violence in recent years. Government restrictions prevented access to humanitarian aid in both states. Afghanistan’s armed conflict continued due to a resurgent Taliban, inflicting a devastating toll on civilians. Armed groups fuelled insecurity and suffering in several countries committing abuses such as abductions and unlawful killings in central and northeastern India and in Jammu and Kashmir state. Bombings and shootings in Indonesia by the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) illustrated an utter disregard for the right to life. In Afghanistan armed groups carried out horrific attacks in the capital, Kabul, including on aid agency CARE International, which targeted civilians in an act that constituted a war crime. The regional backdrop of repression, conflict and insecurity fuelled the global refugee crisis. Across the region, millions became refugees and asylum-seekers, forced from their homes often into appalling and lifethreatening conditions. Many were stranded in precarious situations, vulnerable to myriad further abuses. In countries such as Australia and Thailand, governments exacerbated suffering by sending people back to countries where they risked human rights violations. Many others were displaced in their own countries. Corporations were frequently active or complicit in abuses. The South Korean government allowed private companies to hinder lawful trade union activity, only belatedly addressing ill-health and even deaths caused by exposure to harmful products. In India, the US-based Dow Chemical Company and its subsidiary Union Carbide Corporation failed again to appear before a Bhopal court on criminal charges related to the 1984 gas leak disaster. The region was frequently at odds with the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty. China remained the world’s most prolific executioner, even though the actual figures remained a state secret. In Pakistan, the number of people executed – since 2014 when it lifted a moratorium on executions – rose to more than 400. In contravention of Amnesty International Report 2016/17 international standards, some of those executed were juveniles at the time of the offence, some had a mental disability, and others had been sentenced after unfair trials. In Japan, executions were shrouded in secrecy. In Maldives, officials threatened to resume executions after a 60-year moratorium. In the Philippines, draft legislation to reintroduce the death penalty was put before Congress. More positively, Nauru became the 103rd country to repeal the death penalty for all crimes. Major developments included Myanmar’s new quasi-civilian government to which Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed de facto leader, a role especially created for her after the National League for Democracy party’s election victory in 2015. The new government took steps to improve human rights but faced daunting challenges bequeathed by half a century of repressive military rule. Its power was constrained by the military’s enduring influence, including its control of key ministries and retention of a quarter of parliamentary seats. There was little improvement in Myanmar’s ongoing conflicts, the Rohingya’s plight, humanitarian assistance for displaced communities, impunity for human rights violators and reformation of repressive laws. In the Philippines, state-sanctioned violence, typically in the form of unlawful killings, occurred on a massive scale under Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency. The brutal crackdown on those suspected of involvement in drug crimes led to over 6,000 people killed in the so-called “war on drugs”. In February, the devastating impact of Cyclone Winston on Fiji highlighted the country’s inadequate infrastructure when 62,000 people were displaced after their homes were destroyed; discrimination against some groups in aid distribution and a shortage of building materials failed those most in need. In May, Sri Lanka ratified the International Convention against Enforced Disappearance. It remains to be seen whether Sri Lanka will make enforced disappearance a specific crime in its domestic law. Fiji ratified the UN 33