International Week of Resistance 2008 - Corporate Accountability International - Challenging Abuse, Protecting People - Think Outside the Bottle

9th International Week Of Resistance To Tobacco Transnationals
September 22 – 28, 2008

International Week of Resistance 2008

Most people around the world – 85 percent of us – live in a country that has ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Yet tobacco industry interference poses perhaps the single greatest threat to implementation of this groundbreaking global treaty.

Philip Morris International (PMI), British American Tobacco (BAT) and Japan Tobacco (JT) have built empires that sacrifice the health and well-being of millions of people, and they use their political influence to weaken, delay and defeat tobacco control legislation around the world.

This is why Corporate Accountability International and the Network for Accountability of Tobacco Transnationals (NATT) launched the 9th International Week of Resistance to Tobacco Transnationals, IWR 2008.

Throughout the week of September 22nd, NGOs across the globe organized events to call for strong implementation of the FCTC. A centerpiece of IWR 2008 was the release of Protecting against Tobacco Industry Interference: The 2008 Global Tobacco Treaty Action Guide.

The 2008 Action Guide highlights the importance of Article 5.3 of the FCTC, on protecting public health policy from interference by Big Tobacco. Parties to the treaty are now developing specific guidelines on how this provision should be implemented. IWR 2008 helped build support and visibility for these guidelines, which will be presented for approval in less than three months – when ratifying countries meet in South Africa in November 2008.

Please Join With Allies Around The World By Releasing The Action Guide In Your City And Country.

Urge your government officials to support the adoption of strong, effective guidelines to protect public health policy from tobacco industry interference.
Generate national and international media attention to the tobacco giants’ abuses.
If your country is one of the few remaining countries which has not ratified the Global Tobacco Treaty, (including the USA), contact your law makers and urge them to bring the FCTC forward for a ratification vote.

Now is the best time to build international momentum for the adoption of strong, effective guidelines on FCTC Article 5.3. If you are interested in organizing an event in your country, please send an email to FCTC@StopCorporateAbuse.org!