The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) celebrates its 20th anniversary

The 75^th The anniversary of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO) will also be an opportunity to mark the 20th^th anniversary of the adoption of the FCTC. This first international health treaty – and so far the only one – represented a major step forward in the fight against smoking, particularly in countries where legislation on the subject was rudimentary.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is the first treaty based on scientific evidence to reaffirm the universal right to health. It draws in particular on Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), a human rights treaty that establishes everyone's right to the highest standard of health.

Designed to reduce and eventually eliminate tobacco consumption, the CCLAT proposes a coherent set of measures covering all aspects of tobacco production, sale and consumption. Countries that have ratified this treaty commit to developing tobacco control measures in their countries, whether by increasing taxes on tobacco products, banning advertising, promotion and sponsorship of these products, combating illicit trade or adopting other proven and effective measures to protect populations.

A widely ratified health treaty

Led by the WHO, the FCTC was adopted on May 21, 2003, and signed by 168 countries the following year, a record speed in the history of the United Nations. The FCTC negotiation period, which began in 2000, was the scene of numerous clashes between public health actors and the tobacco industry across countries, influenced by multinationals or even more indirectly through a global plan intended to undermine the process and the outcome of the treaty.[1]The vigilance exercised over the wording of this treaty has resulted in a demanding text that guarantees its consistency. This requirement has notably resulted in the organization of strict and transparent hearings of representatives of the tobacco industry, as well as their exclusion from the negotiation process as such.

To date, 181 countries and 182 parties have ratified the FCTC. While the tobacco epidemic causes 8 million deaths worldwide each year, the FCTC is estimated to have prevented the premature deaths of approximately 22 million people between 2007 and 2014.[2].

The FCTC, a minimum requirement threshold for tobacco control

The 75th anniversary of the WHO[3], May 27, 2023, and World No Tobacco Day, May 31[4], will be opportunities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the FCTC, considered one of the WHO's greatest successes. The next Conference of the Parties (COP 10), which meets every two years to take stock of the progress of this treaty, will be held in November 2023. It will be an opportunity to recall that the FCTC should represent the minimum anti-tobacco measures to be achieved and that signatory states are invited to adopt more rigorous ones, as its Article 2.1 explicitly provides.

Keywords: FCTC, WHO, COP 10, World No Tobacco Day.

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[1] Committee of Experts on Tobacco Industry Documents, World Health Organization. (2000). Tobacco Company Strategies to Undermine Tobacco Control Activities at the World Health Organization. UCSF: Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Published on 1^er July 2000, accessed May 22, 2023.

[2] ASH-Washington, 20th anniversary of the adoption of the WHO FCTC, published May 21, 2023, accessed May 22, 2023.

[3] WHO, Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: a fit-for-purpose life-saving treaty, accessed May 22, 2023.

[4] WHO, World No Tobacco Day 2023: We need food, not tobacco, accessed May 22, 2023.