United Nations Special Rapporteurs have warned of “massive” human rights abuses that are taking place in Mindanao in the Philippines, where the military is currently carrying out operations.

UN special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous peoples and internally displaced people, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz and Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, said the Muslim population on the island is "suffering massive abuses of their human rights, some of which are potentially irreversible".

The UN Secretary General, António Guterres on Friday announced the UN would commence an investigation into the killing of 15 peacekeepers in Congo in December. 

The peacekeepers, who were from Tanzania, were killed during an attack on a base in North Kiru province of Congo. 

The investigate team will include two military officers from Tanzania. 

Myanmar’s government has spoken out against sanctions placed on a general accused of leading the ethnic cleasning campaign of the Rohingya in the Rakhine state.

“This targeted sanction is based on unreliable accusations without evidence, as we have repeatedly said, so we feel sad for that,” Zaw Htay, a spokesman for Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told Reuters.

British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged that she would “never allow” any compromise on the self-determination of the Falkland Islanders, in a Christmas radio message last week.

“I want you to know that I will never allow anyone to compromise your right to self-determination – a right you freely expressed in the 2013 referendum; and a legacy for which so many paid the ultimate price,” she said in the message that was relayed out to the islands.

Human Rights Watch has called for the prosecution of Yazidi fighters over their involvement in executing 52 civilians as part of an alleged revenge attack earlier this year.

Thousands of Palestinians protested for the fourth Friday this month against the US president's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. 

Protesters marched on the streets in Gaza and the West Bank, chanting “Death to America, death to Israel, and death to Trump”.

According to local health officials at least 50 Palestinians have been injured by live fire by Israeli troops. 

Police in Bavaria, Germany on Thursday detained a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. 

The man was detained at Munish airport following an arrest warrant issued by Interpol, reports Sputnik.  

He is alleged to have involved in acts of torture and executions of civilians. 

The Ukrainian government and separatists reportedly backed by Russia have carried out the largest prisoners swap to date, since violence erupted in the region in 2014.

Ukraine handed over 246 prisoners that it had in its custody in exchange for 74 prisoners who were being held by separatist forces. The prisoner swap is the largest to date, since the signing of the 2015 Minsk peace agreement.

A former fighter, Azra Bašic was found guilty by a Bosnian court of committing war crimes during the 1990s Balkan war. 

Ms Bašic who is 58 years old was sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

She was found guilty of atrocities including the murder of a detainee who she stabbed in the neck and torture. 

Known as "the mistress of life and death", Ms Bašic was said by the judge to have exhibited "particular cruelty" towards detained ethnic Serbs. 

The governments of South Korea and Japan have clashed over a 2015 reparations agreement on the use of wartime sex slaves by Japan.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the deal on the enforced sex slaves – or ‘comfort women’ as they have been termed – was “seriously flawed”. Tens of thousands of Korean women and girls were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during the Second World War.

Investigators in Germany have handed over nine new cases of war crimes committed by Nazis during World War Two to authorities, for possible prosecution of the perpetrators.

Die Tageszeitung reported this week that the cases all involved guards at concentration camps run by the Nazis at Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Buchenwald and Ravensbrueck.

The European Union has launched disciplinary action against Poland over a series of judicial reforms that it claims threatens the rule of law.

A series of 13 new laws introduced by the Polish government have allowed it to "interfere significantly" in the judiciary says the EU. Vice president of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, told reporters that the new laws” put in serious risk the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers”.

The UN Security Council voted 14-1 in favour of a resolution calling on the US to rescind its decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The resolution, which was vetoed by the US, stated “any decisions and action which purport to have altered, the character, status or demographic composition of the holy city of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded.”

British Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft said,

South Africa’s African National Congress announced that Cyril Ramaphosa, has been elected leader of the party

The 65 year old veteran ANC activist ran on an anti-corruption platform against Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the former wife of current leader Jacob Zuma. He won by a margin of just 179 votes out of the more than 4,700 total ballots cast on Monday. Mr Zuma had been leader of the party since 2007.