{"id":1437,"date":"2019-12-01T01:48:26","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T01:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/tc\/?p=1437"},"modified":"2019-12-01T01:48:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T01:48:26","slug":"world-international-labour-organization-ilo-ends-tobacco-industry-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/tc\/2019\/12\/01\/world-international-labour-organization-ilo-ends-tobacco-industry-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"World: International Labour Organization (ILO) ends tobacco industry funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alice Grainger Gasser, corresponding author. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Contributing authors: Leonce Dieudonn\u00e9 Sessou, Fastone Goma, Lutgard Kokulinda Kagaruki, Marty Otanez, Hellen Neima<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of October, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO)<\/a> endorsed its new integrated strategy for the tobacco sector<\/a>. The decision ends ILO\u2019s involvement in over a decade of tobacco industry corporate social responsibility schemes that have failed to address the systemic exploitation of tobacco growers and farm workers. Expired contracts binding the ILO to Japan Tobacco International and the Ending Child Labor in Tobacco (ECLT) Foundation were not renewed.<\/p>\n

By cutting financial ties with tobacco companies the ILO ends its dependency on an industry that exploits weak labour protections, amasses huge profits and leaves tobacco growers trapped in poverty. Its new integrated strategy sector goes beyond child labour to address its root causes. To be funded by contributions from bi-lateral or multi-lateral development funders, the strategy is a breakthrough that empowers the ILO to strengthen protections for tobacco workers across the board and break the cycle that locks them in poverty. While the strategy is global in scope, its implementation will initially focus on Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, to ensure the continuity of ILO\u2019s work in these countries.<\/p>\n

Building on recent efforts to reduce tobacco industry influence within the United Nations system, the ILO strategy reaffirms the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)\u00a0 Model Policy for UN Agencies<\/a> and FCTC Article 5.3. It also builds on the momentum to implement FCTC Article 17 on promoting alternative livelihoods for tobacco farmers and workers.<\/p>\n

The decision on protecting public health policies from the vested interest of the tobacco industry (Decision 18) of the Eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the FCTC (COP8) encouraged the involvement of FCTC States Parties, the FCTC Secretariat and COP observers in the ILO decision making process.<\/p>\n

The Governing Body decision reinforces the ILO\u2019s capacity to act as an independent moderator of the dialogue between governments, employers and workers. It also sends a clear signal to tobacco companies that they must address the root causes of poor working conditions among tobacco growers by closing the wage gaps in their supply chains, upholding workers\u2019 right to organize and keeping labour contracts transparent.<\/p>\n

Lessons learned<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several important lessons to be learned from the process for the ILO to end tobacco industry funding. Alongside representatives of governments, the ILO\u2019s unique tripartite structure gives a voice in its governance to representatives of workers (labour unions) and of employers (including the tobacco industry). Within the Governing Body, efforts to end tobacco industry funding were led by workers\u2019 representatives and FCTC-friendly states. The process, which dragged through several Governing Body meetings, offered benefits to those involved from both the labour and health sectors.<\/p>\n

Tobacco control networks gained by strengthening their connection with labour officials and unions: in Brazil, Tanzania and Zambia health groups worked at national level with labour officials or unions and\/or the press to influence the ILO decision. The African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) used media coverage to generate grassroots pressure on African governments. In Uganda, the Ministry of Health urged the Ministry of Labour to comply with national law on Article 5.3 of the FCTC. Among labour officials, the debate raised awareness of the FCTC and the need for policy coherence.<\/p>\n

The ILO process has shown that we still have far to go to develop the intersectoral collaboration needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) health target. During the ILO debate, many labour leaders and officials considered health sector representatives as intruders, not allies. Tobacco control advocates learned to be careful to distinguish between the types of engagement with the tobacco industry that ILO must maintain in order to best protect workers, and the kind that compromise the organisation\u2019s independence and effectiveness.<\/p>\n

The future<\/strong><\/p>\n

The international tobacco control and health community need to follow through and build on the lessons learned to:<\/p>\n