Page:Written Testimony (Hon. Frank Wolf - Confronting the Genocide of Religious Minorities - A Way Forward).pdf/2

 beginning that the goal of ISIS has been to rid the region of any religious diversity. That is genocide.

In July of 2015 I wrote a letter to President Obama which stated, “If the Islamic State achieves its stated goals- capturing large swaths of land, restoring the caliphate, and strictly enforcing its “pure” Shari’a law on all under its rule- the specter of full-scale genocide once again looms large. Furthermore, the atrocities committed by the Islamic State are a direct threat to the United States national security. If allowed to grow in size and resources, there is no doubt that this insurgency will spill out of the Middle East and into the West, bringing this system of organized desolation to our doorstep.”

In October of 2015 and in February of 2016, with the help of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable a letter, signed by a broad coalition of human rights groups, lawyers, NGO’s, and individuals, was sent to President Obama. The October letter expressed that: “It is our belief that officially declaring and subsequently halting this genocide and its spread is a matter of vital more and strategic importance for the United States, the international community, and the overall state of religious freedom around the world. Perhaps equally as important, such a declaration will give a stronger voice to the long-suffering victims while furthering and sharpening ideological engagement against those currently at the forefront of this campaign.”

I, along with my colleagues at the 21 Century Wilberforce Initiative, and many other groups and individuals, have not only travelled to the region, but advocated through private meetings, letters, and briefings that the State Department should investigate the possibility of genocide as well as to refer the situation to the United Nations Security Council.

Religious leaders including Pope Francis, Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby, Cardinal Wuerl, Cardinal Dolan, and many others called for the world to be honest about ISIS’ crimes. Politicians also acted. Rep. Chris Smith pushed to get the bi-partisan resolution of Representatives Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) to an on-record vote in the House of Representatives. Ambassador Sapperstein and Special Envoy Knox Thames presented the evidence within the State Department. Robbie George and Katrina Lantos Swett and others with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom were instrumental in this effort. Law firms such as The Beckett Fund, ACLJ, and Andrews Kurth, LLP all submitted briefs as further evidence.

People such as Marte Hudson, Chris Seiple with Institute for Global Engagement, Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute, Greg Stanton of Genocide Watch, Juliana Taimoorzy of Iraqi Christian Relief Council, Robert Nicholson from Philos Project, and Greg Mitchell along with the members of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, as well as groups like Knights of Columbus, In Defense of Christians, the Holocaust Museum and others all worked to bring these crimes to light.

I believe that it was a very significant step that the House of Representatives passed H. Con. Res 75, (393-0) which decried the atrocities committed by ISIS to be genocide. I do not think this would have happened without the advocacy of so many around the world and in the United States. As Samantha Power indicated in her book, A Problem from Hell, “It taketakes [sic] political