July 2022 – ASH staff attended the 7^th ENSP European Conference on Tobacco Control (ECTC) in Greece. This was a valuable opportunity to host a workshop, present on the environment, and host a panel on the tobacco endgame, while networking with partners from across Europe.

Given that Greece has the highest smoking prevalence in Europe, the conference was hosted there as a reminder to all researchers and advocates of the work that remains ahead of us all.

ASH’s Capacity Building and Advocacy Workshop on Using Human Rights arguments and frameworks to advance tobacco control

This workshop sough to increase the capacity of tobacco control advocates from the European Region on how to use human rights arguments and human rights treaties to further their national tobacco control goals.

Participants were trained on how to incorporate human rights approaches into their long-term strategy and program of work, learned how to use the reporting mechanisms associated with human rights treaties to advance tobacco control, built collaborations with human rights experts, and learned ways to engage directly with their national governments and regional and global Human Rights Bodies.

Presentations included:

• Why tobacco should be addressed through a human rights lens by Stephen P. Marks, François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights, emeritus, Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health Human Rights
• Human Rights Mechanisms: Entry points for tobacco control advocacy by Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, Managing Attorney at ASH
• Tobacco Control in CRC Reporting: Experiences from Germany by Sonja Von Eichborn, Director at Unfairtobacco
• Using the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to Further Local Tobacco Control by Megan Arendt-Manning, Associate Director of Communications at ASH
• Global Campaign Opportunities by Laurent Huber, Executive Director at ASH

To receive copies of the presentations, email hq@ash.org with your request.

As a result of the workshop, several follow up meetings were scheduled to integrate tobacco into specific upcoming country reports for various countries.

Tobacco Endgame Symposia

This panel offered a crucial overview on the emerging tobacco endgame movement around the world with 4 country-specific examples provided.

• The Global Landscape of the Tobacco Endgame by Megan Arendt-Manning, Associate Director at ASH
• Aotearoa New Zealand’s Tobacco Endgame by Janet Hoke, ASPIRE 2025 Centre, University of Otago, New Zealand
• Denmark’s Tobacco-Free Generation Experience by Niels Them Kjaer, Danish Cancer Society and Hanne Vibjerg, Danish Health Authority
• The challenge of an end game scenario in a context of health inequalities in Belgium by Pierre Bizel, Observatoire Santé de la Province Hainaut
• Tobacco Free Ireland 2025: Reaching the endgame by Prof Luke Clancy, Director General, Tobacco Free Research Institute
• FCTC Article 2.1 by Laurent Huber, Executive Director of ASH