The “Muscat Declaration: Towards the Achievement of Gender Justice in the Arab Region” was adopted by ESCWA member States on 21 January 2016 as a broad framework for the achievement of gender equality. This newly adopted concept of gender justice exceeds the traditional concept of gender equality that limits equality to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, to include the element of accountability to ensure the existence of effective mechanisms to eliminate discrimination.

UN-ESCWA considers that there is an urgent need for member countries to enhance their capacities in compiling, disseminating and exchanging data and metadata. In this sense, the DevInfo statistical program provides the statistical community with a tool for effective working partnership among different data producers to facilitate exchanging a unified official statistics to relevant agencies and the regional commission in the region.

On 14 April 2015, ESCWA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) at the UN House in Beirut on the implementation of a survey to assess the impact of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza strip in 2014, and the socioeconomic living conditions of Palestinian households in the West Bank and the Gaza strip.

The national machineries for the advancement of women undertake a catalyst role in the integration of a gender perspective in all government programmes and policies. They also follow up on the implementation of those policies and measure their impact on women status. Mainstreaming a gender perspective in the institutions aims to integrate the needs of both women and men in all aspects of activities and sectors. It constitutes one of the most efficient ways to achieve the change leading to gender equality.