A Catholic MP, Robert Charles Flello has put forward a Commons motion designed to appeal to the Parliament to push the UN to obtain an agreement that the word ‘genocide’ should be used” in relation to the atrocities being committed in Iraq and Syria by ISIS.
Rob Flello MP, who is the Chairman of the Catholic Legislators’ Network and Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent South, put forward a Commons motion calling for action which has greatly received cross party support.
The motion reads:
“That this House is appalled by the beheadings, crucifixions, shootings, burnings, other murders, torture, rape and extensive violence being perpetrated by Daesh or IS against Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq on the basis of religion and ethnicity; observes that this disgusting behaviour clearly falls within the definition of genocide as determined by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide; notes the recent report from the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, Protection of Civilians in the Armed Conflict in Iraq, which concludes that Daesh is holding approximately 3,500 slaves, mostly women and children in Iraq, primarily from the Yazidi community, and describes Daesh’s systematic and widespread violence as staggering.”
“Concluding that these acts amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide; and calls on the Government to use all its influence at the UN to create a stated consensus that genocide is indeed being perpetrated so that the provisions of the Convention can urgently, legitimately and effectively be invoked and implemented,” it added.
The Archbishop of Westminster has also warned against “internet recruitment of vulnerable secondary school students by ISIS.”
The Archbishop set to speak at a Catholic Teachers Conference on Thursday released a text of his speech on Tuesday. The text read that from his discussions with young people, the rate at which teenagers (14 or 15) are being recruited is staggering.
“One month is all it takes to transform a dissatisfied and disorientated teenager into a terrorist,” the text added.
