vaguely defined laws. A new cybercrime law further repressed individuals’ right to express their opinions online. At least 43 individuals were investigated or prosecuted for online expression, under abusive and vague laws. Nine were tried by the military State Security Court. Governments must respect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including by ensuring that journalists, human rights defenders and activists can enjoy these rights without harassment, violence and prosecution, and releasing those detained for exercising these rights. DENIAL OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS Rising inflation, government failings and other factors – locally, regionally and internationally – continued to put intense pressure on energy and food prices across the region, hitting hardest the least resource-rich and most populous countries, some of which were still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic and other impacts. This left millions of people food insecure, and undermined their rights to water, health and an adequate standard of living. Worst affected were people who experienced multiple forms of discrimination including women, low-paid workers, refugees, migrants and internally displaced people. In Lebanon, the economic crisis deepened, with inflation hitting triple digits and food price inflation reaching over 300%. Many people, particularly those from marginalized groups, could not afford or access medication and other essentials, including potable water, sufficient food, power and other basic goods and vital services. Egypt’s economic crisis had shattering impacts on socio-economic rights. The government allocated about half of the budget to debt repayment while failing to meet its budgetary obligations for spending on health and education, or adequately adjusting its social protection programmes. Combined with rising inflation, this pushed millions more into poverty. In many countries, including those with burgeoning oil- and gas-rich economies, governments failed to protect low-paid workers from labour abuses, and denied workers the right to join independent trade unions and to strike. In the Gulf states, low-paid migrant workers continued to face extreme exploitation, discrimination, grossly inadequate housing, physical and mental abuses, wage theft by their employers and limited access to healthcare. In Qatar, despite the high-profile campaigning on migrant workers’ rights in connection with football’s 2022 World Cup staged there, migrant workers faced abuses, including wage theft, forced labour and restrictions on changing jobs, and had inadequate access to grievance and redress mechanisms. The low minimum wage prevented workers from having an adequate standard of living or freeing themselves from debt bondage caused by paying illegal recruitment fees. In Qatar and some other states, domestic workers, mostly women, faced harsh working conditions and a high risk of physical and mental abuse, including sexual assault. Dozens of Nepali migrant workers contracted to work in Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia suffered human rights abuses, including treatment that may amount to human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation. They were deceived about their jobs, had wages withheld and were housed in appalling accommodation. Some were verbally or physically abused, particularly when they complained about their conditions. Governments must take urgent action to establish social protection measures that protect everyone, including marginalized groups, against the adverse impacts of crises, and call for coordinated international efforts to guarantee the rights to health, food and an adequate standard of living. Governments must protect the right of workers to organize independent trade unions and to protest, and extend labour law protections to migrant workers. The State of the World’s Human Rights 63