Governments must address impunity by undertaking thorough, independent, impartial, investigations into crimes under international law and other serious human rights abuses, and by bringing suspected perpetrators to justice in fair trials. Full cooperation should be extended to international investigations and justice processes and reparations provided for historical human rights abuses. VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW Violations of international humanitarian law persisted in Myanmar, where indiscriminate and targeted air and ground attacks by the military and associated militias spread across the country resulting in over 1,000 civilian deaths. There were also reports of attacks by armed opposition groups on civilians linked to Myanmar’s military authorities. In the context of ongoing armed resistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province, there was new evidence of enforced collective punishments against the civilian population and extrajudicial executions of captured fighters from the National Resistance Front, while attacks by armed groups, primarily the Islamic State of Khorasan Province, resulted in thousands of casualties. All parties to armed conflicts must abide by international humanitarian law, including by ending indiscriminate or direct attacks against civilians or civilian infrastructure. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS Several countries remained mired in serious economic crises. Skyrocketing inflation in Laos and Pakistan and resulting cost of living hikes impacted the most vulnerable to marginalization. In Sri Lanka, where over a quarter of the population risked falling below the poverty line, access to food, healthcare and other basic needs became a daily challenge, particularly for daily wage earners and Malaiyaha Tamils. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan deepened, leading to fears of a further increase in the already high numbers of people reliant on humanitarian aid – yet the humanitarian response plan remained woefully underfunded. In Papua New Guinea, chronic under-resourcing of the health system meant that much of the population could not access adequate healthcare. Food insecurity persisted in North Korea and healthcare including essential medicines and vaccines were often unavailable. Forced evictions and house demolitions left thousands of people homeless and destitute or at risk thereof. In Cambodia, the process of forcibly evicting 10,000 families from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor continued. Close to 300,000 people were made homeless in India following the demolition of informal settlements in Delhi ahead of the G20 Summit, and demolitions of largely Muslim homes, businesses and places of worship continued in punishment for communal violence. In Indonesia, authorities responded with excessive force to communities protesting against planned evictions and infrastructure development projects, while in Laos the construction of a dam threatened to displace thousands of villagers, without adequate arrangements for compensation. Cultural and linguistic rights and the right to education for ethnic minorities across China, were undermined by government policies including assimilationist policies targeting Tibetan and Uyghur children. Governments should ensure that economic, social and cultural rights are protected and that policies do not compound the violations of rights to food, health, and livelihood. 44 The State of the World’s Human Rights