[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2955 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2955
To designate July 11 as National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of
the Srebrenica Genocide.
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Act
of 2023''.
SEC. 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.
SEC. 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:
``Sec. 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.''.
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