ISIS has committed genocide, US insists

Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State insists that terror group ISIS has committed genocide.

“ISIS is clearly responsible for genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims,” Tillerson told reporters gathered in the State Department’s Treaty Room, adding that his statement should “remove any ambiguity from previous statements or reports by the State Department.”

His comments are coming after rumors that the term “genocide” had been removed from official documents, and also follows a letter sent to Tillerson by a group of six senators seeking clarification on the department’s position on genocide perpetrated by ISIS.

Previous administrations have been cautious about labeling conflicts genocide, in some cases because the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide calls genocide “a crime under international law”.

In March 2016, the Obama administration first designated ISIS genocidal when then–Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the terrorist group “is responsible for genocide … Its entire worldview is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology.”