Speech #990204326

The report continues: As a result. not only individuals. but whole groups of persons and tribes are endangered in their existence and in their lives because their living conditions are fundamentally affected by the kind of warfare being waged. The report cites "the use of antipersonnel mines and of socalled toy bombs" and "the indiscriminate mass killings of civilians. particularly women and children." The report notes that the war is characterized by: The most cruel methods of warfare and by the destruction of large parts of the country which has affected the conditions of life of the population. destabilizing the ethnic and tribal structure and disrupting family units. The demographic structure of the country has changed. since over 4 million refugees from all provinces and all classes have settled outside the country and thousands of internal refugees have crowded into the cities like Kabul. Mr. President. this independent account by the United Nations conforms to the Genocide Conventions definition of that crime in article II. as the willful act of destroying in whole or part a national. ethnical. racial. or religious group by: First. killing members of the group. second. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. third. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. fourth. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. and fifth. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.