The Arabic term zaatar designates a variety of aromatic perennial plants typically harvested from the wild, which generally belong to the Origanum, Thymus and other genera of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. The term zaatar is also used to designate the different herb mixes, which in addition to the zaatar herb, usually include such other traditional ingredients as grilled sesame seeds, sumac fruits (Rhus coriaria L.) and salt. Each country possesses its own zaatar mix recipe with specific proportions of ingredients.

In the framework of its current focus on extending social protection in Arab countries, the Social Policy Section in ESCWA's Social Development Division, in cooperation with the ILO, is organizing a workshop on labour intensive work programmes for practitioners across the region. The workshop will be held at the Ministère de l’Investissement et de la Coopération Internationale in Tunisia from 25 to 26 September 2013.

  This report provides an overview of the human rights issues associated with international migration from the ESCAP to the ESCWA region. It also looks at the abuse of migrant rights in the country origin and the sponsorship system that regulates their lives from ESCAP countries in the GCC countries. Moreover, this report discusses the relevant international conventions that protect migrant domestic workers, the legal framework within which they live and work as well as the ratification of the International Labour Organization Convention on Domestic Workers.

In order to ensure the accuracy of National Accounts expenditure data and hence reliability of the International Comparison Program (ICP) results, ESCWA conducted a regional meeting for the validation of 2011 to 2017 National Accounts expenditure data and treatment of outliers.

The meeting was attended by participants from 11 member countries and focused on: