Karima Baloch, 37-year-old Balochistan activist and refugee, has been found dead in Canada following her missing disappearance.

Baloch was the first chair of the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO-Azad), a student organisation advocating for the rights of those in Balochistan and highlighting the ongoing issue of enforced disappearances. In 2016, she was listed by the BBC as one of its 100 most inspiration and influent women for her human rights work.

<p>The Sandinista National Liberation Front, Nicaragua’s ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, passed a law preventing opposition candidates from running in the 2021 presidential elections.&nbsp;</p> <p>The new law has granted Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega and his government the power to unilaterally declare citizens “terrorists” or coup-mongers, classify them as “traitors to the homeland,” inhibiting candidates from running in the election.&nbsp;</p>

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has refused to investigate allegations of genocide committed by China against the Uighur Muslim minority, rejecting complaints filed by two Uighur exile groups, the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement.

The complaint details “a campaign of torture, forced sterilization and mass surveillance against Muslims, among other abuses”. This includes the mass detention of Uighur Muslims, in what the Chinese government claim are “job training centres”.

The US has imposed sanction on a key official in Turkey’s Presidency of Defence Industries, Turkey’s military procurement agency, following the procurement of S-400 defence missiles from Russia.

The ban targets Ismail Demir, chief of the Presidency of Defence industry, and three other senior Turkish officials. The sanctions will block any assets held by the officials in the US and impose a travel ban on them. There is a further ban on most export licences, loans and credits to the agency.

 

The US has become the first country to recognise Morocco’s claims over West Sahara, in exchange, Morocco has become the Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel since August.

Morocco has occupied the resource-rich territories of West Sahara since 1975, in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. Democracy Now highlights that during this occupation “thousands have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation”.

Marking International Human Rights Day, the US and UK announced a new round of sanctions targeting 31 human rights violators from across the globe.

This is the third announcement of sanctions under the UK’s sanctions regime and includes travel bans and asset freezes for human rights violators from Russia, Venezuela, Gambia, and Pakistan. The US sanctions targeted officials from China, El Salvador, Haiti, Liberia, Jamaica, Kyrgyz Republic, and Russia.  

<p>More than 70 farmers from Zabarmari, a village in north-eastern Nigeria, after the Islamist militant group, known as Boko Haram, accused the farmers of betraying them.</p> <p>On 28 November, 50 farmers were approached by Boko Haram militants and led to the nearby village of Koshebe. Presuming that they protected under the peace deal, they were slaughtered en masse in a building. When 20 more villagers went in search for these farmers they were also killed.</p>

Thousands of Rohingya are being shipped to a remote island by the Bangladesh government says refugees and humanitarian workers, despite government assurances that no one is being forced to leave. 

More than 1,600 Rohingya refugees were sent to Bhasan Char, a flood prone island today, despite the government asserting that they were only moving the Rohingya who were willing to go as a measure to relieve overcrowing in camps. The camps have become home to over a million Rohingya as they fled Myanmar following a military crackdown. 

Punjab Haryana border near Ambala

Indian farmers have maintained that they will intensify protests and hold a nationwide strike on Tuesday after negotiations with the Indian government broke down.

Farmers Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh are continuing to block key highways on the outskirts of New Delhi as they demand a total repeal of the farming bill which seeks to deregulate crop pricing.

China is considering drafting a blacklist of “die-hard” supporters of Taiwan’s independence as Beijing may take legal steps against democratically-elected President Tsai Ing-wen. 

Reuters reported that Taiwan condemned the plan after pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao first reported it this month. China’s Global Times tabloid alleged that the list could include senior Taiwanese government officials.