Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 28 2008 (IPS) – When a state-wide ban on smoking came into effect in New York in July 2003, perhaps the only institution outside that stringent law was the United Nations, primarily because its headquarters premises is deemed international territory.
The Vienna Cafe is a haven for smokers at U.N. Headquarters in New York. Credit: Nergui Manalsuren/IPS
At the U.N. Secretariat, smoking is discouraged but not banned although virtually all agencies in New York, including the U.N. children s agency UNICEF and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), have barred smoking in their premises.
Last week, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), comprising 54 member states, adopted a resolution recommending that the 192-member General Assembly, the highest policy-making body, consider taking steps towards a smoke-free United Nations.
Douglas Bettcher, director of the Tobacco Free Initiative at the World Health Organisation (WHO), said an Ad Hoc Inter-agency Task Force on tobacco control, consisting of several U.N. agencies, has recommended that the United Nations as a whole take a strong stance on the issue.
Since the General Assembly had not taken any action on a previous ECOSOC resolution, he said the Council s 54 members should re-state their recommendations at the next session of the Assembly, beginning September, for a complete ban on smoking and on sales of tobacco in its premises.
Some of the countries speaking in support of the resolution included Uruguay ( the first Latin American country to become totally tobacco-free ), Argentina, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
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A 19-page report of the ad hoc committee warns that of the more than 1.3 billion smokers alive today, about 650 million, at least half, will eventually be killed by tobacco.
Smoking was responsible for some 5.4 million deaths in 2005, and that number is expected to increase to 8.3 million in 2030, with more than 80 percent occurring in developing countries, according to the report. Unlike most other causes of death, tobacco kills people during their most productive years.
The study also faults the U.N. s Global Compact, described as the world s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative, for harbouring tobacco companies under its umbrella.
WHO believes that the tobacco industry and corporate social responsibility are an inherent contradiction, it says.
It is unfortunate that some tobacco companies have been able to join the Global Compact given that it is an important corporate citizenship initiative, the study points out.
The report also says that WHO can continue to monitor the activities of the tobacco industry and forward information to the Global Compact when a company infringes national laws relating to tobacco control.
This can eventually be used by the Global Compact when the status of a company is reviewed and can be included in the portfolio of the company when its Global Compact participant status is reviewed, it added.
At present, there are about five companies, directly or indirectly related to the tobacco industry, which are participants in the Global Compact.
The Global Compact s 10 universal principles are derived from international instruments and address several issues, including human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption measures.
Kathy Mulvey, international policy director at Corporate Accountability International, told IPS that banning smoking on U.N. premises is a welcome step.
However, all arms of the United Nations can do more to advance tobacco control via the global tobacco treaty, she said.
Formally known as the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the global tobacco treaty is one of the most widely embraced treaties in the history of the United Nations.
Mulvey said the treaty now protects 85 percent of the world s people in more than 150 countries, with legally binding measures like a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and an obligation to insulate public health policy from tobacco industry interference.
One key step the United Nations should take is to stop providing public relations cover for an industry that is responsible for the deaths of 5.4 million people around the world each year, Mulvey told IPS.
In May, ITC Limited, an affiliate of British American Tobacco, joined the U.N. s Global Compact and it is not the only tobacco corporation included.
Because corporations are able to opt in to standards which are convenient and to opt out of standards which are inconvenient, the Global Compact fails to ensure that the principles advocated by the United Nations are maintained in practice, she added.
Asked for comments, an official of the Global Compact Office (GCO) told IPS that the excerpt in the study unfortunately misstates the nature of the U.N. Global Compact, which does not offer a seal of approval for the companies participating in it.
In a written response, GCO said the mere fact that a company is a participant in the initiative does not mean that they are responsible companies.
The Global Compact is not a regulatory instrument, it is a voluntary initiative with a network-based character.
The initiative is a learning and dialogue platform and it relies on public accountability, transparency and the enlightened self-interest of companies, labour and civil society to initiate and share substantive action in pursuing the principles upon which the Global Compact is based, GCO said. Importantly, the U.N. Global Compact is intended to complement and not substitute for government regulation.
In support of the WHO s stance on tobacco, the GCO says it tries to dissuade tobacco companies from joining the initiative and does not accept funding from tobacco companies.
It has recently made a commitment to not allow tobacco companies to make presentations at any of its global events or to allow them to use the global brand in any other way to raise their profile.
However, so long as tobacco is a legal product, the GCO does not feel that it can introduce a blanket exclusion for tobacco companies that wish to join the initiative despite having been discouraged from doing so.
Nevertheless, the first requirement of all Global Compact participants is that they will comply with all applicable national and international law.
And the Global Compact also has integrity measures that include a dialogue facilitation process so that if credible allegations are made that a company participating in the initiative is engaged in systematic and egregious abuse of the principles, the matter could be raised with the company and they could be asked to respond to the person or organisation raising the matter, GCO said.
In the case of the few tobacco companies participating in the initiative, and if an allegation were made that a company was not complying with national tobacco control laws, the process could be invoked to ask the company to provide a response, the statement concluded.