Counter Tools Joins Call on UN Committee to Recommend Stronger Tobacco Control Policies

Counter Tools joins Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and 206 other signatories from 61 countries in calling on the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) to maintain and strengthen its call to country Parties in the Draft General Recommendation n°37 on Racial Discrimination in the enjoyment of the right to health to reduce or prevent the harms of tobacco.

Read the Submission from 208 organizations from 61 countries in response to the current draft and their recommendations here.

The joint submission includes key recommendations for the UN Committee to consider to:

1. Strengthen the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control;
2. Support culturally competent cessation support;
3. Combat targeted advertising by tobacco companies and flavored tobacco products;
4. Protect indigenous peoples from the tobacco industry; and
5. Affirm the connection between the right to health and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

A strong General Recommendation from CERD is essential because the UN human rights treaty has been ratified by 182 countries, meaning CERD is law where ratified. General Recommendation 37 will be a global legal recommendation to strengthen tobacco control at the national level.

Learn more about the treaty process by watching ASH’s webinar here.