The World Customs Organization (WCO) released a tool on gender equality in Spanish this week.

What is the OMA? It is the only intergovernmental organization dedicated exclusively to customs matters.

On the point in question, the SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Program (GTFP) team announced the publication of the Gender Equality Organizational Assessment Tool (GEOAT) in Spanish.

In particular, the work of the WCO includes the development of global standards, the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures, the security of the commercial supply chain, the facilitation of international trade, the improvement of customs enforcement and compliance activities, initiatives against counterfeiting and piracy, public-private partnerships, integrity programs for the promotion and development of sustainable global customs capacity.

It also maintains the goods nomenclature of the international harmonized system and administers the technical aspects of the agreements on customs valuation and rules of origin.

World Customs Organization

The new tool aims to help Customs Administrations to evaluate their policies, practices and activities, in order to identify areas where gender equality can be addressed as an integral part of the reform and modernization agenda of Customs Administrations .

Indeed, the GEOAT is a comprehensive and practical guide that supports Customs Administrations in the implementation of gender mainstreaming through project management.

It includes a number of key principles, each representing different areas of Customs competence through which gender equality and diversity can be promoted, including employment and compensation, work-life balance and personal and professional development; from Violence, Governance and Leadership and Customs Administration and Relations with Stakeholders to Health, Safety and Freedom.

The GEOAT also includes Cross-Cutting Policies that are key to consider horizontally when implementing gender mainstreaming.

SECO

Gender equality and diversity is a priority for SECO-WCO-GTFP.

With that in mind, the Program has included the subject in all its Organizational Development activities since the beginning of its implementation.

As a result, and with the aim of promoting its dissemination, the GEOAT has been translated into Spanish this year so that Spanish-speaking Customs Administrations can benefit from it in their own language and support sustainable priority reform initiatives in the field of Gender Equality and Diversity and Inclusion.

The Spanish version of GEOAT has been translated by the GTFP with the financial support of the Swiss Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (SECO).

It is now available to all WCO members here.