The United States Accuses the Islamic State of Genocide Against Christians, Yazidis, and Shiites

On Thursday, March 17, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the Islamic State (ISIS) has committed war crimes against Christians, Yazidis, and Shiites in Iraq and Syria. According to the Associated Press, Kerry's statements do not imply that the U.S. is committed to taking further actions against ISIS. Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution declaring the atrocities committed by ISIS as war crimes. Kerry stated that after investigations, the U.S. is confident that the actions of the Islamic State against Christians, Yazidis, and Shiite Muslims are on par with crimes against humanity and genocide. He remarked, "ISIS itself has declared that it is committing genocide, both in action and ideology." Based on this announcement, international countries can bring lawsuits against ISIS, although they will not bear any legal obligations or responsibilities. The U.S. has stated that it will continue to support efforts to find more evidence and documentation. Kerry's remarks are purely theoretical and do not encompass any practical actions. He emphasized that he hopes ISIS feels assured that the U.S. has recognized the group's atrocities and its wicked nature. This is the second time in U.S. political history that the country has confirmed that genocide has occurred in an ongoing conflict. The first time was in 2004 when then-Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to the Darfur conflict in Sudan as "genocide." Last year, the U.S. Congress asked Kerry to clarify whether the crimes of the Islamic State against minorities constituted genocide and war crimes. The deadline for this report was set for March 17, and Kerry submitted his report just hours before the deadline expired. Since last year, ISIS has carried out widespread massacres of Yazidis in Iraq and has taken their women and girls captive. The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights confirmed in August 2014 that the group had taken hundreds of Yazidi women under the age of 35 captive. Some of these women have shared their life stories with the media or published them in book form after their release. In October of this year, two Yazidi groups submitted a complaint to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, seeking to address the case against the Islamic State for "genocide" and "sexual slavery." In this context, new slavery, sexual slavery, and the response of Muslim clerics have resulted in the deaths of "19,000 civilians" in Iraq in less than two years. A United Nations report on the sexual assault and slavery by extremist groups in 2014 highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis.