“On June 25, 2015, Secretary Kerry submitted the 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (commonly known as the Human Rights Reports) to the U.S. Congress.  The reports, now in their 39th year, are available at State.gov/humanrightsreports and HumanRights.gov/reports.  Mandated by Congress, the Human Rights Reports help inform U.S. government policy and foreign assistance.  They are also a reference for other governments, international institutions, non-governmental organizations, legal professionals, scholars, interested citizens, and journalists. Noteworthy human rights developments highlighted in the 2014 Reports include:

Brutality of ISIL and Other Non-State Actors

While our reports continue to focus on the behavior of governments—which are ultimately responsible for the protection of human rights in their territories—the year 2014 will be remembered as much for atrocities committed by non-state actors.  The terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attacked and killed thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Iraq and Syria, particularly targeting minority communities.  Other terrorist organizations—including al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and al-Nusrah Front—perpetrated human rights abuses against innocent non-combatants.  Often, particularly in the case of ISIL, they sought to eliminate all those who did not conform to their violent extremist views.  Actions by these terrorist groups occasionally bred further human rights abuses in response, either because governments lacked strong, accountable security and rule of law institutions or because governments sought to exploit the threat of terrorism as a pretext to repress peaceful dissenters, political opponents, or members of religious or ethnic minorities.  Such abusive reactions to violent extremism, including through the misapplication of counter-terrorism laws, undermined efforts to combat terrorist groups in addition to undermining human rights norms….”