International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA) today sought participation of farming community in the forthcoming 7th Conference of Parties (COP) of the WHO Framework Convention.
COP7 is a global anti-tobacco conference, being held in the national capital on November 7-12, that will review the implementation of the World Health Organistaion (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and the protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products.
"Measures impacting tobacco cultivation and tobacco farmers cannot be decided only by health officials and activists and requires the participation of tobacco growers and other stakeholders including related ministries," ITGA President Francois van der Merwe said in a statement.
The delegations from the FCTC signatory countries would be responsible for adopting FCTC proposals impacting tobacco growers all over the world and thus the official country delegations should include tobacco farmers and their representative organizations, he said.
ITGA said growers are highly apprehensive that the meeting will see COP7 participants agreeing to a host of extreme regulatory measures that impact tobacco cultivation and livelihood of tobacco growers in tobacco growing countries.
"Adoption of extreme measures at COP7 will directly and severely affect the livelihood of millions of tobacco farmers and farm workers around the world," it added.
According to the association, since the beginning of the FCTC, growers' right to be consulted on the development of policies that would ultimately impact them has been summarily denied.
"FCTC processes have indeed become increasingly undemocratic and non-participatory with decisions made behind closed doors excluding tobacco growers, the public and even the media," it added.
These concerns were expressed by growers across the world at the two-day ITGA annual meeting that concluded yesterday here.
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