seven months’ imprisonment. Nargis Sadat and Parisa Azada Mubariz were arbitrarily arrested by the Taliban, and released after a period of imprisonment, while many other activists and journalists remained imprisoned. REFUGEES’ RIGHTS A pervasive fear of persecution by the Taliban led to thousands of people leaving the country. Many feared attacks by non-state actors such as IS-KP. More than 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan were at risk of forced return.3 More than 490,891 Afghan refugees were reported to have been returned to Afghanistan by the Pakistani government by December. Many others faced deportation or the threat of deportation from Iran and Türkiye. INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE’S RIGHTS As a result of years of conflict, Afghanistan had one of the largest populations of internally displaced people in the world. People who had been returned from Pakistan and other states faced harsh winter conditions without adequate resources, including housing, access to work, healthcare and adequate livelihood. LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS Consensual same-sex relations remained illegal and punishable by death. LGBTI people continued to face a host of human rights violations perpetrated by the Taliban, including discrimination, targeted violence, threats and arbitrary detention. Many continued to live in hiding, fearing a risk to their lives, while some incidents of forced marriages of LGBTI people were also reported. IMPUNITY A culture of impunity, particularly for crimes under international law, remained pervasive. The results of ongoing investigations by the ICC had not been made public by the end of the year.4 Amnesty International called on the UN Human Rights Council to establish an The State of the World’s Human Rights independent international accountability mechanism to collect and preserve evidence for possible criminal proceedings, in addition to the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. In July, the Special Rapporteur stated that the severe discrimination against women and girls amounted to the crime against humanity of gender persecution. He further stated that the Taliban’s aim of total domination over women and girls by governing with systemic discrimination could be “characterized as gender apartheid”. Access to justice for the people of Afghanistan was severely curtailed as the Taliban suspended or abolished formerly existing laws, instead introducing a narrow interpretation of sharia law and replacing former judicial and legal professionals with their preferred candidates. 1. Afghanistan: The Taliban’s War on Women: The Crime against Humanity of Gender Persecution in Afghanistan, 25 May 2. Afghanistan: “Your sons are in the mountains”: The collective punishment of civilians in Panjshir by the Taliban, 7 June 3. “Pakistan: Halt mass detentions and deportations of Afghan refugees”, 10 November 4. “Afghanistan: ICC justice should match victims’ demands”, 6 December ALBANIA Republic of Albania Journalists were subjected to hate speech, physical assaults and a gun attack. Domestic violence against women continued, with 12 women killed by partners and family members. Albania and Italy agreed on the construction of two detention centres in Albania for migrants attempting to reach Italy. The CEDAW Committee reported a lack of progress on LGBTI people’s rights. The spreading of infectious disease by negligence was abolished as a criminal offence. The reduced numbers of courts raised concerns about access to justice for citizens. 73