"Those targeted for genocide continue to need our assistance, especially since many have received no funding from the U.S. government or from the United Nations. The new administration should rectify the policies it found in place, and stop the de facto discrimination that is continuing to endanger these communities targeted by ISIS for genocide."
Many others have also called on the Trump administration to do more to help Christians and other minorities in the Middle East on the anniversary of the declaration. This week, Professor Robert Destro of the Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America announced a joint statement of "recommended actions" for the administration to take to protect genocide survivors.
The document was a call "to stand up constantly" for minorities "who are being targeted today by ISIS and all of its affiliates around the world" and was signed by numerous political and religious leaders.
The Knights of Columbus played a key role in lobbying for the declaration of the Christian genocide last year, as they compiled and presented a 278-page report to the State Department, documenting evidence of Christian genocide at the hands of ISIS.
Since 2014, they have donated more than $12 million to aid Christians in the Middle East, which has gone to medical clinics in Iraq, Easter food baskets for displaced Christians under the care of the Archdiocese of Erbil, general relief for the Christians of Aleppo, Syria, via the city's Melkite Archdiocese, and support for the Christian refugee relief programs of the Syriac Catholic patriarch.
Anderson said 2017 may be "the decisive year in determining whether many Christian communities throughout the Middle East will continue to exist," and has called for aid from the U.S. government and the international community.
