Inor Ag. Assmann
DEMOCRACY THREAT
The efforts and contributions towards promoting the Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work in the tobacco sector, especially through the cooperation with
non-governmentorganizations(NGOs),unionsandevenwiththeInternationalLa-
bor Organization (ILO), are being distorted and decimated by secretariats like the
National Committee for the Implementation of the Framework Convention on To-
bacco Control (FCTC). Thewarning comes from the executive director of Abifumo.
Carlos Galant. “Such forums, although legally established for a democratic repre-
sentationof all parties (health,workers, farmersand industry), inpractice, theyop-
erate without allowing the representatives of the tobacco sector to have access to
information, debatesor decisions. This same typeof policywill beput intopractice
during the COP 8”, he says.
In his evaluation, it is of fundamental importance for all modern democracies
to respect the freedom of expression and the right to representation. “This was
done at the Federal Constitution, article 5, clause XXXIV, granting any person the
right to formally address any authority of the Government, with the intention to
claim their rights, get information, or even a simple argument towards the inter-
est of a group or society as a whole”, he stresses. “Still more important, Brazil is a
Country which transformed democracy and freedom of speech in callous claus-
es, and the extreme dispositions of Article 5.3 are totally incompatiblewith the na-
tional judicial system.”
For all this, he understands that 2018 will be a year of challenges with a deter-
mining role in the future of the entire tobacco supply chain. “It is up to everybody
in the sector, workers and farmers, to make it clear to their political representa-
tives, especially federal deputies and senators, that the exclusion of the tobacco
sector and the voice and representation of more than 150,000 families and more
than 40,000 workers during the COP8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco
Control should not be an option for the representatives of the leading global to-
bacco exporter - Brazil.”
Thesector is facing
theexclusion from
thedialoguesof
several forums
decision only strengthens the recent extrem-
ist policies and the lack of legitimacy of debates
and decisions, either national or international,
taken without the involvement of all parties in-
volved, whether governmental or civilian”, he in-
sists. “They also end up excluding thousands of
workers from having access to public policies of
quality, implemented by technical cooperation
projects with organs and agencies of the United
Nations, which are mainly focused on the eradi-
cation of child labor and workers’ quality of life.”
PARTICIPATION
According to Carlos Galant,
participative policies, on the contrary, tend to
produce more beneficial results for society. He
cites a recent example towards this end, which
is the behavior of the UNO during the Unit-
ed Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, in 2017, where the option for direct and
open dialogue with several industry sectors, in
collaborative form, brought more positive re-
sults for the Paris Agreement.
“Maybe this is the time to stress that the com-
panies of the sector are committed and deter-
mined to play an active role in the sustainabil-
ity agenda”, he says. There is an international
commitment of an expressive number of com-
panies of the tobacco sector to follow the global
patterns of showing alignment with the human
rights principles, workers’ rights, environment
and anticorruption initiatives. “This said, the
implementation of Article 5.3 of the Framework
Convention, in the terms proposed by the UNI-
ATF, will result into the prohibition of the in-
dustry to take part in these forums to build the
commitment to reach Agenda 2030 and the ob-
jectives of Sustainable Development”, he warns.
The exclusion of the tobacco sector, as things
are, will set the tune for the debates during the
eighth edition of the Convention of the Parties
(COP8).“Nomattertowhatextentthetobaccosec-
tor clearly states that it understands and supports
the role of the national health authorities, and the
WHO in its promotion of public policies, all efforts
previously cited by farmers and workers of the to-
baccosector, couldbe forgotten”, he regrets.
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