ACLJ chastises U.N. for being silent on ISIS' genocide against Christians

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has questioned the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) over its refusal to formally recognize Christians and other religious minorities as victims of genocide carried out by the Islamic State despite well-documented pieces of evidence.

The conservative law group stated that it has filed an urgent testimony with the UNHRC documenting the genocidal acts committed by ISIS against Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. The testimony was filed nine months ago in partnership with the group's European affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ).

ACLJ lamented that the UN has remained silent in the past nine months while ISIS continued its attacks against the minorities.

The law group noted that some Christian leaders were able to return to their homeland after it was liberated from ISIS, but their homes have been turned into piles of rubble. It also pointed out that the 300,000 Christians that lived in the region before ISIS took over had dwindled to 20 to 30 residents.

In its new submission to the HRC, the ACLJ called on the U.N. to recognize the minority groups as victims of genocide as defined by The Genocide Convention.

"A declaration by the Human Rights Council that the Islamic State is engaged in genocide and action by this Council calling for the U.N. General Assembly (and other appropriate organs of the U.N.) to follow suit would carry significant weight," the ACLJ wrote.

"We need action now. The U.N. must defend the rights of all religious minorities, including the Christians in Iraq, Syria, and any other place where the Islamic State engages in genocide," it added.

The U.N. has been reluctant to use the term "genocide" to describe the victims of ISIS, but it has acknowledged that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed against Yazidis.

"Genocide has occurred and is ongoing," said Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, in June 2016.

"ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities," he added.

The ACLJ vowed to continue holding global leaders accountable to their legal commitments to ensure that genocide will never occur again. A petition launched by the group calling on the international community to stop the genocide against Christians has garnered over 270,000 signatures.