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Kobe Declaration

We, women and youth leaders, non-governmental organization representatives, government delegates, media professionals, academics, health professionals, scientists and policy-makers, gathered in Kobe, Japan in November 1999 at the WHO International Conference on Tobacco and Health, are gravely concerned that:

The tobacco epidemic is an unrelenting public health disaster that spares no society. There are already over 200 million women smokers, and tobacco companies have launched aggressive campaigns to recruit women and girls worldwide. By the year 2025, the number of women smokers is expected to almost triple. Tobacco is the one product that kills its consumers when used as recommended. There are four million deaths per year, 11,000 per day, related to tobacco. If current trends continue, the world will see a growth rate that turns tobacco use into the single largest cause of death and disability. It is urgent that we find comprehensive solutions to the danger of tobacco use and address the epidemic among women and girls. Tobacco has been identified as a contributing factor to gender inequity and undermines the principle of women and children's right to health as a basic human right.
The scientific evidence has shown conclusively that both smoked and smokeless tobaccos contain toxins that cause multiple fatal and disabling health problems throughout the life cycle. Women who smoke have markedly increased risks of cancer, particularly lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, emphysema and other fatal diseases. Women experience gender-specific risks from tobacco and Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) such as negative impact on their reproductive health and complications during pregnancy.
Tobacco-related diseases lead to high morbidity rates worldwide, contrary to the goals of sustainable development and well being for all. The use of tobacco results in a net loss of US $200 billion per year to the global economy, with half of these losses occurring in low-income countries. There are immeasurable personal, social and economic costs to women and children particularly those living in poverty in low-income countries and in rural settings.
Transnational tobacco companies have implemented well-formulated and deliberate strategies to expand tobacco markets among women and children, particularly in populous and developing countries. The tobacco industry is manipulating the process of globalisation for profit. The tobacco industry promotes the false association of tobacco with images of health, liberation, slimness and modernity. Multinational tobacco companies have extended their reach into low-income countries at a time when structural adjustment policies are often resulting in economic hardship and severely limiting the health and educational resources of these countries.
There is an urgent need for governments and the international community to develop effective gender-specific tobacco control strategies and to allocate sufficient funds for tobacco control programmes that also reach poor women and girls. Although there are some countries that have implemented effective strategies against tobacco, such as increased taxation and legislation to ban tobacco advertising, many governments still have a direct association with the tobacco industry as producers, exporters or subsidizers.

We are resolved to:

Demand that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control incorporate gender-specific concerns and perspectives and include a women's protocol; require the active participation of women delegates and NGOs in the development and monitoring of the Convention and its related protocols; and demand that the Convention and its related protocols are ratified by all member states without reservations that are incompatible to the spirit and the letter of the Convention.
Recommend that the governments and the private sector refrain from supporting the tobacco industry and restructure financial policies to raise taxes ad valorem on all tobacco products to a minimum level of 2/3 of the price of tobacco; promote policies that broaden employment opportunities for women and farmers and provide for transitional programmes beyond the tobacco industry; and require that increased tobacco revenues be used for tobacco control programmes as well as for public sporting and cultural events previously sponsored by the tobacco industry.
Demand a global ban on direct and indirect advertising, promotion and sponsorship by the tobacco industry across all media and in all forms of entertainment; and demand public funding for counter-advertising that disconnects women's liberation and tobacco use and that reaches women and girls in all cultural contexts. The use of a tobacco-registered brand name, logo, or trademark on non-tobacco items as well as vending machines that dispense tobacco products should be banned globally.
Ensure that gender equality in society becomes an integral part of tobacco control strategies and promote women's leadership which is essential to success.
Develop gender-specific strategies, with regard for diversity and the needs of women and girls in different cultural contexts. These should include the creation of smoke-free environments, the reduction of exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS); gender-sensitive cessation methods; and the adoption of effective strategies to raise public awareness and to reduce tobacco initiation and use.
Mobilize NGOs, communities, religious groups, media, women's and youth organizations, and the scientific communities in the fight against tobacco products through a multidimensional approach. Monitor the media to ensure accurate and balanced image of tobacco in reporting women's health issues.
Call for effective health education in tobacco use and control including media literacy, at all levels of formal and informal education; invest in overall education in women and girls as a mechanism for development of skills, empowerment and for improving their capacity to fight against tobacco. Education and training programmes in tobacco control should be implemented for health care professionals.
Increase public funding for research and advocacy on women and girls and tobacco; and improve dissemination of research results to the general public.
Ensure devolution of the tobacco control strategy of WHO and UN agencies and their regional and country offices; demand that WHO develop and disseminate tobacco control information and guidelines for best practices worldwide especially in transition and low-income countries.
Incorporate recommendations to combat the negative impact of tobacco in sections dealing with "women and health" and "the girl-child" in the UN General Assembly Special Session on Women 2000; and similarly incorporate environmental aspects of tobacco control in the review of the Earth Summit in 2002, and in other relevant UN follow-up sessions to international conferences.
Uphold the principle of women and children's right to health as a basic human right and build on the progress made at the Children's Summit; the UN Conferences on Environment and Development; Human Rights; Population and Development; the Social Summit; the Fourth World Conference on Women; Habitat; and the Food Summit. Build on existing documents such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; Human Rights Covenants; the Draft Declaration for the Protection of Indigenous Peoples; and WHO Assembly resolutions highlighting gender, health and development; Declaration of ALMA ATA and the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion.