119-hconres26

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 26 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. CON. RES. 26

Calling for the end of impunity of unpunished Serbian sexual war crimes 
 during the 1999 Kosovo war in the case of United States citizen and 
sexual war crime survivor Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman and other survivors 
 of sexual and gender-based violence.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 April 10, 2025

Ms. Johnson of Texas (for herself, Mr. Torres of New York, Mr. Veasey, 
 Mr. Latimer, Ms. Omar, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, and Mr. Self) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

 CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Calling for the end of impunity of unpunished Serbian sexual war crimes 
 during the 1999 Kosovo war in the case of United States citizen and 
sexual war crime survivor Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman and other survivors 
 of sexual and gender-based violence.

Whereas Vasfije Krasniqi was 16 years old during the 1999 Kosovo war and living 
 in Stanofc i Poshtem, Kosovo, then under the control of the Republic of 
 Serbia, which was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and led by 
 President Slobodan Milosevic;
Whereas, on April 14, 1999, a Serbian police officer entered Ms. Krasniqi's 
 family home in Stanofc i Poshtem, Kosovo, looking for all male 
 occupants, and ordered Ms. Krasniqi to go to the police station to give 
 a statement about her father and brothers, who were not present;
Whereas the Serbian police officer threatened to shoot everyone present, 
 including Ms. Krasniqi and her mother, before forcibly removing Ms. 
 Krasniqi from the house and taking her to a Serbian village nearby;
Whereas the Serbian police officer forced Ms. Krasniqi into an empty house off 
 the main road and threw her onto dried corn stacks before taking her to 
 his car, where he started raping her despite her yelling and screams for 
 him to stop;
Whereas Ms. Krasniqi was held at gunpoint and raped repeatedly before losing 
 consciousness;
Whereas, once Ms. Krasniqi regained consciousness, she begged the Serbian police 
 officer to kill her, and the Serbian police officer responded by saying, 
 ``No, I won't because you will suffer more this way'', and threatened to 
 take her to an area full of Serbian forces where more people would rape 
 her;
Whereas the Serbian police officer later went into a local store in the same 
 village, from where an older, crippled Serbian man emerged and forced 
 Ms. Krasniqi out of the car and took her to an unfinished house where he 
 raped her;
Whereas, a few hours later, Ms. Krasniqi was taken back to her village where she 
 was left out on the street and told not to tell anyone about what had 
 transpired;
Whereas Ms. Krasniqi did not want to go home having to explain to anyone what 
 had happened to her, but instead walked through the village cemetery and 
 hoped that her life would come to an end then and there;
Whereas, upon arriving at her uncle's house hours after the assault, Ms. 
 Krasniqi did not have to say a word, as everyone knew what had happened, 
 witnessing her scratches, bruises, cuts, and torn clothes;
Whereas Ms. Krasniqi reported her case to the Kosovo Liberation Army

    (KLA) the 
 day after she was raped on April 15, 1999;
Whereas, in March 1999, with the support of the United States, NATO began a 78-
 day air campaign against Serbian forces in Kosovo after efforts to 
 negotiate an end to the Kosovo war collapsed, leading to Serbia's 
 agreement to cease all military activity in Kosovo and to facilitate the 
 withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, and the deployment of a NATO-
 led Kosovo Force

    (KFOR) ;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council then passed Resolution 1244 on June 
 10, 1999, which established the United Nations Interim Administration 
 Mission in Kosovo

    (UNMIK) as a temporary government until Kosovo's own 
 institutions had developed and demonstrated the capacity to self-govern, 
 which included various powers, such as the authority to administer 
 justice in Kosovo and the ability to investigate and prosecute serious 
 crimes committed during the war;
Whereas Ms. Krasniqi reported her case to UNMIK on September 10, 1999, with no 
 outcome, as well as to the French KFOR on April 21, 2004, but inaction 
 of both these bodies caused additional difficulties and delays in her 
 case;
Whereas Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008, and has since 
 received the recognition of over 100 states, including the United States 
 and 23 of the 28 European Union member states, though Serbia still 
 rejects such claim;
Whereas the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo

    (EULEX) was launched in 
 2008 as a civilian mission to support rule-of-law institutions, 
 accountability, and compliance with international human rights standards 
 in Kosovo within the framework of United Nations Security Council 
 Resolution 1244, as well as to support the Specialist Chambers and 
 Specialist Prosecutor's Office in line with relevant Kosovo legislation;
Whereas Ms. Krasniqi moved to the United States in 2001, naturalized as a 
 citizen in 2006, and now lives in Rowlett, Texas, with her husband and 
 two children, each of whom are also United States citizens, and she has 
 also taken the last name Goodman;
Whereas Ms. Krasniqi Goodman reported her case to EULEX authorities and gave 
 five interviews from August 2010 to July 2012, and witnesses gave 
 several testimonies from February 2011 to August 2012;
Whereas, on November 12, 2012, the Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of 
 Kosovo

    (SPRK) filed the indictment PPS nr. 89/2012 against the 
 perpetrators Jovica Dejanovic (DOB 09/11/1954), the Serbian police 
 officer, and Djordje Bojkovic (DOB 11/13/1940), the older and crippled 
 Serbian man, with the then-District Court of Mitrovica, which was 
 amended on November 30, 2012;
Whereas the main trial was held between April 4 to 15, 2013, and on April 17, 
 2013, the Basic Court of Mitrovica announced the judgment that both 
 perpetrators were acquitted of the charge of war crime against the 
 civilian population

    (rape) , punishable under Articles 22 and 142 CC 
 SFRY;
Whereas, on October 31, 2013, the SPRK Prosecutors submitted a joint appeal 
 proposing that the judgment of the first instance court be modified and 
 Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic be convicted of the criminal 
 offense of war crime against civilian population, or in the alternative, 
 to return the case to the court of first instance for a retrial;
Whereas the Appellate Public Prosecutor moved the Court of Appeals to grant the 
 appeal of the Special Prosecutors, and the Court of Appeals rendered its 
 judgment on May 27, 2014, and found both Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje 
 Bojkovic guilty and convicted them of the war crime against civilians 
 under Article 142 CC SFRY (now Article 153 CCRK), sentencing them to 12 
 years and 10 years of imprisonment, respectively;
Whereas, on July 2014, Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic filed their appeals 
 against the judgment of the Court of Appeals PaKr 503/13 dated May 27, 
 2014, and the Supreme Court of Kosovo rendered a ruling for the 
 immediate release of Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic from the 
 detention on remand;
Whereas Jovica Dejanovic and Djordje Bojkovic were released, and nobody has been 
 held responsible for the sexual war crimes committed against Vasfije 
 Krasniqi Goodman;
Whereas all prior mechanisms for pursuing accountability for war crimes in 
 Kosovo have fallen short in bringing perpetrators of sexual violence to 
 justice, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former 
 Yugoslavia, UNMIK, EULEX, and the Kosovo judicial system;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
            (CDC) reports that 
 approximately 20,000 individuals were the victims of conflict-related 
 sexual violence during the Kosovo war, and Human Rights Watch reports 
 that rape was used as a weapon of war and instrument of ethnic cleansing 
 by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war;
Whereas 20 years later and after approximately 20,000 individuals raped, there 
 has only been one perpetrator brought to justice, Zoran Vukotic, by the 
 Prishtina Basic Court on July 5, 2021;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820 was unanimously 
 adopted on June 19, 2008, condemning the use of sexual violence as a 
 tool of war, and declared that ``rape and other forms of sexual violence 
 can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act 
 with respect to genocide'';
Whereas the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2467 was adopted on April 
 23, 2019, ``recalling the responsibilities of States to end impunity and 
 to prosecute those responsible for crimes of genocide, crimes against 
 humanity, and war crimes, perpetrated against civilians'';
Whereas Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman testified before the Committee on Foreign 
 Affairs of the House of Representatives on April 30, 2019, in a hearing 
 titled ``Kosovo's Wartime Victims: The Quest for Justice'', testifying 
 for justice on behalf of her case and the 20,000 individuals raped 
 during the Kosovo war;
Whereas the Republic of Kosovo marked for the first time on April 14, 2023, the 
 Day of Survivors of Sexual Violence During the War in Kosovo that 
 coincides with the date Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman was abducted by Serbian 
 police and subsequently sexually assaulted; and
Whereas the United States recognizes that preventing and responding to gender-
 based violence around the world is not only a matter of human rights, 
 justice, equity, and equality, but is also a moral imperative and the 
 strategic national interest of the United States and its global 
 partners: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That Congress--

    (1) finds it reprehensible that no individuals have been 
 found guilty for the sexual war crimes against Ms. Krasniqi 
 Goodman;

    (2) strongly condemns the use of rape and other forms of 
 sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon of war;

    (3) underscores the importance of transparent, accountable, 
 and independent investigations into gender-based war crimes and 
 atrocities;

    (4) commends the Government of the Republic of Kosovo for 
 taking a tangible and multisectoral approach to address the 
 sexual violence during the war in the country;

    (5) calls on the Government of the Republic of Kosovo to 
 uphold commitments expressed and agreed to in the ``Protocol 
 for the Treatment of Sexual Violence Cases in Kosovo'', and 
 prioritize and expedite cases of rape and sexual assault from 
 the 1999 Kosovo War;

    (6) calls on the Government of the Republic of Serbia to--
        (A) bring individuals who are responsible for the 
 sexual war crimes on April 14, 1999, of United States 
 citizen Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman in Kosovo before 
 justice pursuant to United Nations Security Council 
 Resolutions 1820 and 2467;
        (B) cease the protection and glorification of any 
 individuals who were involved in war crimes during the 
 Kosovo conflict and make it a priority to investigate 
 and prosecute any such individuals;
            (C) enforce laws to ensure that known perpetrators 
 of sexual gender-based violence are held accountable 
 and are brought before justice; and
            (D) prioritize the creation and sustainment of 
 appropriate tracking and investigative mechanisms to 
 extradite known perpetrators and convicted offenders of 
 sexual gender-based violence during the Kosovo war in 
 1999 to Kosovo to be brought to justice according to 
 all conventions; and

    (7) calls on the United States Government to--
        (A) uphold and strengthen its commitments to 
 counter and prevent the practice of gender-based 
 violence;
        (B) elevate the case of Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman in 
 future bilateral engagements with the Government of 
 Serbia, especially in terms of accountability for war 
 crimes committed against women and youth;
            (C) identify the specific factors that increase the 
 risks of gender-based violence and undermine access to 
 services and safety;
            (D) monitor efforts by the Government of Serbia and 
 its relevant ministries and offices to investigate and 
 prosecute cases of sexual violence during the Kosovo 
 war; and
        (E) devote sufficient funding to implement a 
 variety of educational, research, and advocacy projects 
 in Kosovo, including the training of judiciary and law 
 enforcement, as well as funding for a rehabilitation 
 center focusing on physical and psychological 
 rehabilitation from war trauma and sexual and domestic 
 violence, and vocational training and job integrating 
 opportunities.
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