The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which entered into force on the 27th February 2005, is the cornerstone of an international strategy for dealing with the global epidemic of tobacco-related disease and death. The objective of the convention is “to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.”

Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, the then Director-General of the WHO, addressed the 59th Commission on Human Rights in March 2003, shortly after the negotiations for the FCTC were completed. She called the FCTC, “a vital new mechanism to protect and promote the individual's right to health”, adding that health as a human right had been neglected and that human rights should be seen, not merely as an inspirational framework, but as useful tools for analysis and action on public health issues.

In its Preamble, the FCTC specifically incorporates provisions from the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. These international treaties are mutually reinforcing for the Parties that have committed to them. In concert, they can be used as international legal instruments for strengthening tobacco control policies, laws and activities, and for monitoring and evaluating them.

The FCTC ushers in a new era in which tobacco control will increasingly be seen not only as a public health issue, but also as a matter of fundamental human rights.