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.

These laws were imposed on farmers in September, and whilst India’s Prime Minister insists that they grant farmers more autonomy, as they can set their own prices and sell directly to private businesses, farmers maintain that legislation leaves farmers vulnerable to corporate exploitation.

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for 58% of India's 1.3 billion population, meaning farmers are the biggest voting bloc in the country.

According to Ashutosh Mishra, the media coordinator of protest organizer All India Kisan Sangharsh Committee, which represents around 200 farming unions, tens of thousands of demonstrators have gathered at each of New Delhi's three borders -- a line of protesters at one of the borders stretches for 30 kilometres (19 miles), he said.

The police have made attempts to block demonstrators from entering the city. They fired tear gas and water cannons on Thursday and Friday after protestors pelted police officers with stones and damaged public property, according to Manoj Yadav, a senior police official from Haryana.

"We are trying to be wary of Covid but we don't have an option -- it is a question of life and death," said Mukut Singh, the president of a farmers union in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

"We are the ones who have provided food, milk, vegetables when the whole country was in lockdown -- we were still toiling in the fields," he said. "It is the government who has put us at risk by introducing these laws during COVID-19."

Read more from Al Jazeera, the BBC, and CNN

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. 

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said the “list of diehard Taiwan secessionists” now under consideration was only aimed at a very small number of independence supporters and those who fund them.

“It is absolutely not aimed at the vast majority of Taiwan compatriots,” she told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory while Taiwan’s government considers the island an independent country. 

Chinese media said the 2005 Anti-Secession Law, which mandates use of force if China judges Taiwan to have declared independence, could be used to charge persons on the blacklist. 

The moves follows Beijing’s July unveiling of new national security laws for Chinese-run Hong Kong that prescribe sentences ranging up to life terms for crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

Separately, Zhu said a Chinese court this week sentenced a Taiwanese citizen to four years in prison for espionage.

Last month, Chinese state television ran a series of programs featuring “confessions” by Taiwanese spies, which Taiwan described as entrapment and another reason for people to fear visiting China.

Taiwan reports China is framing and entrapping people and putting them on television to confess to crimes before going on trial. The move has been criticized by rights groups as a serious breach of proper legal process.

France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, ordered an internal police investigation after officers were filmed throwing migrants out of tents while evacuating a protest camp in Paris on Tuesday. 

The police were caught by journalists and activists shaking migrants inside tents until they tumbled out and resistors were abused by batons, according to the head of aid group Doctors Without Borders, Corinne Torre. 

The protestors were calling attention to the hundreds of migrants who were kicked out of another camp last week and have been sleeping on the streets out of desperation. Most of these migrants are from Afghanistan, Somalia, and Eritrea.

Aid groups and the government are focused on finding temporary accommodations for hundreds of migrants who were forcibly removed from the camps on the Place de la Republique on Monday night. 

The evacuation garnered public attentions amid tensions over a draft law intended to increase police powers and provide greater protection to all officers. It notably makes it criminal to publish images of officers with intent to cause them harm, a measure that has been hotly contested by civil liberties campaigners and media freedom groups. 

The interior minister described the evacuations were “shocking” and promised to make the results of the investigation public, an assertion that contrasts his defence of police officers in recent months and half-hearted response to severe violence enacted by the police at protests. 

Read more here

At least 600 people have been killed in Mai Kadara massacre in Ethiopia, in the Tigray region, forcing tens of thousands to cross the Tekeze River and seek shelter in Sudan.

An estimated 30,000 refugees have decided to make this journey. 

“It took twelve days to get here,” said one relieved looking refugee. “We had to live in a forest, a forest, but now we have reached Sudan.”

Ethiopians seeking refuge in Sudan have described intense fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, where fatal battles between federal government troops and rebel forces have taken place. 

“The government wants to get rid of the Tigray people, so we fled. The people are living in conflict there,” Gowru Awara, an Ethiopian refugee in Sudan’s Gadarif state, told Al Jazeera.

“People have been slaughtered with knives. Pregnant women have had their bellies opened. The government is bombing civilians and killing us all.”

“They bombed with artillery, and the air force raided,” said Asmara Tefsay, a 31-year old mother.

On November 14, the Tigray regional government said it fired rockets at two airports in the neighbouring Amhara region, adding that such strikes would continue “unless the attacks against us stop.” On the 16th, hundreds of civilians were “hacked to death” in the town of Mai Kadra. 

Alsir Khaled, regional head of the Sudanese refugee agency reported that at least 21,000 Ethiopians crossed into eastern Sudan seeking help on Friday. 

“They keep on coming,” he told AFP, adding that many arrived from Humera, where some of the heaviest fighting has been reported.

The United Nations refugee agency says about 32,000 people have fled the Tigray region into neighbouring Sudan so far, and is anticipating up to 200,000 in the next six months.

Read more from Sky News, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

A barrage of rocket attacks in residential areas in Kabulon Saturday, killed at least eight and wounded more than 30 people, according to Afghan officials. 

The interior ministry reported that over a dozen rockets were launched from a pickup truck inside the city which the regional Islamic State group confessed to organising. 

The Islamic State group has been behind other attacks that have happened recently in Kabul., including two assaults on education institutions that killed nearly 50 people. 

The attack happened hours before a meeting between the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Taliban negotiators in an effort to resume peace talks. 

Mr Pompeo met representatives from the Taliban and the Afghan government in the capital, Doha, amid suggestions that the US and the militant group were close to breaking a deadlock in peace negotiations. 

Afghanistan’s chief peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah said Afghans still wanted a ceasefire but said that delegation had been “advised to be flexible."

Mr Abdullah also said that the Trump administration’s announcement to reduce the number of American troops in the country from 4,500 to 2,500 by next year, per an agreement signed by the US and the Taliban in February this year, was premature and said the move would have “some impact” but clarified, “Of course we would have preferred it differently.”

The rockets hit areas of central and north Kabul — including the heavily fortified area where embassies and international companies reside — on Saturday. 

Read more here and here. 

Photo of 24 high-ranking Nazis trials in Nuremberg

On the anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, UK Ambassador, Neil Bush, speaking at the OSCE Permanent Council, reiterated Britain’s aims of bringing to “impunity for the worst crimes”.

The Nuremberg trials were a series of trials held in the aftermath of the Second World War and in the wake of the Holocaust. Ambassador Bush notes that they were the “first of their kind” and marked “a reassertion of justice, human rights, and accountability”.

He further stated that the precedent set allowed for the prosecution of war crimes and genocides as well as leading to the creation of the International Criminal Court.

Bush called for anniversary to serve as a reminder of this history and asks se to reflect on the lessons learnt.

“Given the impunity we still see today, it’s a timely reminder of the need to recommit strengthening international criminal justice”, Bush stated.

Read more here.

Thousands of people joined Thai students in a protest calling for education reforms as a part of wider calls for government removal. 

High school students are seeking greater freedom and fairer treatment within an education system which currently instills obedience. Protesters have three core demands: the removal of Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister, a new constitution and reforms to the monarchy of King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

This was the first major protest since the Prime Minister warned on thursday that police would use all laws against protesters, who have become the biggest challenge to the establishment. 

At least 41 people were injured following conflict between protestors and the police in the Thai capital, Bangkok earlier this week. It was said to be the most violent protest to date. Protestors were attempting to reach parliament on Tuesday and tried to cut through razor-wire barricades near parliament where legislators were debating making changes to the constitution. 

Protestors threw smoke bombs and bags of paint at police, who retaliated with water cannon and tear-gas solution. 

Some protestors suffered gunshot wounds although police denied using live rounds or rubber bullets. 

Protests began in June after prominent pro-democracy activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit went missing in Cambodia where he was exiled after the 2014 coup. His death reverberated through the country, and Thai citizens began to question the legitimacy of their monarchy. 

Thailand’s lèse-majesté law, which forbids any insult to the monarchy, is among the strictest in place. Human rights groups have contended that the law is often used to curb free speech.

Read more from Reuters here and the BBC here. 

The United Nations has urged Egypt to release three members of an activist group arrested within days of each other as international pressure abounds. 

Security forces arrested Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) office manager Mohamed Basheer on Sunday, Karim Ennarah on Wednesday, and executive director Gasser Abdel-Razek on Thursday. 

The call came on Friday as the EIPR was targeted after several ambassadors and diplomats visited its Cairo office on November 3. 

The detainees were held on charges including “joining a terror group” and “spreading false news”, said the EIPR. 

“The arrests of three human rights defenders in Egypt this week is a very worrying development that underscores the extreme vulnerability of civil society activists,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a statement.

“We are very concerned that the targeting of human rights defenders and other activists … are having a profound chilling effect on an already weakened Egyptian civil society,” added spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

“This is a test for the international community,” said Philip Luther, the watchdog’s Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director.

Rights groups estimate that some 60,000 detainees in Egypt are political prisoners. These include activists, journalists, lawyers, and academics arrested in a crackdown on dissent under President el-Sisi. 

There have been no immediate reactions from Egypt. 

Read more here. 

The victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) at Myanmar’s elections has been heralded as evidence of support for the country’s “nascent democracy” in defiance of the half-century military dictatorship. However, Suu Kyi’s tainted status as an apologist for the military dictatorship and on-going denial of genocidal violence highlights the illusory choice present in Myanmar.

The international community’s continued fawning over the former Nobel Peace Prize winner illustrates a collective and self-serving amnesia over the Rohingya genocide. Though Suu Kyi’s backing of the genocide has become more publicly exposed, international complicity and inaction in the face of atrocities the Rohingya face remains a stark reminder of their fundamental unwillingness to confront the ethnic nature of Myanmar’s Buddhist military dictatorship.

'Fundamentally flawed'

In the lead up to this recent election, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that the polls were “fundamentally flawed”. Their report noted the disenfranchisement of Rohingya and other ethnic minorities; the arrests of student dissidents; a crackdown on free speech; and commented on the deeply flawed constitution. The New York Times reports more than 2.5 million minority ethnic peoples, including the Rohingya, were disenfranchised during this election. Myanmar’s authorities have utilised Section 10 of the Election Law, which demands that all candidates be born to two Myanmar citizens, to deny the Rohingya the right to vote or run for office. It is worth bearing in mind that discriminatory legislation has been brought in against the Rohingya since the late 1970s.

HRW further notes that Myanmar’s authorities have arrested student protesters demanding “an end to the fighting in Rakhine State and immediate lifting of all internet restrictions”. They are being charged under Section 505 (b) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, which prohibits speech which “may cause “fear or alarm in the public” and lead others to “upset public tranquillity”.

Hannah Beech, Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, commented on the hypocrisy of Suu Kyi noting that having 15 years under house arrest and advocating for democratic rights, “she has instead become a jailer of critics and an apologist for the slaughter of minorities”. “Poets, painters and students have been jailed for peacefully speaking their minds: In Myanmar today, 584 people are either political prisoners or are awaiting trial on those kinds of charges,”  she added.

Speaking to Tamil Guardian, Mabrur Ahmed, Director of Restless Beings, noted the undemocratic nature of the elections but also the deeper structural issues in Myanmar. “The constitution is problematic, 25 % of parliamentary seats going to the military," said Ahmed. "Once you have such a heavy percentage go to the military, anyone elected has to go into coalition with the military. They become merely coalition partners.”

When you have a situation in which the international community is able to recognise that a genocide took place, Ahmed notes, the re-election of the incumbent party poses a serious problem. “Citizens are either not aware of what’s taken place or don’t care, what’s happened”.

International complicity

Last December, Suu Kyi travelled to the Hague to defend Myanmar’s military from accusations of genocide against the Rohingya during a brutal operation in the northern Rakhine state in 2017, which forced 700,000 Rohingya to flee from their homes. Her attendance, Ahmed notes, is interesting given that she is the “civilian leader” and these charges were directed at the military. Suu Kyi’s attendance highlighted that Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders are working in lockstep agreement to cover up the atrocities that the armed forces are accused of. She has even actively denied well-documented accounts of sexual violence, decrying them as “fake rapes”.

The International Court of Justice eventually ruled that the state had to put in measures to stop genocidal acts against the Rohingya peoples. Following the initial call on Myanmar to protect the Rohingya, the court said the state had “not presented to the court concrete measures aimed specifically at recognizing and ensuring the right of the Rohingya to exist as a protected group”.

Whilst blame rightfully falls on Myanmar, we should not forget the “systemic failure” by UN agencies to prevent the atrocities brought upon the Rohingya.

“Systemic failure” was the phrase used to describe the UN’s inaction by an independent investigator, and former Guatemalan foreign minister, Gert Rosenthal. He notes in his report that UN agencies failed to find a common strategy towards Myanmar, even as abuses escalated. And whilst some in the international community have taken recent steps forwards to recognising the Rohingya genocide and placing sanctions on individual high-ranking military officials, Ahmed has criticised the move for not going far enough.

He questions the sanctions placed on individuals within the military by countries such as the UK, noting that “punitive action can’t be held to one person but must be held to the institution as a whole […] It’s got to be the entirety of the government”. This response, he notes, should be contrasted to sanctions placed by the US on countries as Iran. “At the moment, it is little more than a tick box exercise to put sanctions on a person," he says.

"It doesn’t mean much," he concluded. "It has got to be deeper and more impactful.”

Australian special forces were allegedly involved in the murder of 39 Afghan civilians according to damning report. 

For over four years, Maj Gen Justice Paul Brereton investigated allegations that a small group within the elite Special Air Services brutally murdered Afghan civilians, allegedly slitting throats, gloating about the murders, keeping kill counts, and photographing bodies with phones and weapons they planted on them to justify their actions. 

The report found that the special forces were responsible for dozens of unlawful killings largely involving prisoners and were deliberately covered up; 39 Afghans were unlawfully killed n 23 incidents, either by special forces or at the intstructions of special forces; none of the killings took place during battle and would constitute a war crime; all of the victims were non-combatants or ex-combatants and a total of 25 perpetrators have been identified as principals or accessories, some of the perpetrators continue to serve in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Evidence suggests junior soldiers were instructed by their superiors to execute prisoners in cold blood as part of a “blooding” process to give them their first kill. 

Brereton described the group’s actions as “disgraceful and a profound betrayal” of the ADF. 

The chief of the ADF, General Angus Campbell, promised to act on the Brereton’s reports findings. Campbell accepted all 143 recommendation including referring individuals to the office of the special investigator to consider potential criminal cases. 

Campbell also mentioned changes to the army’s organizational structure and intends to review honours and awards. 

In a press conference in Canberra on Thursday, Campbell apologized “To the people of Afghanistan, on behalf of the Australian Defence Force… for any wrongdoing by Australian soldiers.”

Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, urged nations whose militaries have served as part of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, like the United States and Britain, to probe their own soldiers’ conduct in suit. 

“It was part of a sick culture that essentially treated Afghans living in these contested areas as if they were all dangerous criminals — even the children — or simply as not human,” she said. 

The Brereton report largely absolves the senior command of participation in the war crimes to any extent, contending that the crimes were committed and covered up by patrol commanders and their protegees. 

According to the report, patrol commanders are viewed as “demigods” making it impossible to speak out against their actions. 

Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, called President Ashraf Ghani to apologise before the report was released on Thursday. On Twitter, Ghani’s office acknowledged that Morrison had “expressed his deepest sorrow over the misconduct by some Australian troops in Afghanistan and assured the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan of the investigations and to ensuring justice.”

The government has committed to criminal investigations. Brereton has recommended referring 36 matters to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation which involves 19 individuals.

Read more from The Guardian here. 

The leader of pro-independence group, Polisario Front, in the Western Sahara declared war on Morocco last week following border confrontation. 

The announcement came a day after Morocco reportedly launched a military operation in a United Nations buffer zone after accusing the pro-independence group of blocking access to Mauritania. 

Tensions in the region date back to 1975 when Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish protectorate that was previously occupied by Mauritania. For years, the Polisario fought for independence from Morocco in an armed resistance that lasted until 1991, ending after the United Nations negotiated an armistice. 

The truce was negotiated with the understanding that a referendum would be held to decide whether the people of Western Sahara would choose independence or integration with Morocco. The referendum has not taken place yet, mostly because both sides cannot settle on who makes up the Indigenous people of there territory and should therefore be permitted to participate in the vote. 

The hostility has worsened instability in major African countries with a protracted war in Libya, insurgency in Mali and an armed conflict in Ethiopia. 

The conflict has left 80 percent of the disputed territory under Moroccan control. 

Last Friday, Morocco and the Polisario Front exchanged fire but neither party confirmed any deaths or injuries, or specify how many combatants were involved. However, the pro-independence groups accuses Morocco of having shot at peaceful protestors. 

The secretary general of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, issued a decree announcing that the “resumption of armed struggle in defence of the legitimate rights of our people.”

The end to the cease-fire threatens to unleash simmering tensions between the Moroccan kingdom and the liberation movement that have been building.

The escalating tensions recently have caused concern among the United Nations, the African Union, and countries in North Africa and the Middle East.  United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, said that he was “determined to do everything possible to remove all obstacles to the resumption of the political process” in a statement. 

Read more here and here. 

Aung San Suu Kyi has won enough parliamentary seats to form the next government in Myanmar while the military backed opposition has called for a new vote.

Ms Suu Kyi's party, National League for Democracy (NLD) has secured 346 seats, more than the 322 needed to secure a majority. According to Myanmar's constitution, Ms Suu Kyi's government is required to govern with military involvement. 

The military backed oppostion, the Union Solidarity and Development party won 24 seats and have demanded a new vote "in order to have an election that is free, fair and unbiased and free from unfair campaigning". However, domestic and international observers have reported that the election ran smoothly. 

Observers have questioned the credibility of the election due to the disenfranchisement of the Rohingya population.  In October, the election commission cancelled voting in conflict -hit states including Rakhine, Shan and Kachin. The commission stated that they "were not in a position to hold a free and fair election". These mass cancellations have left nearly two million people disenfranchised. 

Ms Suu Kyi has been heavily criticised for her response to the military crackdown on the Rohingya population which is now subject to a genocide investigation. 

Read more here: Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi heads to Hague to battle genocide charges. 

In 2017, a brutal crackdown on the northern Rakhine state led over 730,000 Rohingya to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. The UN has reported that this crackdown was executed with "genocidal intent" and included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson. Ms Suu Kyi has rejected genocide accusations but admits war crimes may have been committed.

Read more from Reuters here and the BBC here. 

_{(US troops in Afghanistan, 2019. Courtesy: The National Guard.)}

The Afghan Taliban denied responsibility for an attack on Kabul University earlier this month, as they called on the US to ensure that an agreement that sees American troops withdrawn from the country by netx year.

“The Islamic Emirate would like to stress to the new American president-elect and future administration that implementation of the agreement is the most reasonable and effective tool for ending the conflict between both our countries,” the group said in a statement on the results of the US presidential election.

The statement comes after at least 22 people were by gunmen who shot fire at Kabul University before provoking security forces into a gruesome, hours-long battle last week. Afghanistan’s Vice President Amrullah Salleh designated responsibility to the Taliban, but these claims were rejected and the armed group who condemned the attack.

The attack was claimed by the regional Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL, ISIS) group and was the second time in less than two weeks that an educational institution was targeted in the country’s capital.  At least 24 students were killed last month when ISIL fighters enacted a suicide bombing at an education centre in the capital last month.

The groups also claimed responsibility for a 2018 attack in front of Kabul University where dozens were killed.

The Islamic State group issued a message on the Telegram app on Tuesday, saying it targeted “the graduation of judges and investigators working for the apostate Afghan government”. The attack took place on the university’s eastern side, which houses its law and journalism faculties.

Hamid Obaidi, spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, told AFP the attack started when government officials were arriving for the opening of an Iranian book fair that was organized on campus which was being attended by several dignitaries at the time of the shooting. It is still unclear whether the book fair was targeted.

Mushtaq Rahim, a conflict, peace, and security specialist told Al Jazeera the incident is likely to negatively affect the peace talks that were already facing challenges. “Seeing these heinous attacks on civilians and civilian installations creates a negative mood among the public and the government will also have to take on a harsh approach to manage people’s expectations,” he said. Taliban negotiators have been meeting in Qatar to try and broker a peace deal that would result in the U.S. withdrawing its troops and ending America’s longest war.

Afghanistan is also likely to receive reduced pledges for aid from international donors who are gathering in Geneva next month because of uncertainty over the peace talks with the Taliban will progress. The United States is said to make large cuts to its yearly contribution of $800 million for civilian funding. Other NATO members like Britain and France were considering reducing pledges and Australia is planning to make cuts of up to 30%.

In an interview with CBS earlier this year, Biden had said the US bears “zero responsibility’’ if the Taliban came back to power US troops left the country. “Zero responsibility. The responsibility I have is to protect America’s national interest and not put our women and men in harm’s way … that’s what I’d do as president,” Biden stated.

See more from Al Jazeera here.

The United States has imposed sanctions on top Lebanese politician and Christian ally of Hezbollah, Gebran Bassil, for alleged corruption. The sanction blocks Bassil's ability to hold assets and carry out financial transactions in the US.

Bassil has served in multiple high-level posts in the Lebanese government, including as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Minister of Energy and Water, and Minister of Telecommunications.

According to US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the “systemic corruption in Lebanon's political system exemplified by Bassil has helped to erode the foundation of an effective government that serves the Lebanese people”.

A State Department news release stated that during Bassil’s tenure as Minister of Energy, he “was involved in approving several projects that would have steered Lebanese government funds to individuals close to him through a group of front companies”.

"This designation further demonstrates that the United States supports the Lebanese people in their continued calls for reform and accountability," Steve added. 

It is believed that as a leading candidate for the next presidential elections, the sanctions are likely to impair Bassil’s chances to hold the top office. 

Mr Bassil reacted defiantly on Twitter stating that the US measures "have not frightened me and promises have not tempted me".

Earlier this year, the US also sanctioned two former Lebanese government ministers for allegedly providing material support to Hezbollah and engaging in corruption

Read more here.