Articles under "Engaging partners" category

Drug trafficking: an overview of Mauritius Customs’ activities

Drug abuse is an escalating concern in Mauritius. According to a survey conducted in 2024 by the non-profit company Afrobarometer, Mauritians consider drug abuse and addiction as the second most pressing issue for government intervention, with on...

The fight against illicit drug trafficking is one of the top priorities of the Mauritius Government. To support these efforts, it engages the Customs Service, alongside the forces of the Police, the National Coast Guard (NCG) and the Anti-Drug Smuggling Unit (ADSU).

The National Drug Obser...

Mauritius Customs draws on a panoply of detection and surveillance tools and equipment, systems and state-of-the-art technology in the fight against illicit drug trafficking.

Controlling general aviation: the Argentinian and Senegalese Customs Administrations outline the progress made under the COLIBRI Project

The COLIBRI Project, which is aimed at monitoring and controlling general aviation (GA) and combating illicit trafficking perpetrated through GA in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as well as in West and Central Africa (WCA), has been implemented since 2019 by the WCO Secretariat, with the f...

This means that GA represents a genuine opportunity for organized crime, offering a number of advantages to traffickers. This is a discreet, fast mode of transport that can use smaller aerodromes, where law enforcement agencies are often absent.

In order to build surveillance and control c...

Revisiting training in search of vehicle: how partnership and purpose pave the road to innovation in Ireland

Change comes in many forms but it is invariably brought about by two main factors. The first occurs when there is a desire for it, whether by a group or an individual. The second type is born of necessity, when circumstances dictate that there is no other option. Occasionally both impetuses arriv...

Gold standard

The foundation, as seen by Morrissey and Codd, would be built upon meeting the highest standards of EU and WCO training, while delivering to a precise, ambitious set of business needs. With discussions heightening around the development of their own purpose-...

But it wasn’t just the technical training that made the trip so successful. Surrounded by colleagues of other Customs agencies from around Europe, the participants traded knowledge and experiences, as everyone brought something to the table. The trip also served another significant purpose, as ...

Collaborative Risk Management: How the UK Border Force teams up with a European express operator to stop non-compliant shipments

Across the world, Customs administrations and border authorities are being asked to manage rising volumes of shipments, increasingly complex threats, and more agile criminal networks, often without being granted additional resources. In such an environment, risk management is not a theoretical co...

The UK approach is based around a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that sets out what information can be exchanged, for what purpose, and under what safeguards. It ...

A Borders Academy for Benin

For more than 10 years, counter-terrorism units have been witnessing the establishment of caliphates by jihadist groups in the Sahel. Although the activities of militant Islamist groups were initially focused on Mali, they have gradually shifted towards the west and south of Burkina Faso and spr...

Groups of traffickers organized into networks have taken advantage of the situation to step up their illicit activities (trafficking in arms, drugs and human beings etc.) in the border areas of the region and of Benin.

Closing the Visibility Gap: A New Paradigm for Supply Chain Security

Long before the first Customs house was ever built, merchants were loading boats on the Nile, walking goods across mountain passes, and sailing spices halfway around the world. Trade is not a modern invention; it is the fabric of human history. And for as long as trade has existed, so too has the...

The answer is not to slow commerce to accommodate inspections. It is to make supply chains inherently smarter, more transparent, and therefore more secure, by closing t...

Preventing illicit trade: how shipping lines manage risk and support enforcement

For global shipping lines, it is crucial that the responsibility to investigate and do law enforcement lies with the authorities. Our key priority is to prevent and protect our employees and our customers’ supply chains. However, shipping lines can and should play a role in the work identifying...

On top of this, external intelligence is incorporated, including inputs received through cooperation with Customs authorities, law enforcement agencies, industry associations, and rights holders. Such partnerships are critical, as they provide context that cannot be derived from internal data alo...

Finnish Customs enhances the experience of air passengers with specific needs

Going through a Customs inspection at an airport is not an unpleasant experience for most passengers. But for individuals with disabilities, who are travelling with small children or who do not speak the language, it can be a frustrating process.

Nor is it easy for Customs officers, who ha...

To improve the passenger experience, facilitate interaction and ease the work of Customs officers, the Finnish Customs Administration initiated a project with the Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. After some discussion, it was decided to produce a series of drawi...

An enthusiastic group of organizations responded in the affirmative, including the Finnish Hearing Association, the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired, the Guide Dog School, the Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the Lahti Institute of Design, the Office ...

Surveying stakeholders to assess procedures: overview of a field study carried out at Ethiopian borders

Engaging with partners to advance Gender Equality and Diversity in Customs

In line with the WCO theme for 2024, “Customs Engaging Traditional and New Partners with Purpose”, the WCO Secretariat is increasing its efforts to leverage collaboration with new and existing partners to advance Gender Equality and Diversity (GED) in Customs.