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In 2014, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) conducted a violent campaign against civilians in northern Iraq, targeting ethnic and religious minorities through murder, rape, torture, forced conversion, kidnapping, displacement, and destruction of cultural property. In 2015, the Museum determined that IS had perpetrated genocide against the Yezidis and crimes against humanity against other religious and ethnic minorities. By early 2019, the US government announced the territorial defeat of IS. However, the Simon-Skjodt Center has warned that religious minorities and other civilians remain at risk of future atrocities. Read our reports on the violence and the situation for survivors in the aftermath.