Cairo - The International Organization for Migration (IOM), together with the League of Arab States (LAS), the United National Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), and the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS) have today launched the Regional Report on the Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Conflict-Affected Countries in the Arab Region.  

Echoing the five pillars of the 2030 Agenda, the Report calls for an integrated framework to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in country contexts faced with complex and often recurring challenges. It aims to support efforts to achieve peace and sustainable development for populations across the Arab Region, offering evidence-based examples of lessons learned and successes in using the SDGs to catalyze the transition towards greater peace and prosperity. The Report further adds value by offering an exhaustive repository of existing frameworks to strengthen responses to gaps and opportunities. 

Representing more than two years of intensive multistakeholder consultations with Government departments and policymakers, United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinators’ Offices and Agencies, civil-society organizations, academia and other relevant actors, the report embodies the principle of inclusivity and partnership.  

As an initiative that recognizes the highly localized and evolving dynamics across the region, the Report covers conflict, post-conflict and conflict-affected settings including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.  

“We are very pleased to work in close coordination with the League of Arab States and alongside other UN stakeholders to produce such an important report that aim to support ongoing efforts to bring about sustainable peace and developments to countries in the Arab Region most affected by conflicts and crises,” said Carmela Godeau, IOM Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “This Report brings a great added value by offering an exhaustive repository of existing frameworks to strengthen Reponses to gaps and opportunities.” 

The Report recognizes that development, peace and humanitarian action are linked and mutually reinforcing highlighting the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs. It highlights the transformative approach of human security to engender a comprehensive plan of action, which countries can translate into national policies that can bring tangible improvements to the lives of millions across the Arab Region.   

The Report calls on all actors to adopt an inclusive approach that eliminates the systemic structural causes of exclusion as a priority and leaves no one behind. Through regionally-specific examples, it highlights opportunities in different peacebuilding, development and humanitarian contexts to extend coordination efforts between central and local levels by strengthening the localization of the SDGs, enhancing institutional cooperation and data collection, and managing competing priorities and challenges, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic. 

In addition to the launch and the subsequent high-level events planned to disseminate the findings of the Report, a coordination mechanism will be established at LAS with support of a technical team comprising of UN and non-UN partners. Operating across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus, future efforts will benefit from a collective repository of tools and approaches, supporting country-specific prioritization and harmonize efforts to localize national development plans, and tackle the interrelated challenges of poverty, vulnerability, inequality, exclusion and displacement.  

To find out more about the Report, please visit here. Please also check out Videos (English / Arabic) summarizing the Report.

For more information, please contact: Mohammedali Abunajela, at IOM Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, mmabunajela@iom.int