ISIS Is Committing Genocide Against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims: Kerry

Secretary of State John Kerry slammed ISIS Thursday for committing genocide against Yazidis, Christians and Shiite Muslims.

"Daesh is genocidal by self-proclamation, by ideology, and by actions," Kerry said in a televised address, "We must recognize what Daesh is doing to its victims."

This was the second time a U.S. executive branch bandied the word "genocide" for an ongoing conflict, but just naming them is not enough, he admitted.

"Naming these crimes is important but what is essential is to stop them," he added.

Kerry said  that in 2014, ISIS had enslaved thousands of Yazidi women, "selling them at auction, raping them at will and destroying the communities in which they had lived for countless generations."

The statement follows Congress pressure on the State Department to call ISIS a genocide and fix a cut-off date on March 17 so that "Kerry could determine his findings."

Last month, lawmakers at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing demanded to know why the State Department had not yet called ISIS massacres a genocide.

"The whole world knows Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, and Obama critic said.

While the State Department had announced Wednesday that it would not keep the March 17 deadline in mind, to "determine its findings on a genocide designation", Kerry declared that it was indeed a genocide.

"The determination to act against genocide, against ethnic cleansing, against the other crimes against humanity, must be pronounced among decent people all across the globe," he said.

An important issue is---can the administration stop the genocide?

State Department spokesman Mark Toner had said earlier that genocide determination in this case "would not necessarily result in any particular legal obligation for the United States."

It is after all not enough to take out military strikes and try to halt the advance of the ISIS. More action is called for.

It is clear that a determination would need to be referred to the Security Council for "prosecution"---either by the International Criminal Court or a special tribunal.