The European Parliament (EP) has declared the activities of Islamic State (ISIS) against Christians and other minorities ‘genocide’.

In a Resolution adopted today, MEPs for the first time categorised the targeting and mass slaughter of religious and ethnic minorities as genocide, and called on the international community to act towards ending the killings.

The move by the EP helps clears the way for crimes committed by Islamic State members as crimes against humanity which can be dealt with at the International Criminal Court. The resolution urged “the members of the UN Security Council to support a referral by the Security Council to the International Criminal Court in order to investigate violations committed in Iraq and Syria by the so-called ‘ISIS/Daesh’ against Christians, Yazidis and religious and ethnic minorities”.

Significantly, the EP Resolution also calls – in Paragraph 10 – “for the EU to establish a permanent Special Representative for Freedom of Religion and Belief” towards highlighting abuses on the grounds of faith and lobbying on behalf of persecuted communities.

The legal advocacy group ADF International immediately welcomed the EP’s moves. Speaking on behalf of the organisation, its director of EU advocacy, Sophia Kuby said: “We applaud the European Parliament for having responded to clear and compelling evidence that Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East are victims of intentional destruction and genocide. The overwhelming majority who voted in favour of this recognition is remarkable and shows that Europe will not tolerate this ongoing genocide any longer.

“It was high time that the EU responded to the undeniable evidence of this genocide which includes assassinations of church leaders, torture, mass murders, kidnapping, sexual enslavement and systematic rape of Christian and Yazidi girls and women, destruction of churches, monasteries, and cemeteries.