ISIS News Today: Neglect Of Human Rights Abuses In Middle East Fueled Rise Of Islamic State, Says Watchdog

The rise of the Islamic State was a result of human rights abuses as governments tend to neglect addressing such in the face of security threats, an international human rights watchdog body said.

In its annual world report released last week, the Human Rights Watch cautioned that if the conditions that led to ISIS are "left to fester," the militant Islamist group could intensify its control over Iraq and Syria and spread its influence to other countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Libya.

The human rights body said the appearance of the ISIS "did not emerge in a vacuum" but was the result of regional abuses, the BBC said.

Human Rights Watch said Iraq's and Syria's governments had created a fertile ground for the ISIS but also criticized the U.S. for ignoring the abuses. It also chided the superpower for focusing solely on its military battle against the Islamist militants.

"Human rights violations played a major role in spawning or aggravating most of today's crises," said Kenneth Roth, director of the U.S.-based watchdog.

Many governments "appear to have concluded that today's serious security threats must take precedence over human rights," he added.

"In this difficult moment, they seem to argue, human rights must be put on the back burner, a luxury for less trying times," Roth said.

However, putting aside such abuses is "not only wrong, but also short-sighted and counterproductive," he contended.

The Human Rights Watch report – published four years after the arrival of the "Arab Spring" which gave hopes for a new era of justice in the Middle East – cited many countries in the region especially Iraq, Syria and Egypt for violating human rights in the name of facing security challenges which had their roots in abuses of power.

It also said that the Iraqi and Syrian governments' abusive sectarian policies were "important factors" in the rise of ISIS.

The group also blamed the U.S.-led invasion, which left a security vacuum. There was also subsequent "international indifference" to abuses by the Iraqi government.

"In part it (ISIS) is a product of the United States-led war and military occupation of Iraq that began in 2003, which produced, among other things, a security vacuum and the abuses of detainees in Abu Ghraib prison and other U.S.-run detention centers. Funding of extremist groups by Gulf states and their citizens also played a role," the Human Rights Watch report said.

The U.S. and its allies, said the report, allowed military action against ISIS to "overshadow" attempts to make Syria end abuses.

"This selective concern allows ISIS recruiters to portray themselves to potential supporters as the only force willing to stand up to Assad's atrocities," the report read.

The defeat of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt served as a sign to political Islamists that going to the polls is pointless as they would be kept back.

"Rather than treating human rights as a chafing restraint, policymakers worldwide would do better to recognize them as moral guides offering a path out of crisis and chaos," Roth said.