On August 21‐22, 2017, Columbia University hosted a regional consultation for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to identify gaps in the works of the United Nations Treaty Body System and to offer recommendations for how to improve the effectiveness of individual treaty bodies, or the System as a whole. The Consultation was organized to prepare for the 2020 United Nations Treaty Body review set out in General Assembly Resolution 68/268 (2014). The two‐day discussion was co‐facilitated by the Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights, and the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, with the support of the Columbia Global Center in Amman.
