In the Latin American country of Colombia, Big Tobacco once benefited from lax legislation, thanks to its aggressive presence in the halls of Colombia’s Congress.
But that all changed when a powerful coalition of civil society, members of Congress, and the Viceminister of Health coordinated by Corporate Accountability International began advocating for the country to adopt and ratify the global tobacco treaty. The treaty would offer a roadmap to securing lifesaving tobacco controls over industry opposition.
With a broad range of Latin America-based organizations, we mobilized a widespread grassroots campaign that led first to the treaty’s ratification in 2006, and finally to one of the strongest national tobacco control laws in the world in 2009.
Bloomberg Philanthropies recognized our outstanding work in Colombia, awarding the organization a Bloomberg Award for Global Tobacco Control in 2012. On World No Tobacco Day of the same year, we were also recognized by the World Health Organization’s Office of the Americas (PAHO) as a leader in the monitoring, exposing and challenging of industry interference in the global tobacco treaty.Read more about our campaign to Challenge Big Tobacco.
