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Self Report 2019

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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  • 4B
    Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

    Individual Commitments (5)

    • Commitment
    • Commitment Type
    • Core Responsibility

    • The World Customs Organization commits to maintain smooth communication between customs and other actors in order to ensure mutual understanding and comprehension and also to ensure that aid reaches those in need in a timely manner.


    • Partnership
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • The World Customs Organization commits to strengthen cooperation and coordination with other national government agencies involved in border management to secure the smooth flow of relief consignments.


    • Partnership
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • The World Customs Organization commits to work with other government agencies in developing national emergency plans and to carry out simulation exercise.


    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • The World Customs Organization commits to increase its work with administrations that have experienced emergency situations in order to collect concrete cases on their practices and to develop best practices and standards.


    • Policy
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

    • The World Customs Organization commits to launch a new initiative to support customs administrations in West Africa thanks to funding from the Government of the Netherlands. This assistance programme will enable the customs administrations of the countries most severely impacted by the Ebola virus disease, as well as other countries in West Africa, to be better prepared in the future to cope with health-related and natural disasters.


    • Operational
    • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
    1. A. Highlight concrete actions taken between 1 January – 31 December 2018 to implement the commitments which contribute to achieving this transformation. Be as specific as possible and include any relevant data/figures as well as any good practices and examples of innovation.

    Preparedness

    To assist governments in ensuring secure, fast and efficient clearance of relief consignments, the World Customs Organization (WCO) has implemented a number of measures. It has developed international standards - contained in Specific Annex (SA) J5 to the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and in Annex B.9 to the Istanbul Convention - and a number of tools to support stakeholder engagement, Coordinated Border Management, risk management, etc. The WCO provides implementation assistance to its Members and facilitates the exchange of experiences between administrations in the area of disaster relief. The WCO implemented the Customs for Relief of Epidemic Diseases (C-RED) Project, funded by the Dutch Government.

    In 2018, the number of Contracting Parties (CPs) to the RKC increased from 113 to 116 and the number of CPs to the Istanbul Convention increased from 69 to 70.

    In cooperation with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), the WCO delivered seven national support missions and two sub-regional workshops in six beneficiary countries in West Africa. These activities were implemented under Component 2 of the C-RED Project, which was aimed at developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for receiving relief consignments and equipment imported for humanitarian purposes, providing capacity-building support for the implementation of the SOPs and conducting simulation exercises in the beneficiary countries.

     

    2. A. Please select no more than 3 key challenges faced in implementing the commitments related to this transformation. Only the categories selected by the organisation will be seen below.
    • Adherence to standards and/or humanitarian principles
    • Buy-in
    • Multi-stakeholder coordination
    B. How are these challenges impacting achievement of this transformation?

    Despite the challenges, the WCO has achieved very good progress in implementing its Agenda for Humanity commitments. The WCO is committed to successfully resolving the challenges related to the adherence by Members to international standards, achieving effective multi-stakeholder coordination and ensuring the Members' buy-in.

    3. What steps or actions are needed to make collective progress to achieve this transformation?

    The WCO is progressing towards achieving the transformation in close cooperation with UN-OCHA, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the World Health Organization (WHO), other humanitarian actors, regional economic communities and various national stakeholders.

    Keywords

    Preparedness