Islamic State (IS) militants are pretty much the scum of the earth, according to a new report from a United Nations rights watchdog.  The militants are killing the children of enemies or minorities in Iraq, including by crucifixion or burying them alive.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child details militants selling abducted Iraqi children at markets as sex slaves, as well as recruiting boys under 18 to be bomb-makers, informants, or human shields to protect IS installations against US-led air strikes.  Developmentally disabled children are given the most heinous jobs of all.

“We have had reports of children, especially children who are mentally challenged, who have been used as suicide bombers, most probably without them even understanding,” said committee expert Renate Winter.  “There was a video placed (online) that showed children at a very young age, approximately eight years of age and younger, to be trained already to become child soldiers.”

The report denounces “the systematic killing of children belonging to religious and ethnic minorities by the so-called ISIL, including several cases of mass executions of boys, as well as reports of beheadings, crucifixions of children and burying children alive.”  Some of these children were killed in battle, while others had died of “dehydration, starvation and heat”.

The 18 authors of the report are calling on Iraqi authorities to take all necessary measures to “rescue children” from Islamic State and to prosecute perpetrators of crimes.