VOA常速英语2014--IS的大屠杀构成种族灭绝吗?（在线收听）

Are Mass Killings by IS Group Genocide? IS的大屠杀构成种族灭绝吗?

WASHINGTON— 

The extremist Islamic group known as the Islamic State - also called ISIS or ISIL - and groups connected with it - are believed to have killed thousands of civilians in Iraq and Syria, as well as having executed hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi security forces. To a lay person, this would seem like a clear-cut case of genocide. But is it genocide under international law? And if so, what can or should be done about it?

伊斯兰国极端组织以及同他们有牵连的组织据信杀害了上千名伊拉克和叙利亚平民，处决了数以百计的伊拉克和叙利亚的安全部队成员。在一般人看来，这似乎是典型的“种族灭绝”。但是，根据国际法的规定，这是否算是“种族灭绝”？如果是的话，应该如何处理？

In 2014 alone, the United Nations says Islamic State militants systematically killed and injured more than 24,000 civilians, enslaved women, recruited children, and conducted a brutal campaign of violence across Syria and Iraq.

联合国表示，仅仅在2014年，伊斯兰国激进分子就有组织地杀害和打伤了超过2.4万名伊拉克和叙利亚平民。他们还奴役当地的妇女、征召儿童，并且在各地进行残忍的暴力活动。

Horrific on-line images of beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions of soldiers - as well as reports of torture - are testimony to the group's code of terror.

网上关于斩首、钉十字架、集体处决士兵和酷刑折磨的可怕的图片都是伊斯兰国组织恐怖行为的证据。

Earlier this year, the Sunni extremist group targeted ethnic Iraqi Yazidis, killing the men and publicly defending the enslavement of the women. But they have also targeted other Muslims, especially Shia.

今年年初，这个逊尼派极端团体将目标瞄准了伊拉克的雅兹迪族群。他们杀害男人，并公开对奴役妇女的行为进行辩护。但穆斯林、特别是什叶派，也是他们的攻击目标。

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein says the Islamic State is out to destroy anyone who does not agree with them.

联合国人权事务专员扎伊德?拉阿德?侯赛因说，伊斯兰国试图消灭所有与他们观点不同的人。

"Alternative view-points - indeed, any form of individual thought outside of their closed, unyielding logic - is rejected by them. Those dissenting humans must be murdered, their memory, culture, every shred of their existence, destroyed," said al-Hussein.

他说：“事实上，任何跟他们顽固封闭的思维逻辑不同的看法，他们都拒绝接受，他们一定要杀害这些持不同意见的人，摧毁他们的记忆、文化以及表明他们存在的每一丝痕迹。”

The U.N. says the actions of the Islamic State have met three out of the five criteria that define genocide under the international Genocide Convention.

联合国表示，伊斯兰国的行为已经符合《防止及惩治灭绝种族罪公约》对于“种族灭绝”的五条标准中的三条。

U.S. Undersecretary of State Richard Stengel says the group is "ruthless."

美国国务次卿理查德?斯坦格尔说，伊斯兰国组织 “残酷无情”。

“They are a genocidal organization, I would say, in a sense that they are determined to wipe out whole groups of people indiscriminately, innocent people; so, their ideology I believe is genocidal and what they are doing is just despicable in every way,” he said.

他说：“我认为，他们是一个种族灭绝组织。他们不加选择地消灭掉整个群体的人，包括那些无辜的人。我相信他们的意识形态就是种族灭绝性质的，他们的所作所为只能说是卑劣的。”

The Genocide Convention says anyone guilty of the crime "shall be punished" -- but it speaks primarily of legal action. Where the Islamic State is concerned, an international coalition has been conducting air strikes against the group since August, and is supporting Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling the extremists on the ground.

在种族灭绝公约中，任何有罪的人都要“受到惩罚”，但这里主要指的是法律行动。 就伊斯兰国而言，国际联盟从8月起就一直在对他们发动空袭，支援伊拉克和库尔德武装在地面战场抗击极端分子。

The question now is whether that will be enough, says Daniel Serwer of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

约翰霍普金斯国际研究学院的丹尼尔?瑟沃尔说，目前的问题是，这些措施是否足够。

“What we are doing now, seems to me, has had a certain effectiveness in blocking the expansion of the Islamic State, it’s protected some populations that would otherwise have been at risk, but it’s doing nothing yet to really collapse the Islamic State. We’re not. We may be degrading it, but we’re not defeating it as yet,” he said.

他说：“在我看来，现在我们所做的努力阻止伊斯兰国扩张是有效的，保护了一些可能受到威胁的人们。但是对于真正瓦解伊斯兰国仍旧无效。我们可能削弱了它，但是还没有打败它。”

Meanwhile, Islamic State militants have captured large areas of Syria and Iraq, declaring the region a caliphate that all other Muslims should follow.

同时，伊斯兰国激进分子攻占了叙利亚和伊拉克的大片地区，宣布建立伊斯兰哈里发，并要求当地区所有其他穆斯林都必须服从。