State Department receives report on Islamic State genocide

Two groups said that Islamic State (IS) is carrying out genocide against Christians in Libya, Iraq and Syria, writes James Roberts.

The Knights of Columbus and In Defence of Christians passed their 278-page report to the State Department a week before it was due to announce its decision on whether IS persecution of Christians amounts to genocide.
According to a provision in the omnibus spending bill passed in December, the State Department had until last Thursday, 17 March, to send Congress a review of persecution of Middle Eastern religious minorities by “Islamic extremists”. It had to include whether the persecution “constitutes mass atrocities or genocide”.

In December a delegation led by the Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson requested a meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the matter, but received no response from the State Department. However, four weeks ago, the office of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, David Saperstein, asked for a detailed account of atrocities committed against Christians, Mr Anderson confirmed last week.
The report lists many acts of violence, displacement, theft, hostage-taking and sexual slavery, but new reports are surfacing daily, Mr Anderson said. “As comprehensive as this report is, we believe that it may only be the tip of the iceberg,” he warned.

The EU Parliament and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom have already declared that IS is committing genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other minorities. “History will record the recent atrocities committed against religious minorities in the Middle East as genocide,” Mr Anderson said. “The question is whether America will be remembered as courageous, as in the case of Darfur, or as something much less so, as in the case of Rwanda.”