As the world commemorates UN Human Rights Day December 10, with the theme, “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now,” it’s time to ask: Are we truly listening to what the youth envision for their present and future?
This year’s theme strikes a chord with young people globally, highlighting a pressing issue that threatens them now and their future – tobacco addiction.
Globally, about 37 million adolescents aged 13-15 years are hooked to tobacco use. They are ensnared through aggressive and deceptive marketing tactics of a powerful, profit-driven and harmful industry – the tobacco and its related industries. Beyond consumption, over a million children are also trapped in producing tobacco under harsh and exploitative conditions.
Protect Our Right, Our Future – Youth’s Call to Action
Today’s youth are a premium market targeted by tobacco and related industries, with manipulative strategies designed to lure them into life-long addiction. From digital media marketing to seemingly innovative products like biodegradable filters or vaping devices, the industry ensures its grip on the next generation.
But young people everywhere are speaking out, demanding an end to these harmful practices. The Global Youth Voices, a movement that represents youth coalitions and organizations around the world, has made their stance clear.
In October 2023, they appealed to governments to shield them from the manipulative practices of tobacco and its related industries. Through a declaration this May, they demanded justice and restitution for the harm inflicted and ongoing threats to their health and future.
Recently, in a powerful open letter to the UN Secretary-General, the youth called on the General Assembly to prioritize the well-being of young people and resist the tobacco industry’s influence. Their call is loud and clear: they want stronger regulation of tobacco promotions on all platforms, including entertainment and social media, accountability for environmental pollution– particularly that caused by tobacco plastic waste– and prevention of new addictive products being marketed as disguised innovation.
Tobacco’s Harms Globally
The tobacco industry’s adverse impact on health, the environment, and the economy is deeply troubling. It harms individuals, communities, and the planet while violating fundamental human rights.
Annually, tobacco claims more than 8 million lives, with 22,000 deaths every single day. Smoking is a leading driver of cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illnesses, and over 20 types of cancer, burdening healthcare systems and families worldwide.
Beyond health, the global economy shoulders a staggering $1.4 trillion annual loss from tobacco-related costs, ranging from medical expenses to lost productivity. Tobacco is also a major environmental offender, polluting ecosystems with 4.5 trillion cigarette butts discarded yearly, making them the most littered plastic item in the world.
These toxic, non-biodegradable wastes infiltrate our waterways and soil, causing annual marine ecosystem losses estimated at $20 billion. The magnitude of these harms highlights the urgent need to hold the tobacco industry accountable—not only to protect the health, economy, and environment of our current generation but also to safeguard the well-being of future generations.
For decades, the tobacco industry has evaded accountability for the extensive harms it causes. While the global treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) offers tools for regulation, implementation remains lacking and inconsistent. Many governments around the world have failed to act cohesively against tobacco industry interference.
Right Now: Making Tobacco Pay
A civil society report surveying 90 countries, the 2023 Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, illustrates the industry’s evasion tactics through its so-called corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
These programs—often framed as philanthropic efforts—are used to repair the industry’s tarnished reputation, foster goodwill, and distract from its role as a driver of death and environmental harm. By presenting itself as a “responsible corporate citizen,” the tobacco industry seeks to escape financial liabilities while influencing policymakers and the public.
This Human Rights Day, let us remember that our rights and our children’s rights to health, a clean environment, and a life free from preventable harm are non-negotiable. The fight against tobacco is a fight for justice, equity, and sustainability.
Upholding and protecting human rights is a collective responsibility. Governments, policymakers, and advocates alike must act decisively and cohesively to hold the industry liable for both human and planetary damages.
A comprehensive solution to curbing the tobacco industry’s undue interference lies in fully implementing the WHO FCTC Article 5.3 recommendations such as, denormalizing and banning tobacco-related charity, requiring greater transparency for increased accountability, removing incentives to the tobacco industry, and providing a firewall between government officials from the industry so they can be freed-up to protect their citizens.
The industry must be held liable for the harm it causes to both human health and the environment. Governments should make the industry pay by adopting the “polluter pays” principle. The industry must bear the financial burden of cleaning up its waste and addressing its environmental damage. Because of the irreconcilable difference between profit and public health, the industry must be excluded from the policy table.
We cannot afford to let the industry dictate the terms of our health, our rights, or our future.
The time to act is now.
Yodhim Dela Rosa is the Global Research Coordinator
Rajika Mahajan is the Communications Officer at the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC)
