Despite the displacement of more than 800,000 Palestinians in 1948 and more than 200,000 Palestinians to Jordan and other countries after the 1967 war, the 2017 Population, Housing and Establishments Census showed that the Palestinian population in the State of Palestine at the end of 2017 was recorded as 4.8 million, both in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in addition to 1.56 million in the occupied territories in 1948.

The UN’s human rights body, UNCHR, has voted on Friday to send a team of international war crimes investigators to probe the killing of protesters in Gaza by the Israeli forces.

The Extraordinary OIC Summit held on Friday in Istanbul convened by the President of Turkey, HE Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in response to latest developments in the State of Palestine and the illegal relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Al-Quds al-Sharif, was concluded with a historical communique by the heads of Member States of the OIC.

The Workshop of the OIC Center of Excellence (CoE) on Vaccines and Biotechnology Products’ Way Forward took place at the Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 May 2018.

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) and the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (YTB) jointly organised a Workshop on "Muslim Diaspora: Prospects and Challenges for Global Peace and Prosperity" on 12-13 May 2018, in the historical city of Istanbul, Turkey.

The 34^th Meeting of the Follow-up Committee of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) was held on 09-10 May 2018 in Ankara, Turkey, with the participation of the OIC Member States and relevant OIC institutions.

SESRIC organized a 3-day training course on “Development of Sustainable Transgenic Technology, Commercialization and Post-release Monitoring” within the framework of the OIC Cotton Training Programme (OIC-CTP) in Ankara, Turkey, on 08-10 May 2018.

In accordance with its 2018 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Study Visit on ‘Metadata’ to Jordan for the benefit of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) of Saudi Arabia on 7-9 May 2018. The study visit was hosted by the Department of Statistics (DOS) of Jordan with the participation of Mr. Khaled FAQIHI, Expert on Statistical Methodologies at GASTAT of Saudi Arabia.

SESRIC chaired a panel session on “OSH Regional Cooperation and Networks” that took place during the 9^th International Conference on Occupational Health and Safety, which was organized by the Directorate General of Occupational Health and Safety (DGOHS) of Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Republic of Turkey on the theme of “Coordination and Cooperation in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)” on 6-9 May 2018 in Istanbul, Republic of Turkey.

SESRIC, the Ministry of Health of Turkey and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), jointly organised a training of trainers course on “Disaster and Prehospital Medicine Training of Trainers” for the benefit of 30 selected experts devided on two groups from the Ministry of Health of Sudan. The training took place on 2-11 May 2018 at the International Urla Emergency Disaster Training and Simulation Centre in Izmir, Turkey and was preceded by 3 candidates’ selection trainings in Sudan.

The Seventh Session of the Statistical Commission of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-StatCom) was organised by SESRIC in collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) on 2-3 May 2018 in Ankara, Republic of Turkey with the participation of 69 delegates from the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) of 31 OIC countries, including Albania, Azerbaijan, Benin, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea, Indonesia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Uganda and Uzbekistan and regional and international organizations including SESRIC, IDB, Sub-Saharan African Organisation for the Development of Economic Studies and Statistics Systems (AFRISTAT), Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS), Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-STAT), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

The Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for Islamic Countries (SESRIC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) to initiate and facilitate collaboration and cooperation between two institutions in the area of statistics. 

Within the framework of “BINA Program”, SESRIC is arranging a study visit in coordination with the administration of the Libyan Program for Reintegration and Development (LPRD). In line with the large diverse scope that LPRDs activities and programs cover and the essential role required from it in contributing to the development of state and society, the study visit is organized in order to provide a deep insight on the Turkish development experience through direct interaction with a number of influential public institutes in different sectors with the aim of gaining an inclusive understanding of the strategies, methodologies and techniques that were fundamental in making sustainable development successes.

The Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) organized a joint workshop to raise awareness of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) on 29-30 April 2018 in the Jordanian city of the Dead Sea.

Within the framework of the OIC International Internship Program (OIC Intern), candidate interns met with their mentors to introduce each other and get early advice before starting their internship in companies or institutions.

SESRIC attended the Second Working Group Meeting on Boosting Private Sector and Entrepreneurship Policies in Afghanistan that took place in Istanbul, Turkey from 26–27 April 2018. The meeting was organized by The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OEDC) in Collaboration with the European Union (EU).

SESRIC signed a Partnership Agreement with the Governorship of Malatya of Turkey for the implementation of a training programme and a study visit under the Project “Improving Islamic Tourism Ecosystem in OIC Member Countries: Destination and Industry Development” to be held on 9-12 July 2018 in Malatya, Turkey.

The OIC General Secretariat, in cooperation with SESRIC, organized a Workshop on “Improving the State of Elderly in OIC Member States” on 24-25 April 2018 at the OIC General Secretariat Headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The workshop was attended by experts from the Member States as well as relevant OIC institutions and international organizations and aimed to effectively identify common trends on population ageing and inquire key challenges faced by elderly people in OIC Member States in a more systematic and coordinated way.

SESRIC attended the Training Program on Technology, Entrepreneurship, Advocacy and Management of Business Incubation and Technology Parks that took place on 23–25 April in Istanbul, Turkey. The training was organized by The Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ICCIA) in collaboration with The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchange of Turkey (TOBB) and was funded by the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation (PGTF).

In accordance with its 2018 Annual Work Plan and within the framework of Statistical Capacity Building (StatCaB) Programme, SESRIC organised the Statistics Course on ‘Gender Statistics’ at National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of Maldives on 23 –25 April 2018.