This booklet briefly presents an analytical framework for understanding the water-energy-food security nexus in the Arab region. The analytical framework considers the linkages that affect the achievement of water, energy and food security through the lens of sustainable development and the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, with a view to mitigating climate change and ensuring access to food, water and sustainable energy for all in the context of a human-rights approach.

This Bulletin presents data and statistical indicators on external trade in goods in the member countries of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). Those data are presented in time series until 2011, and have been primarily drawn from national sources and from secondary sources when needed. The aim of this Bulletin is to provide detailed data on intraregional and international trade in member countries for policymakers, analysts, researchers and other users at the national, regional and international levels. The Bulletin comprises three parts.

Worldwide and in the ESCWA region, persons with physical disabilities face higher levels of unemployment, lower levels of education and higher infant mortality rates than the rest of the population. In the ESCWA region, both the documentation of the hardships faced by persons with disabilities and the analysis of the triggers of their exclusion are often scarce.


This report lays out a concept of inclusive social development and reviews the situation of employment, social protection, access to health care, education and housing services in the Arab region.