The international community remains unwilling to protect vulnerable populations against genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, as evidenced by international oversight of the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides. This paper will examine this issue through a case study of the Islamic State’s (IS) persecution, ethnic cleansing, and unrecognized genocide of Shi’a Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. While the United Nations Security Council has labeled IS’ attempts to exterminate Iraq’s Christian and Yazidi populations as genocide, little efort has been made to recognize, investigate, or prosecute IS’ crimes against the Shi’a. As I argue, the Islamic State’s systematic killing and cultural destruction of Shi’a Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria constitutes genocidal conduct under the Genocide Convention. As such, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has an obligation to recognize and investigate such activities through the creation of an international criminal tribunal dedicated to prosecuting members of IS for atrocities committed against the Shi’a. I further argue that use of veto power by permanent members of the Security Council should be restricted in the face of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes to ensure that the UN fulfills its guiding principles to prevent and punish atrocity crimes. I will also explain the legal significance of prosecuting a non-state actor for genocide at the ICC and the impact that this recognition would have on humanitarian policy, the integrity of early warning models for genocide, and justice for the Shi’a victims of the Islamic State’s brutality.