The Hong Kong Court of First Instance on Nov. 19 sentenced 45 defendants for conspiracy to commit subversion, with prison terms ranging from 50 to 120 months, depending on their alleged roles in an unauthorized primary election staged by pro-democracy groups in 2020.

The case stems from pro-democracy activists' efforts beginning in January 2020 to gain a majority in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. Their goal was to pressure the government to meet five demands: withdrawing a pending bill to ease extradition to mainland China, stopping the labeling of protests as "riots," dropping charges against activists, investigating police brutality, and implementing universal suffrage for Legislative Council and chief executive elections. In June 2020, Beijing imposed a National Security Law (NSL), broadly viewed as a means of stifling the ongoing protests. Hong Kong has in recent decades operated under a unique framework that grants it certain autonomy from mainland China's political system, an arrangement stemming from its 156-year history as a British colony before its 1997 handover to Chinese sovereignty.

Supporters of Bolivia's former president Evo Morales took more than 200 soldiers hostage on Nov. 2. The Bolivian Foreign Ministry reported that the activists occupied three military facilities in the region of Chapare during protests. The statement accused them of possessing weapons and ammunition. At least 30 police officers are reportedly injured, and more than 50 protesters were arrested last week.

Turkey on Oct. 23 said it launched air-strikes on supposed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) targets in Syria's Rojava autonomous enclave and Iraq's Kurdistan region in retaliation for an attack on the headquarters of a defense contractor in Ankara. Five were killed and two attackers reported "neutralized" in the explosion and armed assault at the Turkish Aerospace Industries (TUSAS) facility in Ankara's Kahramankazan district. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Turkish authorities quickly blamed the PKK. Strikes were reported on the Rojava towns of Qamishli, Derik, Kobane, Tal Rifaat, and Manbij. Rojava's autonomous authorities said that at least four civilians were killed, including a five-year-old child, and 15 people injured. (Rudaw)

The government of Pakistan has placed a ban on the activities of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, a grassroots organization that advocates for the rights of the Pashtun minority, which has been subjected to decades of abuse. On Oct. 6, the government listed the PTM as a "proscribed organization," essentially labelling it a terrorist group. The order came days before the PTM was slated to hold a large demonstration. Amnesty International described the action as "part of a systematic and relentless clampdown by the Pakistani authorities on peaceful protests and assemblies by dissenting groups."

Leaders and activists from the Fur people in Sudan's Central Darfur state on Oct. 15 voiced their rejection of the Rapid Support Forces' establishment of a new "emirate" in the ethnicity's traditional territory for an Arab group that has migrated from the neighboring Central African Republic. They warned of an agenda of demographic change and the empowerment of outside groups at the expense of the indigenous population. The response came after platforms affiliated with the RSF published a video of a celebration held by a group called "Awlad Baraka & Mubarak," marking the establishment of the "emirate." RSF Brig. Gen. Mohamed Adam Bangoz addressed the event.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report released Oct. 2 raised concerns over the forcible recruitment of children into a youth group associated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), through which they are directed into armed activity.

HRW interviewed multiple families whose children were taken by the Revolutionary Youth Movement of Syria, or Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger. The report revealed that in the vast majority of cases, the families' teenaged son or daughter "simply left home one day, and never returned." In some instances, parents were able to locate their children by contacting local militia forces, who sometimes confirmed the presence of their children in the SDF youth group. Investigations revealed that members of the SDF often recruited children via social media or phone. Typically, recruitment took place by promising youth educational, cultural or vocational opportunities, constituting "covert recruitment."

The New Zealand government on Sept. 11 revealed its plans to move forward with drafting a controversial bill that would redefine the nation's founding document, te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi, despite official advice opposing the policy. Associate Justice Minister David Seymour, leader of the ACT New Zealand Party who secured support for the Treaty Principles Bill in the government's coalition agreement last November, announced the cabinet's approval for the new policy and plans to introduce it to Parliament.

Over 26 rights organizations, including the Kurdistan Human Rights Network and Center for Human Rights in Iran, issued a joint statement Sept. 9 calling for the immediate revocation of the death sentence imposed on Kurdish women's rights activist Pakhshan Azizi. This sentence, handed down by the Iranian judiciary, has sparked international outrage, with the organizations calling it "a blatant violation of human rights principles and standards as well as international conventions and treaties."