If you want to read how the naughty boys and girls are following their obligations under the Framework Convention, follow the link Monitoring Performance on the Global Treaty.
Astonishingly:
An unexpected finding in the report, which is causing particular concern among tobacco control advocates, is that of the 49 Parties targeted for the report – representing the first countries to ratify the FCTC – only seven submitted their official implementation reports to the Treaty Secretariat on time (deadlines ranged from February 27 to March 31, 2010). By the time Tobacco Watch went to print at the end of September, 20 Parties had still failed to turn in reports.Imagine any country having any priority higher than tobacco control. Unthinkable. And this year they actually name and shame some of the wayward countries that have failed to submit reports:
Malta
Fiji
Sri Lanka
Myanmar
Maldives
Iceland
Nauru
San Marino
Solomon Islands
Madagascar
Peru
Vietnam
Timor-Leste
Spain
Senegal
Botswana
Tonga
Democratic People’s Republic of KoreaThe links will take you to random health reports from respective countries. Only the report for Spain contained any reference to tobacco: many of these mentioned inadequate access to basic healthcare (because of transport infrastructures) and access to clean water as health issues. Some have life expectancies 20 or 30 years less than ours. As for this story:
Madagascar had a serious malaria epidemic in 1990 causing the death of tens of thousands; efforts are underway for annual antimalarial campaigns, especially in the Hauts Plateaux. [emphasis added]it's hard to imagine an international health agency insisting that tobacco control is an urgent issue in any country with this kind of tragedy in its recent history. Can you imagine it happening in the developed world? But there you have it: the first international multilateral treaty devised by the World Health Organisation concerned tobacco control. This piece (even though produced by extreme evangelists!) also refers to the Madagascar malaria disaster: it also mentions overcrowding, natural disasters and political instability as further regular health threats.
Another piece here discusses the irrelevance of the World Health Organisation's priorities, with particular reference to malaria.
Further news stories from the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (probably mostly about new kids on the block that haven't understood the FCTC's message yet) are available here.
It does seem clear that an emphasis on tobacco control is well off the mark.
1 comment:
North Korea, The People's Republic, is one of the worst anti-smoking nations there is. In order to attend university in NK one must not smoke - all all - never. These communist countries will be chopping off smokers' heads faster than the western countries will. When US wanted heroin, cocaine, marijuana and opium banned last century and came up with propaganda campaigns such as Reefer Madness in the states, over in China the government there solved the issue by shooting users in the head, with a bullet. Interesting WHO is angry People's Republic of North Korea hasn't implemented stronger restrictions yet. Tells you where UN and WHO mindset lies. Meantime, the elite classes in western societies, full of left-wing jargon, continue to applaud the smoking-bans as some special "freedom", as in smoke "free" a favourite cause celeb. Disgusting how far down the western democracies have fallen back in values. Denormalisation of tobacco is synonomous with demoralization of western culture values, such as freedom, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
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