The guidelines for the international tobacco control conference say no person connected to the industry can be nominated for participation
Tobacco Institute of India has appealed to the Government of India to undertake prior consultation with farmers and other Industry stakeholders and include stakeholder representatives in the official Indian delegation to the FCTC COP 8.
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties (COP8) Meeting, presided over by India, is being held in Geneva from the 1st to 6th of October 2018 to discuss and adopt measures in relation to the Articles of the Convention. FCTC is an international convention that makes it obligatory on signatory countries to take prescribed tobacco control measures.
The request is bound to be rejected as the Guide for Delegates to the Conference of the Parties 2018 clearly lays down: “In accordance with Article 5.3 of the WHO FCTC and the Guidelines for implementation of Article 5.3 adopted by COP in 2008, Parties should not nominate any person employed by the tobacco industry or any entity working to further its interests, or any person benefiting from the proceeds of tobacco trade.”
“…Parties should not nominate any person employed by the tobacco industry or any entity working to further its interests, or any person benefiting from the proceeds of tobacco trade.”
TII is a a representative body of farmers, manufacturers, exporters and ancillaries of the cigarettes’ segment of the tobacco industry in India. Indian Tobacco Farmers have also appealed to the Government to hold consultation with their representatives before the Conference to ensure that their livelihood dependence on tobacco is not undermined by extreme and unilateral decisions at the FCTC COP8.
A similar appeal to the government for their inclusion in the official Indian delegation to the previous COP Meeting held in India in November 2016 was not acceded. International tobacco control conferences have traditionally not been open to admitting industry representatives for fear of the long arm of “big tobacco”. Meanwhile ahead of the conference posters on the back of auto rickshaws highlighting the “plight” of tobacco farmers have reappeared in the capital.
Syed Mahmood Ahmad, Director, TII, said, “Framing of tobacco control policies at the Conference without the involvement of tobacco farmers, whose livelihood is seriously threatened, is unfair and unprincipled with the risk of their genuine concerns being subverted and severely compromised.”
