A European bishops’ commission has welcomed a move by the European Parliament to classify atrocities and religious cleansing by ISIS as genocide. Fr Patrick Daly, general secretary of Comece, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Community, said the designation represented progress in halting the persecution of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq. “Steps to prosecute criminals and bring them to justice are also imperative,” Fr Daly said. His comments came on the same day the European Parliament adopted the resolution proposed by Lars Adaktusson, a Swedish member, which stated that ISIS was “committing genocide against Christians and Yazidis and religious and ethnic minorities who do not agree with the so-called ISIS/Daesh interpretation of Islam, and that this, therefore, entails action under the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”. The Parliament also recommended that “action should be taken” for the activities of ISIS to be recognised as genocide by the UN Security Council. The Parliament adopted the resolution the week after the Council of Europe, which harmonises human rights legislation throughout Europe, voted 117-1 in favour of a resolution recognising genocide. If a similar resolution were adopted by the United Nations, signatories would have an obligation to bring the activities of ISIS to an end, to prioritise the protection of victims, and to prosecute perpetrators. The Pope, while in Bolivia in July, used the word “genocide” to describe the plight of persecuted Christians. Campaigns are underway in the US and Britain to persuade political leaders to call ISIS’s crimes genocide. Although President Barack Obama is yet to be persuaded, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush have each expressed the view that ISIS is committing genocide. In Britain, the Government has resisted calls to recognise genocide in spite of receiving a letter from 75 politicians asking it to do so. Among those who signed the letter was Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, former head of the British Armed Forces, and Lord Evans of Weardale, former head of MI5.