The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today issued a warning that New Zealand's reputation and its commitment to the International Open Government Partnership Agreement is at risk.

Its recent release of a Shadow Report on the (NON)-Implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 1 (d) on Harm Reduction Strategies emphasises the importance of consumer participation in policy making and highlights the benefits of tobacco harm reduction.

“However, the WHO FCTC’s upcoming meetings in Panama which are to be attended by a Ministry of Health delegation, have been extensively criticised for excluding certain parties, such as consumer advocacy groups and independent researchers,” said Nancy Loucas, a prominent New Zealand public health consumer advocate and executive coordinator of CAPHRA.

New Zealand, as a signatory to the International Open Government Partnership Agreement, has committed to improving community engagement in policy making.

“Yet this exclusion of certain groups at key international meetings puts New Zealand's reputation and its commitment to the international Open Government Partnership Agreement at risk,” said Ms Loucas.

In line with New Zealand's commitment to open government and public participation, CAPHRA urges the New Zealand government to support open discussion and participation in tobacco harm reduction policy making, and to address the issue of stakeholder exclusion in the WHO's FCTC COP meetings.

CAPHRA is calling on the New Zealand government and the next Minister of Health to ask all member states attending COP10 to reject the prohibitionist proposals contained in COP10 provisional agenda items 6.1 to 6.4, which the organisation believes will contribute to millions more of unnecessary deaths from smoking,” Ms Loucas said.

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