Within the framework of its Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised a Statistical Training Course on “Migration and Refugee Statistics” on 9–10 June 2026 through an online video conferencing platform. The training course was organised in collaboration with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

The course brought together 28 participants from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and other relevant institutions of 11 Arabic-speaking OIC countries.

The training course was delivered by Mr. Mohammed Falah Duraidi, Duty Director of the General Population and Social Statistics Directorate at PCBS.

The main objective of the course was to enhance the technical capacities of participants in the collection, compilation, processing, analysis and dissemination of migration and refugee statistics, while facilitating the sharing of Palestine’s relevant country experience with the participating OIC countries.

Migration and refugee statistics are essential for evidence-based policymaking, particularly in countries affected by diverse forms of population mobility and forced displacement. Reliable, timely and comparable statistics in this field support the monitoring of migration trends, asylum and refugee movements, demographic characteristics, access to services, labour market participation, and integration outcomes.

These statistics also play an important role in monitoring the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly the commitment to leave no one behind and the targets related to reducing inequalities, promoting decent work, addressing poverty, improving access to education and health services, and facilitating safe, orderly and regular migration.

The training covered the following topics:

• Concepts and definitions related to migration, asylum and refugee statistics
• International frameworks, statistical standards and indicators
• Data sources for migration, asylum and refugee statistics, including censuses, household surveys and administrative records, as well as data quality, coordination and methodological challenges
• Migration, asylum and refugee indicators and their analysis, including stock and flow indicators, migration rates and demographic characteristics by age and sex
• Migration, asylum and refugee indicators within the SDG framework, including dissemination and communication practices

The training course provided a platform for participants to exchange views on conceptual, methodological, and operational challenges in producing and using official statistics on migration and forced displacement. It also contributed to strengthening peer learning and statistical cooperation among Member Countries in support of more inclusive, evidence-based, and data-driven policymaking.

The StatCaB Programme was initiated in early 2007. Since its initiation, SESRIC has completed more than 590 capacity-building activities on various statistical domains and themes through different modalities. For more information on the SESRIC Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, please visit:

http://www.oicstatcom.org/statcab.php