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Obama Facing Federal Lawsuit Over Failure to Address ISIS' Horrific Christian Genocide

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on the third night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 27, 2016.
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks on the third night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 27, 2016. | (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)

President Barack Obama's administration is facing a federal lawsuit from the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative law group, over its failure to properly address the ongoing genocide of the Islamic State terror group against Christians and other religious minorities.

The ACLJ pointed out that despite the U.S. Department of State recognizing earlier this year that IS has indeed been committing a genocide in its captured territories in Iraq and Syria, the persecuted minorities are still not receiving the help they need.

The law group explained that the purpose of its lawsuit is to find out what precisely is being done to end the "undeniable" and "horrific" slaughter of minorities.

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"What efforts is the Obama Administration making at the United Nations? How is it advancing the cause within the international community? What steps is it taking to honor our international obligations and commitments under the Genocide Convention?" the ACLJ asked.

The ACLJ said that it has sent numerous legal letters to the United Nations and other U.S. representatives of the State Department, and vowed that it will not stop until the Obama Administration takes real action to protect Christians and other minorities.

In its letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon in May, the law group urged for a wider recognition of IS' ongoing genocide.

"We strongly and respectfully urge you to make this declaration and to communicate with the interested and appropriate United Nations organs to this end," the letter read.

"Once the United Nations recognizes the genocide as such, then it may properly mobilize the international community to honor the terms of the Genocide Convention and fulfill its responsibility to protect."

The ACLJ added that recently the U.S. had the opportunity to speak with the Human Rights Council's 32nd Session in Geneva, but failed to address the genocide despite both written and oral interventions calling for a response.

"They declined to call it genocide and they ignored the Christians," the law group reported.

"Representatives from other nations spoke up and worked to move the ball forward. Other nations declared the ISIS atrocities to be genocide, and recognized that Christians were victims. The United States' representatives did not. It is sad and it is embarrassing."

Several different persecution watchdog groups have said that the U.S. has a big responsibility to help persecuted Christians, and said that the next American president will also have to take crucial action on their behalf.

Kristin Wright, director of advocacy at Open Doors USA, told The Christian Post in August there has been a "baffling" silence on the issue by both presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, despite most Americans insisting that the next U.S. president should have a plan of action.

"The tragedy is that we have two presidential candidates who are out there on the campaign trail, and we're hearing about so many other issues, we're hearing about domestic religious freedom issues; we're hearing about a wide variety of topics, and yet the persecution of Christians and other people of faith around the world has not been mentioned very much," Wright told CP, noting that Open Doors has started a petition on behalf of persecuted Christians aimed at both Trump and Clinton.

Follow Stoyan Zaimov on Facebook: CPSZaimov

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