The British government is reluctant to describe the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East as genocide, a minister has admitted.

According to a report in The Tablet, when pressed in the House of Lords for a clear explanation of what Britain is doing to uphold Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – relating to religious freedom – Baroness Anelay of St Johns, Minister of State at the Foreign Office conceded that the government remained reluctant to use the term ‘genocide’, even as it reflected on the horrendous litany of abuse perpetrated by the Islamic State group on Christian communities.

Baroness Anelay insisted that the government fully recognised that IS is “persecuting individuals and communities on the basis of their religion, belief or ethnicity, and its murderous campaign has resulted in the most appalling humanitarian crisis of our time”.

She added that, while not moving to denounce the persecution as genocide, “I will certainly continue to reflect on that.” However, The Tablet noted that, after the Lords exchange, a spokesperson for the Foreign Office ruled out any use of the term ‘genocide’ in the immediate future.

The question as to Britain’s stance on events in the Middle East was posed by Lord Alton of Liverpool, who described the ongoing slaughter of Christians there as “a genocide that dares not speak its name”.