Your excellencies.
Dr Reina Roa, President of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO FCTC
Dr Mansour Zafer Al-Qahtani, President of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products
Your excellency, Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations Office at Geneva
Mr Dimiter Chalev, Chief of the Right to Development and Sustainability Branch, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Excellencies, heads of delegation, dear colleagues and friends,
As we celebrate 20-years of the entry into force of the WHO FCTC, there is no doubt that this treaty has played a pivotal role in saving millions of lives, but it also had an impact on those who negotiated the treaty itself.
During the negotiations of the treaty, one diplomat remarked how he was inspired to give up smoking because of the treaty negotiations.
He said, and I quote: “During the negotiations, I made this wise decision to quit this old bad habit. My wife was happy that my work as a diplomatic negotiator would bring such an amazing outcome and improve our well-being at home.”
20 years later, an estimated 118 million people have quit tobacco use as a result of the WHO FCTC and the MPOWER measures that support it, and we expect many millions more to quit tobacco use as more countries continue to strengthen tobacco control measures in line with the treaty.
20 years of WHO FCTC implementation have brought about many gains in tobacco control.
Many of the measures that have been implemented in your countries were unthinkable decades or even years ago.
More than 5.6 billion people are covered by at least one tobacco control policy comprehensively in line with the treaty.
A total of 138 countries require large pictorial health warnings on cigarettes packages as a result of the Convention and dozens more countries have implemented plain packaging rules on cigarette packages which require a standard shape and appearance without branding, design or a logo on cigarette packages.
Both measures serve as powerful tools to reduce tobacco consumption and warn users about the dangers of tobacco use.
Over a quarter of the world's population is now covered by smoke-free policies which require smoking bans in indoor and workspaces, saving millions of lives from the dangers of the second-hand smoke.
More than 66 countries have implemented bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship which include bans on tobacco advertising in the media and sponsorship deals while it is crucial more countries do the same.
Furthermore, the WHO FCTC has also been instrumental in establishing legal defences in the face of an aggressive tobacco industry that spends tens of billions of dollars to promote their products and actively undermine efforts at tobacco control including the implementation of the WHO FCTC itself.
The WHO FCTC marks a milestone in international law and public health.
Firstly, the Convention has established the legal basis for countries to implement effective tobacco control measures, underpinned by Internatioanl law.
Secondly: it provides clarity in setting national and regional tobacco control agendas;
And, finally, the treaty has spurred a whole-of-government approach, involving health ministries working together with non-health sectors, civil society, and partners not affiliated with the tobacco industry.
While there is much to celebrate today, there is a long way to go.
The tobacco epidemic is one of the deadliest health threats the world has ever faced.
An estimated 1.3 billion people still use tobacco globally and it is a leading driver of diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and stroke.
Tobacco-related illnesses lead to catastrophic health expenditures, particularly for the poor, trapping families in a cycle of poverty.
Smokers are more likely to be food insecure than non- smokers, including in wealthier countries. Moreover, tobacco cultivation eats up large swaths of land which could otherwise support sustainable food production systems.
Tobacco production further depletes vital resources such as land and water, diverting them from sustainable food production. Additionally, trillions of discarded plastic cigarette butts pollute ecosystems every year, further harming the planet.
The tobacco industry continues to undermine public health efforts, aggressively targeting youth through marketing, lobbying against tobacco control policies, and positioning itself as part of the solution to the problem it created.
To our youth advocate who will speak later today – thank you for your efforts and for raising your voice. The treaty is there to protect young generations like you – we promise to make sure this is done under our watch.
To those in the room who played such a crucial role in bringing this landmark treaty to light – we thank you.
The coming years will be crucial in determining what steps we take to combat the tobacco epidemic.
I urge parties to further strengthen and implement its measures, and for countries that have not yet ratified the WHO FCTC to do so.
This will require vigilance on the part of all of us against a predatory tobacco industry that takes every effort to place profits over health.
These measures will save millions of lives and we owe it to our current generation and those to come.
I thank you.