Ivory Coast: Women lawyers trained in tobacco control

The Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire (AFJCI) and the American organization Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) organized a three-day workshop on capacity building for lawyers in the field of public policy and tobacco law.

This is the first time that AFJCI has specifically focused on the subject of tobacco. The workshop was designed to strengthen the legal capacities of a group of lawyers from the country who will join existing tobacco control networks in Côte d'Ivoire and internationally. This training is part of the cooperation deployed between stakeholders from different countries in the fight against smoking.

CTFK offers more comprehensive training programs for lawyers from developing countries. These focus on tobacco control in general with the various proven provisions as well as on litigation and reference case law in this area. Launched for the first time in 2021 in English-speaking countries, the study program continued in 2023 in French-speaking African countries as part of a partnership with the Alliance for Tobacco Control in Africa (ATCA), the National Committee Against Tobacco (CNCT) in France and the O Neil Institute of Public Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington.

Publicize and implement protective tobacco control measures

For the president of the association, Me Francine Aka[1], it was important that the members of the association be informed and trained on this topic as well as all the lawyers with whom the association works. She adds that this training will allow lawyers to take into account existing texts on tobacco control in order to make them better known and applied, in particular the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that the country has ratified and the national law 2019-676 of July 23, 2019 relating to tobacco control in Côte d'Ivoire.

While Ivory Coast has made progress recently in the fight against smoking, the prevalence rate Smoking is estimated at more than 14,133 of the total population, with a worrying increase among young people (19,133 of 13-15 year olds are smokers according to the WHO). The country also remains permeable to the tobacco industry lobby according to the latest Index on Tobacco Industry Interference in Côte d'Ivoire[2].

Anticipating tobacco industry challenges to health measures

This training also allows lawyers to anticipate potential lawsuits brought by the tobacco industry and to effectively counter the arguments put forward by the latter. Indeed, at the beginning of 2022[3], the Council of Ministers adopted a decree on the modalities of application of health warnings in the context of the packaging and labeling of tobacco products. Côte d'Ivoire will thus become the first country in Africa and the 20th in the world to require plain packaging for tobacco products. Plain packaging, accompanied by an arsenal of other measures (smoke-free areas, ban on advertising, tax increases, ban on flavors, etc.) is a powerful public health tool.

Packaging remains a key marketing tool for the tobacco industry and its attacks are intense in all countries that have wanted to implement plain packaging for tobacco products. The argument that the measure is ineffective is still being put forward, despite numerous scientific studies that prove the opposite. Plain packaging does indeed reduce the attractiveness of tobacco products, it allows for better readability of health warnings and helps to denormalize tobacco consumption.

Keywords: Ivory Coast, Africa, training, lawyers, women, tobacco control, litigation, plain packaging, regulation, trial

AE

[1] Donald GONLI, Anti-tobacco fight: women lawyers are being trained, L'infodrome, published on January 7, 2024, consulted on January 8, 2024

[2] Presentation of a report on the index of interference by the tobacco industry in Côte d'Ivoire, ATCA

[3] Generation without tobacco, Ivory Coast to be first African country to introduce plain packaging, published January 31, 2023, accessed January 8, 2024