Dayton Accords. Nothing could be further than the truth.
  Under Milosevic's leadership, the situation in Kosovo has 
deteriorated dramatically, demonstrating the same fact pattern that we 
have already seen in Bosnia: systematic attacks against civilians, 
reported that rape is once again being used as a form of warfare, and 
mass displacement of men, women and children. Milosevic is not part of 
the solution, he is part of the problem. Significantly, the War Crimes 
Tribunal has made it clear that, under its statute, it also has 
responsibility for the war crimes in Kosovo.
  Mr. President, we know that the War Crimes Tribunal has issued an 
unknown number of sealed indictments; in a few instances, the existence 
of these indictments have become public when the indictee has been 
arrested. Certainly, there are cases where it may facilitate the arrest 
of an individual if his indictment remains sealed. In the case of 
Milosevic, however, I can see no such benefits. Indeed, the failure to 
indict him publicly may have emboldened him in Kosovo. The time has 
come to indict Slobodan Milosevic for the atrocities that have been 
committed--and continue to be committed in Kosovo--under his leadership 
as head of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and to issue that 
indictment publicly.

  Accordingly, the resolution I am submitting today calls on the United 
States to collect and supply to the International Criminal Tribunal for 
the Former Yugoslavia, on a priority basis, evidence to support an 
indictment and trial of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes, crimes 
against humanity, and genocide; calls on the United States to provide a 
fair share of any

[[Page S7021]]

additional financial or personnel resources that may be required by the 
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, 
the Netherlands, 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 
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and any other person arising from 
the conflict in the Former Yugoslavia, including in Kosovo; calls on 
the United States to engage with our NATO allies and others in a 
discussion of measures to be taken to apprehend indicated war criminals 
and persons indicated 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 International Criminal Tribunal for 
the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, the Netherlands; calls on the 
United States to urge the International Criminal Tribunal for the 
Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, the Netherlands, to promptly review all 
information relating to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's 
possible criminal culpability for conceiving, directing, and sustaining 
a variety of actions in the Former Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, that 
have had the effect of genocide, of other crimes against humanity, or 
of war crimes, with a view toward prompt issuance of a public 
indictment of Milosevic; and calls upon the United States to adopt a 
policy of having no dealings with Milosevic at any level in any context 
other than as a defendant before the International Criminal Tribunal 
for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, the Netherlands and to make 
every effort to support his immediate apprehension.
  Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to join me in this sense of the 
Senate resolution, to demonstrate once again that we are not blind to 
the suffering that Milosevic continues to inflict on innocent people in 
the Balkans, for no reason other than to secure his own political 
power. By supporting and seeking prompt enactment of this resolution, 
we will show that Milosevic cannot act with impunity, that the world 
will hold him accountable, and that the United States is prepared to 
take a leadership role in obtaining justice for those killed, maimed, 
or injured as this man pursues his political ambitions.

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