The Congress of North American Bosniaks (www.bosniak.org) is very pleased to announce that on June 27, 2005, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution (H. Res. 199 sponsored by Congressman Christopher Smith and Congressman Benjamin Cardin)
commemorating the 10 year anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. The resolution was passed with overwhelming majority of 370 – YES votes, 1 – NO vote, and 62 – ABSENT.

The resolution is a bipartisan measure commemorating July 11, 1995-2005, the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in which almost 8,000 men and boys were meticulously and methodically separated from their daughters, mothers, sisters and wives and then killed by Serb
forces, buried in mass graves and then re-interred in secondary graves to cover up the crimes. Srebrenica fell to invading Serb forces on July 11, 1995 which at the time had been declared a UN "safe area" under the protection of the international community. The Srebrenica massacre was the
worst genocidal atrocity in Europe since World War II.

The resolution states that "the policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing as implemented by Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 and 1995 meet the terms defining the crime of genocide in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, created in Paris on December 9, 1948, and entered into force on January 12, 1951."

Bellow are excerpts from Congressman Smith’s statement on the floor of the House:

“Mr. Speaker, I want to stress that the resolution notes the direct support that came from the
Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic and its followers. This is no small circle of Milosevic
henchmen, as some in Belgrade have claimed. We are referring to an entire regime, albeit an
undemocratic one, and not just a few individuals in positions of authority. Moreover, followers of
the regime existed in the military, the police and other state institutions, and when it appeared that
he was succeeding in a conflict against neighboring peoples, Milosevic actually garnered popular
support…

…As we consider this resolution, I want to thank those who have worked hard to craft the text that
meets various concerns and reflects the realities of Srebrenica as we know them. In particular, I
want to thank the Congress of North American Bosniaks and its members for stressing the need for
the United States Congress to address this issue at this time, not only for their sake but for the sake
of humanity.

…When I look at this definition, Mr. Speaker, and then hear what happened in Srebrenica 10 years
ago, I, and I know others, can only agree with the Appeals Chamber at the International Criminal
Tribal for the former Yugoslavia, which confirmed in April 2004 that the crime of summarily
executing almost 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica alone meets the legal definition of genocide.
The court got it right, Mr. Speaker. This resolution gets it right.”

The Congress of North American Bosniaks would like to thank all the Representatives and their staffers for their hard work regarding this resolution. Special gratitude goes to the Bosniak and Bosnian-Americans, and to all friends of Bosnia who took the time to support this resolution.