56 Amendments of Elena VALENCIANO related to 2017/2015(INI)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 16 a (new)
Citation 16 a (new)
– having regard to the 2007 joint strategy of the EU and its Member States entitled "Aid for trade: Enhancing EU support for trade-related needs in developing countries"
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 a (new)
Citation 32 a (new)
– having regard to the Africa Human Development Report 2016 "Accelerating Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa"1e __________________ 1eUNDP, Africa Human Development Report 2016: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/li brary/corporate/HDR/Africa%20HDR/Af HDR_2016_lowres_EN.pdf?download
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 b (new)
Citation 32 b (new)
– having regard to the OCDE report "Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship and Business Leadership in OECD Countries" (2014)1f __________________ 1fOCDE technical report "Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship and Business Leadership in OECD Countries": http://www.oecd.org/gender/Enhancing% 20Women%20Economic%20Empowerme nt_Fin_1_Oct_2014.pdf
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 c (new)
Citation 32 c (new)
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 d (new)
Citation 32 d (new)
– having regard to the increasing international efforts to promote gender equality though trade policies -such as the UNCTAD programme on gender and development1j (which includes studies on the impact of trade on women; a teaching packet on trade and gender, online training or the creation of the status of "Gender Champions") and the World Bank, which since 2016, in each of their 14 working areas has a gender strategy; __________________ 1jUNCTAD's Website: http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DITC/Gender- and-Trade/Trade,-Gender-and- Development.aspx
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 e (new)
Citation 32 e (new)
– having regard to the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) issue paper "The Gender Dimensions of Global Value Chains" (September 2016)1k; __________________ 1kInternational Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) issue paper "The Gender Dimensions of Global Value Chains" (September 2016): https://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/res earch/the_gender_dimensions_of_global_ value_chains_0.pdf
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 32 f (new)
Citation 32 f (new)
– having regard to the ICTSD issue paper "The Gender Dimensions of Services" (September 2016)1l; __________________ 1l https://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/res earch/the_gender_dimensions_of_services .pdf
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 33 a (new)
Citation 33 a (new)
– having regard to the technical note of the Interamerican Development Bank, presenting the work done under the Trade and Gender Initiative led by the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter- American Development Bank (2012)
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A (new)
Recital -A (new)
-A. whereas Art. 8 of the TFEU commits the EU to eliminate inequalities and to promote equality and combat discrimination, among others, on the grounds of sex, when defining and implementing its policies and activities;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A a (new)
Recital -A a (new)
-Aa. whereas gender discussions should concern both men and women equally and whereas engagement and partnership between the public sector and private sector stakeholders, at international and local levels, are key to promote the necessary awareness and synergies to promote gender equality and women empowerment;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A b (new)
Recital -A b (new)
-Ab. whereas there is abroad consensus that a fair, open and rules-based international trade plays a vital role in shaping economic and social performance and prospects of countries around the world, especially those of developing countries; whereas trade is instrumental in empowering women and supporting communities and women's fully-fledged participation in the economy is essential for growth; whereas studies show that empowering women could add a quarter to world’s GDP, that helping women is essential as much from economic as social and poverty eradication perspectives, due to their role in families and communities; whereas, however, trade policies lacking an appropriate gender focus, may further entrench or exacerbate existing gender biases and discrimination;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A c (new)
Recital -A c (new)
-Ac. whereas, therefore, synergy between different policies, domestic and external, is crucial to achieve gender equality and women empowerment, including issues such as property rights, access to finance, education and vocational training, corporate behaviour, government procurement, digital gap, cultural bias;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital -A d (new)
Recital -A d (new)
-Ad. whereas the relationship between international trade and gender is complex and demands a deep understanding of economic and social dynamics, as well as of specific local contexts, in order to develop efficient trade policies to pursue economic development and poverty reduction, while also promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas trade policies should aim to reduce socio-economic gaps between the Global North and the Globachieve sustainable and equitable economic development, poverty reduction, decent work and better living conditions for both women and men; whereas the final South in terms of development and wealth, and between women and men, and realise women’s rights by ensuring decent work conditions for women come of the Addis Ababa conference and the sustainable development goals (SDG)agenda describe that trade is an important means of implementing the SDGs); whereas, likewise, trade is an important tool to defend human rights, as well as to promote international standards on labour and environmental protection at the highest level; whereas, in this sense, trade policies cand contributing to sustainable and equitable economic developmente to reduce socio-economic gaps between the Global North and the Global South, in terms of development and wealth, and between women and men worldwide, as well as to realise women’s rights;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas, as indicated by the McKinsey Global Institute, if women’s wages and labour force participation were raised to make them equal to those of men, it would boost global output by over 25%, and, as indicated by organisations such as the African Development Bank1d and the International Trade Centre, the impact of women on the global economy - as producers, entrepreneurs, employees and consumers-, over the next decade, could be at least as significant as adding a new China to the global economy; __________________ 1d African Development bank, Gender Equality Index Technical Note: https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/af db/Documents/Generic- Documents/Gender_Equality_Index_Met hodological_Note.pdf
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas economic development and gender equality frequently go hand- in-hand; whereas there is a broad understanding that societies where gender inequalities are lower, also tend to grow faster;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas, according to an ITC survey covering 20 countries, only 20% of the companies interviewed in developing countries are owned or managed by a woman and that women experience more problem in raising funds, competing and accessing markets than their male counterparts; and whereas, according to the same source, the three main reasons that hinder women entrepreneurs from getting involved in global value chains and upgrade into higher value activities are: regulatory biases, procedural obstacles and cultural biases, alongside other aspects, such as time constraints for female managers, limited access to productive resources like finance and land, limited access to information and networks;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas country-specific and sector-specific assessments are of great importancetrade policies are not gender-neutral and may have different direct and indirect impacts on men and women, depending, among other elements, on existing socio-economic and cultural structures; whereas women tend to be more concentrated in precarious, low-wage or low- status forms of formal and informal employment than men, leading to gender segregation in types of occupations and activities and gender gaps in wages and, working conditions; and social protection; whereas, in this sense, Country-by-Country gender disaggregated and sector-specific assessments are of great importance, but are not yet available;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas on the basis of fact-based studies, UNCTAD insists in highlighting the limitations that women face in taking advantage of the opportunities offered by trade, arising from factors such as lack of technical training for better jobs, lack of public services to alleviate household responsibilities, and restricted access and control over resources, including credit and land, information as well as networks and whereas, on this basis, UNCTAD recommends that evaluations address potential impacts of trade policies on gender equality and women empowerment, in areas such as employment, small business, prices, productivity in agriculture, subsistence agriculture and migration1c; __________________ 1cImplementing gender-aware ex ante evaluations to maximize the benefits of trade reforms for women: http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ presspb2016d7_en.pdf
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the majority of the workers in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are women; and whereas in some countries EPZs are exempt from local labour laws, ban or limit union activity and do not provide legal redress to workers, which constitutes clear violations of ILO core standards;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the current EU trade policy and its ‘Trade for All’ strategy lack a gender equality perspective, as well as any binding obligations to enforcereference to binding and fully enforceable obligations to guarantee effective implementation of core women’s rights conventions such as the CEDAW;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas human resources are scarcely allocated within the European Commission and the EEAS to ensure that a gender perspective is mainstreamed in EU trade policies and, particularly, in the entire process of trade negotiations;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the only area of gender equality in which DG Trade has demonstrate, so far, the Commission has not included a gender perspective into its trade policies and negotiations and whereas the Commission has not developed an adequate methodology to systematically analyse and evaluate the possible impacts of EU trade policies and negotiations on gender equality and aon interest so far is promotingwomen empowerment; whereas the Commission's new orientations and commitments in this sense have mainly focused on female entrepreneurship;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas a review of current EU multilateral and bilateral agreements shows that only 20 % of the agreements with non- European trading partners make reference to women’s rights, and that only 40 % of these agreements include references that aim to promote gender equality; whereas references in these agreements to promotinge women’s empowerment are mainly voluntary and almost all relate to non- trading aspects of the agreements, when binding, they are virtually non-enforceable;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas the European Commission has announced its commitment to ensure that the future trade negotiations to modernise the current Association Agreement between Chile and the EU will include, for the first time in the EU, a specific Chapter on Gender and Trade;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas strong movements have evolved in several countries, criticisingthe public debate across Europe on trade agreements such as TTIP, CETA and TiSA has shown the need for transparent and inclusive negotiations taking into account the strong concerns voiced by European citizens in many countries, which have expressed their worries, in particular, about FTA's provisions on investor-sState dispute settlement / the investment court system (ISDS/ICS) and intellectual property rights (IPR), as well as non-tariff rules in TTIP, CETA and TiSA,, fearing that they could lead to breaches of women’s rights, labour rights, environmental protection, consumer rights and public services and goods, which may have an impact on women’s rights;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas a global holistic approach to corporate liability for human rights abuses is needed in the context of global value chains; whereas the EU has positioned itself as a front runner in reforming the investors to state dispute settlement mechanism, notably through the development of a Multilateral Court System, and equal progress is expected in other critical areas of concern, such as setting up a mechanism to enforce investors obligations in relation to Human Rights;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) and GSP+ systems aim to include a human rights conditionality aimed at ensureing the ratification and implementation of human and labour rights conventions in developing countries;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the garment sector employs mainly women, whereas it is important to recall that 289 people perished in a blaze in Karachi, Pakistan, in September 2012, in the same year, a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory, in Bangladesh, caused the death of 117 people and injured more than 200 workers and, the Rana Plaza's structural failure, in 2013, resulted in 1.129 casualties and caused injuries to approximately 2 500 people, in the same country, all of which were garment factories;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas multilateral platforms and intergovernmental fora, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Women20 (W20), are crucial for fostering gender-related discussion and action among experts and for providing a good basis for consensus-building;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas special attention must be given to the negative consequencesimpact of trade liberalisation as regards basic public services and goods, such as water and sanitation, education and healthcare; whereas the European Parliament has strongly called the European Commission to fully exclude these services of general economic interest from trade agreements; whereas, the European Commission has committed itself to ensure that every EU trade deal comes with solid guarantees to fully protect public services, meaning that EU governments can't be forced to privatise, that they remain free to keep public services public and that can decide, or change, who delivers a public service at any time1b; __________________ 1bEuropean Commission: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/inde x.cfm?id=1115
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas Rules of Origin (RoO) have become increasingly important in the context of global value chains, in which the production spans across several countries; whereas lax rules of origin can create additional hurdles towards establishing full transparency and accountability throughout supply chains, and this can impact women, particularly in sectors such as that of garment;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that trade policies should be used as a tool to improve the living and working conditions of women, in equal terms as men, by supporting the reduction of gender pay gaps, by promoting the creation of better quality jobs for women, while combating segregation of women in less-performing economic sectors, as well as by ensuring respect for, and promotion of, the highest standards of social and labour protection;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Calls on the EU and its Members States to systematically carry out ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of trade policies from a gender perspective, with an improved methodology, clear and measurable indicators, allowing to assess the possible effects of EU trade policies on gender equality and women empowerment as well as to consider possible offensive and defensive interests to defend, throughout entire process of trade negotiations, from negotiation to execution; stresses that all impact assessments and evaluations of EU Trade Agreements and trade policies should be supported by sufficient and adequate gender disaggregated data and a detailed analysis at regional, national, as well as sectorial levels, with particular attention to women in most vulnerable socio- economic sectors; stresses that the results of the gender-focused analysis should be incorporated into trade negotiations, foreseeing the necessary strategies and measures to compensate losses and imbalances;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that all international trade policies must be based on the relevant international standards and legal instruments, such as the main ILO Conventions, the CEDAW, and the Beijing Platform for Action and the sustainable development goals (SDGs);
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines the urgent need to adopt gender-sensitive binding human rights regulations on an international level to regulate transnational companies (TNCs) and other companies; welcomes the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; welcomes the on-going negotiations on a binding International Treaty on Human Rights and transnational companies (TNCs) and other companies, welcomes the involvement of the EU in the process, calls on the Commission and Member States to engage constructively in these negotiations and to encourage trading partners to equally engage; likewise, welcomes the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, calls on EU Member States to elaborate national action plans taking women's rights into particular consideration and calls on the Commission to use trade negotiations to encourage our trade partners to do so;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on European Commission, the Council and Member States to actively engage in, and support efforts to organise regular gender-related discussion and action, with a view to improve awareness and the basis for consensus-building;
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to further work within the ILO towards the implementation and to work towards reinforcement of international labour standards for decent work on global value chains, with a particular focus on women;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3c. Recalls that the European Parliament requested in 2010 that companies should publish their CSR balance sheets, the introduction of due diligence requirements for all undertakings, and the consolidation of the CSR concept on the basis of a harmonised definition of the relations between parent companies in order to establish the legal liability of each them; therefore takes note with satisfaction that the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information is being required from large companies as from 2017 according to the Non- Financial Reporting Directive; regrets however that the disclosure of non- financial information by large companies has not yet been extended to cover all actors operating in global value chains;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Underlines the need to recognise the risks inherent in trade agreement mechanisms such as ISDS and ICS, which underminRecalls that the European Parliament has called on the Commission to put an end to ISDS and to seek to establish a public Multilateral Investment Court MIC, with the objective of replacing all the existing ISDS worldwide (included in around 1400 bilateral investment treaties), and this should be designed to guarantee the capacity of individual governments to change their laws toregulate in the public interest, includeing measures to promote gender equality, as well as stronger labour and consumer rights and advancement in environmental policies; in this regards, calls on the Commission to include commitments to pursue the establishment of the MIC in all trade negotiations, while further promoting and engaging in reflections at international level;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that IPR provisions in trade have a significant impact on women’s health which must be taken carefully into considerationCalls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that IPR provisions in trade agreements take due account of women's rights, particularly their impact on women’s health, including access to affordable healthcare and medicines, which must be taken fully into consideration; further, calls on the Commission and the Council to promote the protection of IPR in negotiations, particularly the protection of Geographical Indications (GI), as a tool particularly important for rural women empowerment; further, it calls the Commission, the Council and Member States to reconsider the extension of protection to non-agricultural products, bearing in mind not only that this can be a very useful tool to promote women empowerment in both in developed and developing countries, but also that the EU has already agreed to protect non- agricultural GI products in FTAs;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines thatInsists on the need to exclude basic public services and goods, such as water and sanitation, education and healthcare (notably access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services), should be exempted from the opening up of public procurement andfrom the trade liberalisation agenda, and that safeguards must bare put in place to reinforce states’ capacities to provide basic services for allguarantee and reinforce the right and ability of governments to regulate, provide and ensure universal access to public services of general economic interest;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Calls on the Commission, the Council and Member States, with a view to improve the opportunities for women enterprises' to access public procurement markets, to ensure that EU trade agreements include strong provisions on the opening of public procurement, as well as provisions aimed at simplifying procedures and to increase transparency for bidders, including those from other countries; further, to promote socially and environmentally responsible public procurement, taking into account, among other considerations the principles of equal treatment between women and men, equal pay for work of equal value and the promotion of gender equality;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Calls on the Commission to explore further how EU policies and trade agreements can promote women´s economic empowerment and female participation in areas such as in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and how to close gender gaps in access to, and in the use of, new technologies;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for binding measures to combat exploitation and improve working conditions for women in the export- oriented industries, in particular the garment and textile manufacturing and agriculture sectors where trade liberalisation has contributed to precarious labour rights and gender wage gaps; Believes that these frameworks should enable a harmonic cooperation with international organisation as the UN, the WTO, the ILO and the OECD, establishing common definitions, to allow for more clear and coordinated actions and evaluations; in this regard, values the 'Compact for Continuous Improvements in Labour Rights and Factory Safety in the Ready-Made Garment and Knitwear Industry in Bangladesh' (the Sustainability Compact) as a step forward in regards to the monitoring activity, which should be subject of full compliance;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Underlines that the impact of growing agricultural exports is generally less favourable to women than to men, aparticular efforts must be made to improve the positive impact, as well as to avoid and compensate the negative effects of trade policy in women equality and women's emerging trends indicate that small farmers, many of whom apowerment, with particular attention to segments of population and sectors, where women, are often not in a position to compete in overseas marketidentified to be particularly vulnerable or to have a clear potential for empowerment, including the agricultural sector and MSMEs;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Calls on the Commission, the Council and Member States, to promote agreements at multilateral level to expand the protection granted by gender-sensitive EU laws such as the Conflict Minerals Regulation;
Amendment 272 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Calls on the European Investment Bank (EIB) to ensure that companies participating in projects co-financed by the EIB shall be required to adhere to the principle of equal pay and pay transparency and to the principle of gender equality as set out in Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1k __________________ 1k Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council1a of 5 June 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (OJ L 204, 26.7.2006, p. 23)
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Acknowledges that the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) and GSP+ systems need to be improveis a valuable tool to promote respect for human rights, although they need to be improved by reinforcing its conditionality to the removal of legal discriminations to women and by linking economic incentives to the effective adoption and constant, implementation and appropriate monitoring of core human, gender rights and labour rights conventionsstandards particularly relevant to women;
Amendment 305 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that social and environmental standards, particularly labour rights subscribed to in FTAs and autonomous regimes apply throughout the territory of trade partners, and, particularly, in Export Processing Zones (EPZs);
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls the EU, the Council and commits itself to ensure that the Secretariats of the EU Institutions with responsibility over trade policies and negotiations have the means and the technical capacity to elaborate gender analysis of trade rules and to incorporate a gender perspective into the entire process of negotiations, from inception, to application and evaluation; to ensure the necessary expertise among EU officials, including by appropriate training; to ensure the involvement of women, as well as gender expertise, in the EU trade negotiating teams, including, for each relevant round of negotiation, an expert on gender with thorough knowledge of the different policy sectors concerned;
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Calls on the European Commission, the Council and commits itself to defend and ensure that in all relevant international assistance frameworks, such as Aid for Trade and, equally, that in all EU assistance and cooperation actions, particular attention is given to the goal of gender equality and to ensure that they are adequately used to improve women's empowerment and capacity-building, by incorporating gender issues across programmes and projects;
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 d (new)
Paragraph 16 d (new)
16d. Calls on the European Commission, the Council and Member States to recognise and support international efforts to promote the inclusion of gender perspectives into trade policies and programmes, such as, for example the "She Trades" initiative of the International Trade Centre, which is aimed to connect 1 million women entrepreneurs to markets by 20201h; __________________ 1h International Trade Centre's webpage on the "She Trades" initiative: http://www.intracen.org/itc/women-and- trade/SheTrades/
Amendment 309 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 e (new)
Paragraph 16 e (new)
16e. With regards to negotiation at the WTO level, calls on the Commission, the Council and Member States to ensure that gender considerations are taken into due account when preparing new rules and agreements and when implementing and reviewing existing agreements, included in the WTO Trade Policy Review Mechanism; to ensure an increased transparency in the entire process of WTO negotiations; to ensure that a gender focus informs all current and future negotiations, in areas such as agriculture, fisheries, services and e- commerce; to defend and to promote an improved position of women in global value chains, making the best use of WTO tools, such as the Trade Facilitation Agreement; to develop capacity-building programmes and organizing regular expert discussions and the exchange of good practices; to support the adoption of gender-related measures within the WTO's administrative structure, more particularly, to ensure that the WTO Secretariat has the technical capacity to undertake gender analysis of trade rules, including conducting gender impact assessments in all phases of its work, including numbers, among other things, of women benefitting from technical assistance; to support WTO tools to address gender issues both in its jurisprudence and in on-going trade negotiations; and, equally, to support an improved cooperation between the WTO and other international organisations aimed at promoting and inclusive international trade and women's rights and equality, such as UNCTAD, UN- Women and the ILO;