British MPs have voted unanimously in favour of recognising the Islamic State’s treatment of Christians and other minorities – including the Yazidi people – as genocide.
The parliamentary motion, which was passed in the House of Commons on Wednesday by 278 votes to zero, was proposed by Conservative MP Fiona Bruce and comes in the wake of similar motions passed in the US Congress and European Parliament.
As well as declaring the violence inflicted upon minorities as genocide, the motion called on the British Government to ask the UN Security Council to give the International Criminal Court jurisdiction over the issue “so that perpetrators can be brought to justice”.
Ms Bruce said the motion was about “doing justice and about seeing justice being done”, noting that recognition of genocide brings with it obligations for the international community in terms of acting to prevent, punish and protect people.
