Every Child Achieves Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague from New Hampshire today to speak about a moving and important commemoration that she and I attended over the weekend. We were part of the U.S. delegation led by former President Bill Clinton that traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina to remember the victims of the Srebrenica massacre 20 years ago. We were honored to be joined in this delegation by Representative Peter King from New York, and I think it is significant that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was part of that delegation.

On July 11, 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were brutalized and murdered by Serbian forces that overran a United Nations safe haven during the Bosnian war. It was the worst massacre on European soil since the horrors of World War II.

Today, Senator Shaheen and I wear green and white flowers on our lapels. These flowers were crocheted by Srebrenica mothers and widows in remembrance of the lives that were lost 20 years ago. The white is said to symbolize innocence, and the green represents hope. It is said to be significant that the center is green because hope remains central to the country's future and to the region's future.

Two decades provide us with a helpful benchmark for reflecting on the progress that has been made and on the progress that needs to be made. The decades have certainly not erased the deep scars left by the atrocities at Srebrenica, but the hurt continues to heal.

International courts have recognized the massacre as a genocide, and a number of the perpetrators have been imprisoned. Peace is now present in the Western Balkans and we need to do what we can to help maintain this peace. The Bosnian and Herzegovinian leadership is now applying for membership in the European Union. We wish them well in making the progress that will be necessary to attain this status.

Tough decisions still need to be made by the leadership, by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina with regard to governance, corruption, and combating extremes. There is still way too much rhetoric that centers on ethnicity and continues to divide Bosnians rather than unite them. But we can celebrate the fact that this region is no longer home to the suffering and violence that predated the historic Dayton Accords, and we can celebrate the contribution and achievement of the Americans in reaching the Dayton Accords and in getting us to where we are now with two decades of peace.

I know that these views are shared by my colleague from New Hampshire. At this point, perhaps she would like to join in this colloquy.

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Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I do agree. I would contrast the magnanimous statements of the Tripresidency and the gesture of the Serbian President in attending with the disappointing actions of the Russian leadership, under the leadership of President Putin, in actually vetoing a Security Council resolution simply to commemorate the 20th anniversary as a genocide. Russia refused to accept a well-established fact, confirmed by international courts such as the International Court of Justice, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. They vetoed--they were the only vote against it, but it acted as a veto--thus keeping the United Nations officially from going on record as saying this was a genocide and that these acts should be condemned. Such defiance is a disservice not only to the victims at Srebrenica but also to relations in the area going forward. I would just contrast that with the very brave step on the part of the Serbian President, coming to Srebrenica and being part of the commemorative ceremony.

I will tell my colleagues that former President Clinton spoke on behalf of this Republican and spoke on behalf of Democrats alike, making a very instructive and constructive address at the occasion, specifically commending the Serbian President.

I would say, with regard to the rock throwing incident and what the President of Serbia actually did, his glasses were broken, and he and members of his delegation were brought to their knees. I would say that if the 50 or so people who threw those rocks had heard the remarks inside the ceremony, perhaps they would not have felt so bitter as to throw those rocks. I know there are wounds that need to be healed. But I think the conciliatory words inside, if they had been broadcast to the entire crowd, would have perhaps caused that incident, which got all the publicity, not to happen.

This was about 50 people causing a disturbance in a crowd of, I would say, about 5,000 people gathered outside. It was a very important ceremony--actually, a funeral, you might say.

So I would have to just say that the Russian leadership really should be ashamed of standing in the way of international recognition of this genocide. They thought they were doing their Serbian neighbors a favor, but, on the other hand, the Serbian President stepped forward in a very brave way to create unity in this region, and I think my colleague would agree with that.

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Mr. WICKER. The Senator from New Hampshire is exactly right. It is in the United States' interest that we care about the Balkans, that we care about Bosnia and Herzegovina. We owe it to the U.S. troops who were deployed there in 1995 and later, who kept the peace and made it work. There is no country on the face of the Earth that could have done that but the United States of America. We owe it to the memory of the leadership, not only of President Clinton, who basically hosted the Dayton Accords in the United States of America, but also Republicans such as Speaker Gingrich. It was Gingrich and Clinton who joined together and convinced this government to support the Dayton Agreement and support the necessary deployment to make sure this worked.

As the Senator pointed out, we owe it to history going forward to remember that World War I broke out in Sarajevo, that the events leading up to World War II largely occurred in the Balkans, and to do what we can in the interest of U.S. citizens to say that this will not again be a flashpoint for conflict in Europe and conflict internationally.

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Mr. WICKER. I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to make sure that this peace holds, to make sure that progress is made on the ethnic issues--that we give Bosnians and Herzegovinians every reason to continue to want to embrace Europe and to embrace the United States and to embrace fairness and anticorruption and all the work that it is going to take there.

I appreciate the delegation. I appreciate Secretary Albright. I appreciate President Clinton leading the delegation. And I appreciate the indulgence of our fellow Senators in hearing this colloquy.

With that, I yield the floor.

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