Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday called the mass killings of Christians, Yezidis and Shia Muslims by the Islamic State "genocide." Iraqis in San Diego have been pushing for the designation since 2014.
Kerry's announcement came days after representatives from the Department of State met with Chaldeans, or Iraqi Christians, in San Diego, said Mark Arabo, a San Diego-born Iraqi Christian who has been pushing for the United States to protect religious minorities from ISIS.
"We're really happy because our work, somehow, has not gone in vain," Arabo said. "We are so thankful."
The visit was one of several meetings the department's ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, David Saperstein, took with members of the Iraqi diaspora in recent weeks to hear testimony, a spokeswoman confirmed with The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Arabo recently established the Minority Humanitarian Foundation to further push for humanitarian relief. He said he's been gathering video, photos and other evidence with the assistance of people on the ground in the Middle East to help make the case that ISIS, also called Daesh, is committing genocide.
In a press conference, Kerry said the facts are clear.
“Daesh kills Christians because they are Christians, Yezidis because they are Yezidis, Shia because they are Shia," Kerry said. "This is the message it conveys to children under its control. Its entire worldview is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology,”
The genocide designation does not require U.S. action but could force the issue in an international court.
Arabo said he intends to fly to the Capitol next week to meet with lawmakers.
"The main thing we're focused on now is getting action, making sure we act on the information we have to see what we can do to end the genocide and save as many lives as possible," Arabo said.
