A/HRC/29/51 governmental organizations, have extensively investigated and documented grave and systematic violations of international law by ISIL that could amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and gross human rights violations, 33 including widespread and systematic attacks on the civilian population.34 25. It has been reported that ISIL has specifically targeted religious and ethnic groups in both Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic and has committed acts of violence against civilians because of their affiliation or perceived affiliation to an ethnic or religious group.35 Where ISIL has occupied areas with diverse religious and ethnic communities, minorities36 have been forced to assimilate or flee, ISIL imposing disciplinary sanctions, destroying religious sites and carrying out systematic expulsions. In Iraq, there are reports of a pattern of violence against the Yezidis and, specifically, of men being separated from women and young children, then taken to ditches and summarily executed.37 It has been reported that at least 700 men were killed in August 2014 after being rounded up, separated from the women and forced to convert. Those who refused were taken to a farm and, after being made to hand over their possessions, were ordered to lie face down on the ground and were filmed by members of ISIL before being shot several times. 38 These acts may, if confirmed, amount to genocide39 as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Other acts, including summary executions,40 abductions on a mass scale41 and forced conversions, may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. In the Syrian Arab Republic, it has been reported that ISIL may have committed a crime against humanity by forcibly displacing the Kurdish population in Ar-Raqqah governorate.42 26. The alleged responsibility of ISIL for unlawful killings, including massacres,43 has also been reported.44 Summary executions and enforced disappearances of individuals ISIL views as challenging its dominance or opposing it, through a policy of declaring them to be heretics or infidels in order to justify the attacks, has also been widely documented in the Syrian Arab Republic45 and in Iraq.46 Individuals targeted include police officers, public servants, members of parliament, tribal and religious leaders, election candidates and hors de combats fighters. Sometimes, individuals are found guilty by ISIL “courts” before being executed,47 in the absence of any due process. In an effort to control the flow of information and limit freedom of expression, journalists and human rights defenders have been 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 8 See A/HRC/28/18, para. 76, and “Rule of terror”, paras. 74, 77 and 78. See, for example, A/HRC/28/69, para. 75. See A/HRC/28/18, para. 16. Ibid., para. 16, and “Rule of terror”, paras. 24–31. See A/HRC/28/18, para. 18. Ibid., para. 19. Ibid., para. 16. Ibid., paras. 19 and 28. Ibid., paras. 16–20. See “Rule of terror”, para. 29. In October 2013, the Commission of Inquiry adopted the following working definition of a massacre: “an intentional mass killing of civilians not directly participating in hostilities, or hors de combat fighters, by organized armed forces or groups in a single incident, in violation of international human rights or humanitarian law”. See A/HRC/28/69, annex II, para. 1. See A/HRC/28/69, annex II, paras. 21–30. Ibid., annex II, paras. 21–30 and 68–79. See also “Rule of terror”, para. 32. See, for example, A/HRC/28/18, paras. 29–34. See UNAMI/OHCHR, “Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Iraq: 11 September–10 December 2014”, p. 10.