The Expert Group Meeting on the Use of Urban Observatories as a Tool for Localizing Urban and Social Policy in the ESCWA Region (Beirut, 1-2 December 2009) was organized by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) within the work programme of the Social Policy in the City Team. The main purpose of the meeting was to review the use of urban observatories within a framework of social policy and sustainable urbanization.

In the past decade, civil society organizations in the Arab region have achieved significant improvements in performance and capacity to request change with respect to certain issues. However, that improvement was neutralized by an improvement in the capacity of the authorities to contain the voices of civil society and deprive its organizations of the human capacity necessary for their survival, by appointing their leaders and activists to ministerial, administrative and diplomatic posts, thereby dissuading them from claiming the integration of civil society demands into public policy.

Beirut, 22 January 2021 (ESCWA)--On 16 January, ESCWA and the Arab Women Organization concluded a virtual 5-day training held for North African countries and the Sudan on reporting to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, an independe

On the occasion of the 12th Regional Coordination Mechanism Meeting (RCM), UN-ESCWA Executive Secretary, Bader Omar AlDafa, launched on Sunday a report on “Gender in the Millennium Development Goals: Information guide for Arab Millennium Development Goals reports” at the UN House, Beirut in the presence of representatives of UN regional organizations and media institutions.