A/RES/48/143 Page 2 Convention on the Rights of the Child 7/ and other instruments of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 8/ and the Additional Protocols thereto, of 1977, 9/ Recalling its resolution 3074 (XXVIII) of 3 December 1973, entitled "Principles of international cooperation in the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity", Taking note of Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/8 of 23 February 1993, entitled "Rape and abuse of women in the territory of the former Yugoslavia", Appalled at the recurring and substantiated reports of widespread rape and abuse of women and children in the areas of armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, in particular its systematic use against the Muslim women and children in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Serbian forces, Reaffirming the relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 798 (1992) of 18 December 1992 in which, inter alia, the Council strongly condemned those acts of unspeakable brutality, Convinced that this heinous practice constitutes a deliberate weapon of war in fulfilling the policy of "ethnic cleansing" carried out by Serbian forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and recalling General Assembly resolution 47/121 of 18 December 1992, in which the Assembly stated, inter alia, that the abhorrent policy of "ethnic cleansing" was a form of genocide, Welcoming the initiatives taken by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the former Yugoslavia, particularly his prompt dispatch of a team of experts to the former Yugoslavia to investigate the allegations of rape and abuse of women, Welcoming also the initiative of the European Council in the rapid dispatch of a mission to investigate the treatment of Muslim women in the former Yugoslavia, and the report of the mission, 10/ Taking note with deep concern of the findings of the team of experts dispatched by the Special Rapporteur, 11/ and those of the mission dispatched by the European Council, _____________ 7/ Resolution 44/25, annex. 8/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 970-973. 9/ Ibid., vol. 1125, Nos. 17512 and 17513. 10/ S/25240, annex I. 11/ E/CN.4/1993/50, annex II. /...