Human Rights denied by the tobacco industry

Through its commercial activities and public relations strategies, the tobacco industry violates numerous human rights, such as the right to health and life, the right to a healthy environment, and children's rights. In addition to producing, marketing, and promoting addictive and toxic products that are responsible for the premature deaths of 9,500 people in Switzerland, the tobacco industry lobbies to weaken public health efforts to prevent smoking, thereby compromising the Swiss population's right to health and a healthy environment. In 2017, the tobacco industry was even excluded from the United Nations Global Compact because its activities were deemed incompatible with human rights principles.

Children's rights at risk

However, the tobacco industry also violates other rights, such as children's rights. By targeting children and adolescents with marketing campaigns, it violates children's rights to grow up in a healthy environment and enjoy the best possible health. In low-income countries, tobacco cultivation is so unprofitable that farmers are forced to put their children to work. The tobacco industry is complicit in child labor in tobacco fields, putting children's health at risk and causing them to drop out of school. In Switzerland, it is not uncommon for minors to work in tobacco fields, an activity that can endanger their health, particularly due to green tobacco sickness, the effects of which are more frequent and severe in young people.

The “Transparency and Truth” initiative is being implemented by OxySuisse on behalf of the Tobacco Prevention Fund. You can read the full report at: https://www.transparencyandtruth.ch/en/dossiers/human-rights