26-28th Nov 2024
EGRISS’ Regional Task Team for Western Asia organized its first workshop for countries in the region to discuss the current statistical landscape for refugees, IDPs and stateless persons and learn more about the content of the International Recommendations on Refugee, IDP, and Statelessness Statistics (IRRS, IRIS and IROSS). Hosted by the League of Arab States (LAS) at their HQ in Cairo, Egypt, the event welcomed participants from Government institutions and National Statistical Offices from 14 countries, including Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.
The UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with the Arab Institute for Training and Statistical Research (AITSR) and EGRISS organised the workshop in collaboration with the UNHCR, UNRWA, UNFPA and JIPS. The agenda contained a series of presentations from participating countries and several training sessions and interactive group work sessions to learn about different aspects of the IRRS, IRIS and IROSS including the three statistical frameworks, the use of different data sources and the mechanisms for improving statistical coordination.
Despite volatile and ongoing displacement crises in the region, the event provided a platform for practitioners to exchange and learn from each other. Key themes emerged in the discussion that are pertinent in many other contexts (such as the challenges surrounding effective statistical coordination) and many concrete success stories of statistical inclusion were also shared (such as recent censuses in Morocco, Djibouti and Iraq).
However, the event also brought certain regional specificities to the foreground, including the complex displacement dynamics that create overlaps between otherwise distinct statistical categories and the specific case related to statistics concerning the Palestinian refugee population. The workshop concluded with a discussion and agreement on a short set of recommendations targeted at both national and international actors. These are summarized in the Meeting Report that will be available shortly.
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