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.

The UN expert said women are extremely vulnerable to violence and discrimination in the ISIL-held territories as they face sexual violence and slavery.

Children as young as six have been raped, tortured and kidnapped, Emmerson said, adding that children as young as eight years old have also been trained and used in military roles.

“They are reportedly made to watch videos of beheadings, and mass executions to desensitize them to forms of violence employed by ISIL,” he said.

The Takfiri violence in Syria has reportedly killed an estimated 230,000 people since early 2011.

In Iraq, more than 1,330 people were killed by violence in July, according to the latest UN figures.