Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statement:

“The official determination by Secretary Kerry that ISIS’s actions against religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq qualify as a genocide is an important recognition of the true character of ISIS’s acts of mass horror. The terrorist organization’s genocidal ambitions are all to evident in their campaign of murder, rape, and forced conversions — actions which have cost the lives of tens of thousands of Yezidis, Christians, and Muslims, and forced many more to flee their homes. We have a moral obligation, as well as a legal one under the Genocide Convention, to work with our international partners to put an end to their genocidal campaign and to see that the perpetrators face the justice they deserve.

“I am also reminded once again that our commitment to stand against genocide is hollow if it does not extend to a willingness to speak the truth about all genocides, and I hope that this is the year the President acknowledges the 1915-1923 Genocide against the Armenians – some of the very survivors of which are again imperiled by genocide.”