According to Dictionary.com, a genocidaire is a person guilty of genocide. The definition of genocide, though, itself is the topic of focus of this article by Cynthia Haven on Stanford University’s blogs. She uses it as follows, to describe how Joseph Stalin’s actions helped shape the general definition of the word –
it turns out that the Soviet genocidaire had a hand in deciding how we define the word genocide.
Source: When is murder genocide? Obama drops the “g” word. | The Book Haven
The question being asked is whether or not ISIS (or ISIL, if you prefer calling it Levant instead of Syria) is guilty of genocide in trying to wipe the Christians living in Iraq, along with 2000 years of Christian history, as well as an obscure tribe called the Yazidi. The Yazidi are culturally relevant because of the uniqueness of their religion as well as the simple fact that they are humans driven to the brink of extinction by ISIS, who have trapped them in the rough mountainous regions of northwest Iraq. This article tells us that the Yazidi are linked to Zoroastrianism and early Christianity. They believe in reincarnation and their children are baptized with holy water by a pir. They believe the peacock signifies immortality and is a symbol of their god, Malak Taus, who is also an alter ego of the supreme being, Yasdan. They are thus monotheistic.
Regardless of who they are and who they worship, their mass murder and the destruction of churches and shrines, burning of homes and the beheading of children and adults is no doubt genocide. ISIS may have nothing over Stalin, who killed between 15-20 million of his own people; but they are doing a swell job of upgrading their level to genocidaires.