The ministerial segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development was held under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), during the high-level segment of its 2015 session that took place from 6 to 10 July 2015 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

          Beirut, 04 October 2017 (Communication and Information Unit) – United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCWA Mohamed Ali Al-Hakim, today said: "Even as we welcome the positive developments with regard to guaranteeing equality and social justice in Arab societies and reforms aimed at enhancing women’s rights and their participation in community building, we should not overlook the tremendous challenges facing our region.

Ministerial delegates participating in the 24th Ministerial Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA) called on member countries to make available up-to-date and precise national statistics on youth unemployment; and collect periodic data on all youth-related issues, including employment, education and health, from such sources as administrative records, population censuses, and household and specialized surveys, with a view to establishing national databases on the issues of employment and unemployment and their implications for youth, and for

“Wherever they may be, Palestinians have suffered from the discriminatory policies pursued by successive Israeli Governments. Attempts by one ethnic or religious group to dominate another are inherently no different from the apartheid regime that the world thought had been eradicated in South Africa in the 1990s.” United Nations Undersecretary-General and ESCWA Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf said.