Somalia and Syria are by far the two countries in the world where communities are most at risk of mass killings or systematic repression, according to the Peoples Under Threat yearly report, which has just been released by the Minority Rights Group (MRG). Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq are the other states that make up the top five places in the report's ranking.

Large areas of two of those states -Syria and Iraq- are now occupied by the Islamic State (IS, or ISIS). "ISIS now active in seven states in Middle East," the rights group says, "but threat to populations still greatest from government forces." According to MRG Executive Director Mark Lattimer, "supporting anything or anyone who opposes ISIS could be a big mistake."

Among those threats from government forces, the MRG report mentions Syria's Shabiha militias, which are linked to Bashar al-Assad's Baath Party, and the Iraqi army and its allied Shiite militias, which put Sunni Iraqis "at risk of retaliation."

Conversely, the report has much better words for the cantons of Western Kurdistan (Syria): "Only in the Kurdish-held regions of the north in al-Jazeera, Kobane and Afrin has there been a serious attempt at  establishing an inclusive democracy," the report argues.

Ukraine, China and Libya, major risers since 2014

Ukraine, China and Libya are the most significant risers from 2014 in the ranking of countries where peoples are in danger. In the case of Ukraine, the reason is twicefold: the negative impact of the Russian occupation of Crimea over the Tatar people, and worsening conditions for Russian, Moldovan and Hungarian minorites in the rest of the country.

In China, the report blames the Chinese government for labeling activists for the rights of the Uyghur people in East Turkestan as "terrorists." In Libya, the MRG reports argues the de facto destruction of the Libyan state has allowed the emergence of militias which are "at times openly racist" against black populations of the North African country.