FINAL BILL REPORT

                 HJM 4005

                    As Passed Legislature

Brief Description:  Asking the White House to condemn rape and ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and create a war crimes tribunal.

By Representatives Basich, Linville, Kessler, Riley, Romero, Orr, Brumsickle, Chappell, Leonard, Quall, Jacobsen, Ballard, Dunshee, Miller, Heavey, Sheldon, Anderson, Eide, Bray, Lemmon, G. Cole, Kremen, Vance, Wineberry, Pruitt, Sheahan, Campbell, King, Cothern, Flemming, Johanson, Padden, Schoesler, J. Kohl and Lisk.

House Committee on State Government

Senate Committee on Government Operations

Background:  Various international agreements enacted in this century prohibit the abuse of civilians in wartime.  The Hague Convention in 1907 prohibited attacks on undefended civilian targets.   The Geneva Conventions of 1929 and 1949 established strict guidelines for the treatment of prisoners of war and civilians caught in war zones.  The Genocide Convention of 1951 prohibited acts which are intended to destroy a national, ethnic or religious group.  The Genocide Convention also requires that the United Nations (U.N.) take action to stop genocide.

On December 18, 1992, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn "atrocities committed against women, particularly Muslim women, in Bosnia and Herzegovina."  Various calls have been made for a war crimes tribunal.  In response, the U.N. Security Council has created a five  member Commission of Experts to investigate war crimes in the Balkans.  The last time a similar group was assembled was in 1943 when the Allies began assembling evidence against the Nazis.

Summary:  The members of the Washington State Senate and the House of Representatives ask President Clinton, the United States Congress, and the members of the United Nations to condemn the ethnic cleansing and rape of women in Bosnia and to create an international war crimes tribunal.

Votes on Final Passage:

House  90 0

Senate 42 0