RAMALLAH, West Bank — The PLO's Palestinian Expatriate Affairs Department (PEAD) is gearing up for the first-ever census of Palestinian expatriates in the world. The census is expected to launch at the beginning of April, director general of PEAD Nihad Abu Ghosh told Al-Monitor.

The PLO had announced that it was conducting the largest census in its history. The census includes comprehensive documentation of Palestinian expatriates, said Nabil Shaath, President Mahmoud Abbas’ adviser for international relations and head of the PLO’s Refugee Affairs Department, in an interview with Palestinian al-Ayyam newspaper on Jan. 27.

The newspaper reported that Abbas had issued a presidential decree to form the higher committee for the census of expatriates to be headed by Shaath. The committee includes the minister of foreign affairs, the head of the PLO Refugee Affairs Department, the head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PBCS), and the head of the Palestinian Academy for Science and Technology (PALAST). This committee will be in charge of conducting the census. According to Shaath, the census will complement the data provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Shaath, who took office five months ago, told al-Ayyam that comprehensive census will cover Europe, North America, South America, Australia, the former Soviet Union countries, Egypt, North Africa, the Gulf, Iraq and other regions of the world.