The Republican-majority US House of Representatives has unanimously declared Daesh’s actions against Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities to be a genocide. The matter now lands in the hands of Secretary of State John Kerry, however House speaker Paul Ryan reportedly said that he was not optimistic Kerry would back up the declaration officially.
“As the administration waffles on this issue and doubles down on its failed strategy to defeat [Daesh], the American people are speaking loudly and clearly on this issue,” Ryan said.
The State Department will have until Thursday to decide if the US will classify the actions of the extremist group as genocide. Daesh has conducted a campaign of violence against religious and ethnic minorities, including Christians, Yazidis, and minority sects of Islam.
If Daesh were to be officially accused of genocide, there could be complicated repercussions. Such a decision may lead to obligations to act militarily against the group in order to stop the genocide, and carries with it the potential for lengthy war-crimes trials.
The United Nations defined genocide as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group” in the wake of atrocities committed by Nazi Germany.
