We want to speak with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) about how industries violate our rights.

How did we do it?

Together with four allied organizations — Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), Global Alliance for Tobacco Control (GATC), and Corporate Accountability — we submitted a formal request for a thematic hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the main human rights body in the Americas.

What is it about?

The hearing we are proposing seeks to address States’ obligations in the face of actions by the tobacco industry that interfere with human rights. We want the IACHR to hear how the tobacco and nicotine industry continues to interfere in public health policies across our region, and how this especially affects young people.

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More information

Read the letters

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Why does it matter?

The industry never stops. It uses digital marketing, attractive flavors, and new products to reach adolescents and normalize nicotine addiction. The World Health Organization has already warned that millions of adolescents around the world use e-cigarettes and other nicotine products, and the trend continues to grow.

But this is not only a public health issue: it is also a human rights issue. Children and adolescents are rights holders who deserve a future free from dependencies induced by corporate strategies. And at CREA, we know this better than anyone. We are young professionals who have chosen to use our technical knowledge to defend public health.

This request is not just a formal document. It is our voice within the Inter-American human rights system.

A moment with history

Ten years ago, the IACHR held its first thematic hearing on tobacco and the right to health in the Americas. Since then, the problem has continued — and evolved. Today, we are concerned about the corporate capture of regulatory spaces, interference in public policymaking, and strategies aimed at weakening the many evidence-based measures that countries have adopted.

And then there is the new era of emerging and novel products that the industry has introduced into the market through aggressive advertising strategies specifically designed to convince young people to consume addictive and harmful products, under the misleading narrative that they now produce “less harmful” alternatives.

It was time to call attention to this issue again, with key information that urgently needs to be heard about the current situation in our region.

Audiencia | Derecho a la salud y tabaquismo en América | Martes, 5 de abril de 2016

What comes next?

The request has already been formally submitted. We are now awaiting the Commission’s response during its session taking place from August 3–7 in Washington, D.C. We have also reached out to the Rapporteurships on the Rights of the Child and on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (DESCA) to share the arguments supporting this request and open a dialogue on the seriousness of tobacco and nicotine industry interference in the region.

In the meantime, we continue training young people committed to human rights, strengthening capacities across Latin America, and seeking to occupy every space where the future of public health is being decided 🧡

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Regional organizations supporting the request

The undersigned organizations, free from conflicts of interest with the tobacco and nicotine industry, express their support for this request as part of their work defending public health, human rights, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights (ESCR), and the protection of children, adolescents, and youth from interference by the tobacco and nicotine industry.