The Knights of Columbus have launched a new television advertisement to raise funds for Christian refugees under genocide in the Middle East. The group is also urging lawmakers to support legislation, the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act, guaranteeing relief resources and funding reach Christians in desperate need.
“We must act and act quickly if Christianity is to survive in the Middle East," Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson said in a statement. “Three years after ISIS rolled through their country, these minority communities of Christians could face extinction without our help, and if they disappear, the chance for a pluralism and tolerance of minorities will be increasingly lost in that country.”
Late last week, ISIS carried out an attack in Egypt against Coptic Christians on a bus. Twenty-nine were shot and killed, including 10 children. In April two bombings were carried out at separate churches on Palm Sunday, killing dozens mores.
Last year the State Department officially declared ISIS is carrying out a genocide against Christians and other religious minority groups in the Middle East and North Africa. An official declaration under international law requires immediate action from the United States and the United Nations to protect vulnerable minorities as stated in the 1948 U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment the Crime of Genocide. This includes the prioritization of high risk religious populations for aid.
As of today, these legal requirements have not been fulfilled.
