Islamic State is committing genocide against religious minorities, Kerry says

Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday. The militants had committed a litany of atrocities against people and religious sites, he said. "In my judgment Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups … under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia (Shi'ite) Muslims,“ Mr Kerry said, using another term for Islamic State. "Naming these crimes is important, but what is essential is to stop them.”

Daesh is genocidal by self-acclimation, by ideology and by practice

John Kerry

Mr Kerry issued his judgment a day after he was warned he would miss a congressional deadline for completing a review he was conducting into Islamic State. Saying that he was “neither judge nor prosecutor nor jury,” Mr Kerry added that any potential criminal charges against the extremists must result from an independent international investigation. However, he said he hoped that groups he cited as being victimised would take some comfort in the fact that the “the United States recognizes and confirms the despicable nature of the crimes committed against them”.

john kerry