to below 1.5°C, and failed to respond adequately to environmental degradation. Iraq reported record revenues from oil sales and announced plans to drill new wells and increase oil production. Saudi Arabia announced plans to increase its output by about 1 million barrels a day by 2027 and increase by 50% its production of natural gas by 2030. It continued to play a spoiler role in international negotiations on the phase out of fossil fuels, blocking a G20 initiative to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and was one of the strongest opponents of including fossil fuel phase out in the COP28 decision. Kuwait retained plans to increase fossil fuel production until at least 2035, with the state-owned Kuwait Oil Company announcing in June that it would spend over USD 40 billion by 2028 to expand oil production. Qatar expanded its production of liquefied natural gas. However, Oman launched a programme to reduce carbon emissions, focusing on carbon neutrality goals for 2030, 2040 and 2050, although it continued to rely on and produce non-renewable sources of energy. The choice of UAE as the COP28 host proved controversial not least because the stateowned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the world’s largest producers of hydrocarbons which is headed by COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber, had announced plans to aggressively expand its fossil fuel production. In December, at COP28, states agreed, for the first time, a decision that mentioned fossil fuels, but fell far short of what was needed, including by leaving loopholes allowing fossil fuel producers and states to continue with their current approach. States, including those most responsible for the climate crisis, also failed to provide adequate commitments on funding, either for climate finance to help other states transition to clean energy or to adapt to the harmful impacts of the climate crisis, and offered barely enough to operationalize the new Loss and Damage Fund. Governments must urgently take steps to mitigate the climate crisis, and to keep global warming to within the limit of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, including by curbing their carbon emissions (particularly those most responsible for historical emissions), and ending the funding of fossil fuel extraction. All states with the necessary resources should significantly increase funding to countries in need of assistance for human rightsconsistent mitigation and adaptation measures. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Torture and other ill-treatment continued in official and unofficial places of detention, with rampant levels in Egypt, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria that sometimes led to deaths in custody with impunity; and continuing reports emerging of its use from Algeria, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine (State of) and the UAE. Torture was often used to extract “confessions” and methods included beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, suspension in contorted positions, rape and other sexual violence, denial of healthcare and prolonged solitary confinement. In Egypt, torture and other ill-treatment remained routine in prisons, police stations and National Security Agency-run facilities, and included deliberate denial of healthcare, prolonged solitary confinement, bombardment with bright lights, constant camera surveillance, and denial of family visits. In Iran and Libya, it remained widespread and systematic, with filmed “confessions” extracted under torture broadcast publicly. In almost all cases documented across the region, authorities failed to adequately investigate torture allegations and suspicious deaths in custody. Whistle-blower Mohamed Benhlima told an Algerian court in July that law enforcement officers had tortured him, including by stripping him naked, tying his legs and hands and pouring cold water on him, and that he was also sexually harassed, beaten and threatened. The judge did not open an investigation into his allegations and he was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. The State of the World’s Human Rights 67