"UK and allies sanction human rights abusers", 8 December 2023

... The UK, US and Canada are ... announcing a sweeping package of sanctions targeting individuals linked to human rights abuses around the world, ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December. 

... the UK is announcing 46 sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, in 2 categories. 

The first set targets 9 individuals and 5 entities for their involvement in trafficking people in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, forcing them to work for online ‘scam farms’ which enable large-scale fraud. Victims are promised well-paid jobs but are subject to torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The UN estimates at least 120,000 people in Myanmar alone are being forced to work for such schemes. The FCDO has helped a small number of British nationals return to the UK who had become victims. 

The second is aimed at a number of individuals linked to the governments, judiciaries and prosecuting authorities of Belarus, Haiti, Iran, and Syria, for their involvement in the repression of citizens solely for exercising fundamental freedoms in those countries.