Dear friends,
Your voices have been heard! On Tuesday, July 3, 2007 -- during the
Conference of the Parties -- the Conference Committee A approved the
draft guidelines for Article 8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control, concerned with protection against secondhand smoke. The
guidelines were approved with only slight changes to the preamble and
received overwhelming support from the delegates to COP2. We expect the
guidelines to be adopted by the full Conference of the Parties in the
next few days.
On behalf of the Global Smokefree Partnership, we would like to thank
all of you for your support of the Global Voices Campaign during these
past 100 days. It is clear that the efforts of the tobacco control and
NGO communities around the world have contributed significantly to
ensuring the Parties support for these best practice guidelines. A
virtual toast to all - we did it!
The adoption of strong and effective guidelines is a huge success, but
there is more work to be done. We need to continue to monitor and
ensure
the effective implementation of these guidelines in our countries and
jurisdictions. As the Global Voices report demonstrates, smoke-free
policies save lives, are cost-effective and popular.
Congratulations once again on this impressive achievement. We hope that
you will continue to share news of smoke-free efforts in your countries
and regions with us.
If you would like additional information about the Article 8 guidelines
adoption process, please do not hesitate to contact us at
info@globalsmokefreepartnership.org
Below is a statement read at the Conference of the Parties by Doug
Blanke on behalf of the Framework Convention Alliance and the Global
Smokefree Partnership:
Thank you, Chair.
Honorable Delegates, colleagues and friends:
The Framework Convention Alliance, the Global Smokefree Partnership,
and
the hundreds of nongovernmental organizations they represent, join in
congratulating the Committee for this historic decision. We salute in
particular the Key Facilitators, for their contributions to this
success, and the Chair of the Committee for helping the Parties arrive
at this extraordinary unanimity.
When we began this journey together, seven years ago, few would have
predicted we would come this far, this fast. Already, with the addition
this week of England, more than 200 million people enjoy the benefits
of
smoke-free air, due in large measure to the Framework Convention
process. Unanimous adoption of these guidelines by the COP will make
that momentum irreversible.
Five hundred organizations from civil society, in one hundred
countries,
have joined together, as the Global Voices for a Smokefree World, to
urge adoption of these guidelines. These organizations, and many
others, now stand ready to help you make them a reality. Let us combine
our wisdom, our experience, and our energies to clear the air
worldwide.
And let each of us remember this occasion, so that, years from now,
when
we are old, when our children come to us and ask, Grandfather, or
grandmother, what was an ashtray? We will smile,
and we will remember this meeting in Bangkok.
Thank you very much.