“The protection of these groups — and others who are targets of violent extremism — remains a human rights priority for the Trump administration,” Tillerson said as he released the department’s annual report on international religious freedom.
Islamic State “is clearly responsible for genocide” as well as “crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing” against those groups and, in some cases, against other Muslims and Kurds, Tillerson said.
The Sunni extremist group swept out of northern Syria into neighboring Iraq in early 2014 and quickly captured much of Iraq’s west and north. A U.S.-led coalition, including Iraqi troops and Kurdish guerrillas, has steadily pushed the militants back, last month recapturing the crucial city of Mosul.
American officials claimed last week that U.S.-backed Syrian militias also have recaptured half of Raqqah, Islamic State’s self-declared capital in Syria, although fighting there remains intense.
The report, which is mandated by Congress, was compiled in 2016 and reviews religious freedom around the world. Although last year’s report also accused Islamic State of mass atrocities, the language this year sought to “remove previous ambiguity,” Tillerson said.
Human rights groups have accused President Trump of ignoring human rights abuses during his talks with several major leaders, including Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, China’s Xi Jinping and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah Sisi.
They also criticized Tillerson for not personally releasing the State Department’s annual human rights report in March, as most of his predecessors have done, lowering its profile. The report is an accounting of the torture of political prisoners, efforts to stifle a free press and other abuses around the globe.
Instead, the administration appears to be highlighting more specific causes that appeal to conservative voters.