Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and 38 signatory organizations wish the 59th session of the Human Rights Council every success and sincerely hope that the council will continue to promote the “right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” as well as the “right to a healthy environment.”
Read the complete joint submission here>
The 39 signatories respectfully request that the 59th session of the Human Rights Council and subsequent HRC Resolutions and processes addressing the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development consider:
• Addressing the impact on the right to health of the tobacco epidemic, including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and other products, which causes eight million preventable deaths annually and costs the global economy up to two percent of GDP, creating a substantial barrier to economic and human development;
• Including access to cessation support as an essential part of the discussion on Universal Health Coverage;
• Addressing tobacco’s (especially cigarette filters or butts) negative impact on the environment, including at the upcoming Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution;
• Including tobacco in the Fourth High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the prevention and control of NCDs and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing (HLM4)
• Inviting the Special Rapporteur, while considering the many ways towards the full realization of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to pay particular attention to the progress being made towards implementation of Target 3.a of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the obligation of States to address human rights implications over the whole life-cycle of tobacco growing, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, consumption and post consumption;
• Inviting the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee engaged in the development of a comprehensive study on the implications of plastic pollution for the full enjoyment of human rights, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic, that will be presented to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-sixth session to address the impact of tobacco products and cigarette filters when developing the report ;
• Calling upon states, when reporting on the implementation of the right to health under human rights treaties, to provide information on successful measures taken to reduce tobacco use as well as challenges faced in implementing the FCTC and reducing the harm caused by tobacco that affect that right; and
• Inviting States to include the status of tobacco control efforts, both successes and failures, and the impact of those efforts on the right to health, when reporting during their Universal Periodic Review.
Action on Smoking and Health and our 38 partners congratulate the Human Rights Council for its efforts to include human rights considerations in the 2030 Development Agenda.
Human development requires the vigorous application of human rights norms. ASH and its partners will continue to support the Council in its promotion of human rights, especially the right to health as it addresses the global morbidity and mortality caused by tobacco.
Signatories
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
Afghanistan NCD Alliance
Aktionsbündnis Nichtrauchen e.V.
AMBIO SOCIEDAD CIVIL
American College of Chest Physicians
ASH Scotland (UK)
Belgian Alliance for a Smoke-Free Society
CLAS
Comité national contre le tabagisme, CNCT
Corporate Accountability
Costa Rica Saludable
Educar consumidores
European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention – ENSP
Fundación Interamericana del Corazón Argentina
Fundación MÁS QUE IDEAS
Global Alliance for Tobacco Control
Institute of leadership and Development (INSLA)
InterAmerican Heart Foundation
Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), Inc.
King Hussein Cancer Center
Malaysian Women’s Action for Tobacco Control and Health (MyWATCH)
Ñande Bolivia
National Cancer Control Foundation Yemen – Aden
Nofumadores.org
OMIS
Pratyasha Anti-drug’s club
RENATA
Salud Crítica
Salud Justa Mx
SERAC-Bangladesh
Slovenian Coalition for Public Health, Environment and Tobacco Control
Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance
Swiss Association for Tobacco Control
Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum
Te Ao Hurihuri
Tobacco Control Research Group, University of Bath
Tobacco Free Portfolios
Vital Strategies
www.aerzteinitiative.at