REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING The indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers was ruled unconstitutional by courts in both Australia and South Korea, but protections for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants remained inadequate across the region and their human rights were widely disregarded. Many refugees and migrants were arbitrarily and indefinitely detained, including in squalid immigration detention centres, or were denied adequate housing and basic services and lacked freedom of movement. The Malaysian authorities failed to investigate the deaths of 150 people, including women and children, in immigration detention centres in 2022 and, in the meantime, concerns about conditions in the centres persisted. In Bangladesh, a fire in one camp and a cyclone rendered thousands of Rohingya refugees homeless yet again. In Thailand, a new mechanism for screening refugees and asylum seekers was established, but their indefinite detention continued, and poor conditions resulted in the deaths of two Uyghur men. A new immigration law in Japan sanctioned the continuation of indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers, while amendments to Taiwan’s immigration law failed to include protections against refoulement. There was serious concern about the fate of hundreds of North Koreans forcibly repatriated by the Chinese government despite warnings that they would likely face severe punishment. Following the Pakistan government’s October announcement that unregistered Afghan refugees must leave the country within a month, over 490,000 people were forcibly returned to Afghanistan which many had fled for fear of persecution by the Taliban. Malaysia also violated the principle of non-refoulement by forcibly returning refugees to Myanmar where they faced serious human rights violations. Government responses to human trafficking in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand remained inadequate, where foreign workers were recruited by deceptive means and forced, often under threat of violence, to work in cyber scams and illegal gambling operations. Governments must cease detaining asylum seekers on the basis of their immigration status and allow them to seek international protection. In no circumstances should anyone be forcibly returned to a place where they could face persecution or other human rights violations. Protections against human trafficking should be strengthened and survivors provided with legal and other support including for facilitation of repatriation where safe to do so. DEATH PENALTY In a positive move, the government of Malaysia repealed the mandatory death penalty for all offences and abolished the death penalty entirely for seven offences. However, the death penalty continued to be used extensively throughout the region, frequently in violation of international law and standards. In both China and Viet Nam, executions were reported but figures on the use of the death penalty remained classified as state secrets. In Afghanistan, death sentences were reported to have been imposed, including by methods such as stoning, found by UN bodies to amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In Singapore, a woman was among those executed for drugs related offences, while anti-death penalty activists and lawyers were subjected to harassment. Governments that still retain the death penalty must take urgent steps to abolish it. 48 The State of the World’s Human Rights