United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia

ESCWA supports 21 member States through research, policy recommendations, technical advice, data tools, and regional dialogue on economic, social, and environmental issues.[1][5] It describes the UN regional commissions as intergovernmental platforms for regional integration, cooperation, the development of norms and standards, and the exchange of experience.[1]

The commission forms part of the United Nations Secretariat and operates under the general supervision of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).[2] Its current work includes inclusive development, gender equality, governance, statistics, technology, trade, climate change, natural-resource sustainability, and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.[1]

A regional economic commission for the Middle East was first proposed in 1947–48, but a commission including both Arab nations and Israel proved impossible to establish at that time.[6] The UN Economic and Social Office in Beirut (UNESOB) was created in 1963 as a partial substitute. For eleven years, it assisted governments with economic and social development and supplied consultants in fields including community development, demography, industrial-development planning, and statistics. Lebanon revived the proposal for a full regional commission in 1972.[6]

ECOSOC established the Economic Commission for Western Asia (ECWA) on 9 August 1973 under Resolution 1818 (LV), formally superseding UNESOB. The commission began operations on 1 January 1974, and its first ministerial session was held in Beirut on 3 June 1974 and inaugurated by then UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.[2] Its founding mandate included facilitating economic reconstruction and development, raising regional economic activity, and strengthening economic relations within the region and with other countries.[2]

The commission’s headquarters shifted several times amid regional conflicts. Operations began in Beirut, but the conflict in Lebanon prompted a temporary move to Amman in 1976. Iraq’s offer to host the commission permanently was accepted later that year, and it relocated to Baghdad in 1982. During the 1991 Gulf War, it moved again to Amman. Member states voted at the seventeenth ministerial session in May 1994 to return the permanent headquarters to Beirut, where an eight-story UN House was constructed; the commission returned in 1997.[1][6] ECOSOC also asked UN authorities to consider placing affected Amman-based local staff elsewhere in the UN system or finding ways to compensate them.[7]

Following a commission recommendation, ECOSOC Resolution 1985/69 of 26 July 1985 changed the body’s name to the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, recognizing the importance of social development alongside economic development.[2]

ESCWA describes its institutional roles as “the voice of the region,” “the think tank of the region,” and “the adviser to the region.” It links research and analysis to policy, convenes policymakers and experts, provides technical advice and capacity-building, and treats support for the 2030 Agenda as a top priority.[1]

Its terms of reference authorize it to facilitate concerted action on economic reconstruction and development, sponsor studies, collect and disseminate economic, technological, and statistical information, and provide advisory services requested by member governments. Its mandate is subject to the condition that it take no action concerning a country without that government’s agreement.[2] ESCWA may recommend action to member governments and specialized agencies, invite non-member UN States to participate consultatively in matters concerning them, establish subsidiary bodies with ECOSOC approval, and submit an annual report on its activities and plans.[2]

The commission works within medium-term plans divided into two-year programmes of action and priorities.[8] Its 2017 annual report organized its strategy around inclusive development, regional integration, and good governance and resilience. Examples included the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, conferences on migration and climate change, work on gender justice and women’s empowerment, and efforts to increase youth participation in public life.[9] By the early 2000s, ESCWA had established six working committees covering statistics, social development, energy, water resources, transport, and liberalization of foreign trade and economic globalization.[6]

Much of its work is conducted with other UN bodies. Examples include industrial studies with UNIDO, cooperation with FAO on regional planning and food security, UNDP support for household surveys, work with UNFPA and UNIFEM on population and women’s programmes, and cooperation with UNEP on incorporating environmental concerns—particularly desertification control—into development programmes.[6] ESCWA also maintains liaison with the League of Arab States and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.[6] Regional commissions are funded from the regular UN budget, while many activities receive extrabudgetary grants from bilateral and multilateral donors.[10]

ESCWA’s member-states page lists 21 members and their accession years.[5] The eleven founding members in 1973 were Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Arab Republic, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Egypt and the State of Palestine joined in 1977; Sudan in 2008; Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia in 2012; Mauritania in 2015; Algeria and Somalia in 2020; and Djibouti in 2023.[5]

Israel is not listed among ESCWA’s current members. When a regional commission for the Middle East was proposed in the late 1940s, a body that included both Arab nations and Israel was considered impracticable, contributing to the delay before the commission was established.[5][6]

ESCWA serves as a regional link between global UN development frameworks and the priorities of its Arab member States. Its combination of research, statistical work, policy advice, technical assistance, and intergovernmental meetings allows member governments to coordinate on economic, social, and environmental challenges that cross national borders.[1][10]

The commission’s evolution also reflects the widening scope of international development policy. Created with a primarily economic mandate, it formally added social development to its name in 1985 and now incorporates environmental sustainability, gender equality, governance, technology, and conflict resilience into its work.[1][2]

In March 2017, a 65-page report titled Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid: Palestine and the Israeli Occupation, Issue No. 1 appeared on ESCWA’s website.[11][4] It had been commissioned at the request of eighteen Arab countries and co-authored by Richard Falk and Virginia Tilley.[3] An archived copy identifies ESCWA as its author, while UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric later stated, “As far as we are concerned, it was not published by ESCWA.”[4][12]

The authors based their definition of apartheid primarily on the 1973 Apartheid Convention and the Rome Statute. The report concluded, in wording reproduced by The Washington Institute, “on the basis of scholarly inquiry and overwhelming evidence, that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid.”[11] Executive Secretary Rima Khalaf presented the report at ESCWA’s Beirut headquarters and described it as the first report of its kind issued by a UN body.[13]

Among its arguments, the report claimed that Israel’s Law of Return discriminated against Palestinian refugees; that Palestinians in the West Bank—known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria—and Gaza were subject to military law while Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria were subject to Israeli civil law; and that East Jerusalem Palestinians faced barriers to education, healthcare, and employment, along with evictions and home demolitions.[13] Israel condemned the report, and Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon called its charge a “false analogy.”[11] Israel also denounced the report as antisemitic, while the United States called for its withdrawal.[14][4]

Guterres requested that the report be removed from ESCWA’s website. Dujarric said it had been prepared without consultation with the UN Secretariat and did not reflect the position of the United Nations or the Secretary-General.[13][4] The report was removed, and Khalaf resigned. She subsequently argued that the United States and Israel had pressured Guterres to dissociate the UN from the report and accept her resignation.[3]

The World Jewish Congress urged UN leaders and member states to dissociate themselves from and condemn the report and said it should not form the basis for discussions in the UN Human Rights Council.[14] It welcomed Guterres’s statement that the report had been prepared without the Secretariat’s involvement and supported the call for its withdrawal.[14] The Washington Institute argued that the examples cited in the report concerned occupation rather than apartheid as defined under international law.[11]