8mn civilians in state of fear in ISIL-controlled areas in Iraq, Syria

An estimated eight million civilians are living in a state of constant fear in territories controlled by the ISIL Takfiri militants in Iraq and Syria, a UN expert says.

Ben Emmerson, the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, said on Friday that ISIL has engaged in widespread and systematic human rights violations of the most serious kinds in Syria and Iraq and has brutally forced some eight million people to “assimilate, flee or face death.”

“These violations may amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and widespread attacks on the civilian population,” the UN expert said in a report.

He said the brutal nature and scale of abuses by ISIL is aimed at enforcing compliance among communities under its control, adding that the result is that “civilians who remain in ISIL-controlled areas live in a state of constant and almost unimaginable fear.”

ISIL has targeted various religious and ethnic groups both in Iraq and Syria, committing acts of violence against civilians because of their affiliation with such communities.