I think it is a grave danger to democracy and societies around the world to omit societal harm. — Frances Haugen

Global conclaves, global consensus.

The events are generally inclusive, participative, and empowering.

That is, for bona fide parties, entities, and their representatives.

But there should be no room in an international conference for parochial, personal, or private agenda.

More importantly, proponents of extraneous matters or issues not within the purview of the official business of the gathering should neither be tolerated, much less welcomed.

In such a situation, the presiding officer or panel can and must rule the unwelcome participant/s or gate crasher/s out of order and order their expulsion from the venue and the event pronto!

A former Agriculture secretary has warned against the participation of a vested group in the upcoming conference on the global treaty on tobacco control.

Leonardo Montemayor, now board chairman of the Federation of Free Farmers , issued the statement following a report by UK parliamentarians that Bloomberg Philanthropies is exerting influence on tobacco regulation in low- and middle-income countries such as the Philippines ahead of the Ninth Conference of the Parties of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

“It’s alarming to know that there are organizations with vested interest throwing their weight on the World Health Organization to shape the policies that will be adopted by its member countries,” said Montemayor, who headed the Department of Agriculture in 2001.

He was referring to the report released by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for Vaping Inquiry that warned the participation of The Union, a group funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, as well as other anti-vaping non-government organizations participating as “civil society observers” in the COP 9 would dictate tobacco policies in LMICs.

The FCTC is the first global treaty on tobacco control negotiated under the auspices of the WHO. The COP, the governing body of the WHO FCTC composed of representatives from all parties to the treaty, is scheduled to hold its ninth conference virtually from November 8 to 13.

The UK parliament report pointed out the lack of transparency and the exclusion of consumers and other sectors in the FCTC COP dialogues.

“Not only are these previously stated commitments to transparency and consumer engagement willfully ignored by the FCTC COP Secretariat, but its COP meetings are well-known for the routine ejection of the public from proceedings, sometimes physically, in places where there should be and usually is, a designated place for members of the public to observe. There is no expectation that this will be any different for COP9. It is almost certain that, even with the conference taking place virtually, consumers would not be permitted to watch, let alone participate,” it said.

While anti-tobacco civil society observers are allowed to participate in COP, the voice of the farmers has been historically left out in previous conferences.

“If they can block proponents of innovation and eject consumer and other independent sectors in this conference of the parties, what more can they do to farmers who have been marginalized for a very long time?” the former DA chief asked.

He reiterated his previous appeal to the country’s delegates to the COP 9 to uphold the rights and put forward the interest of the farmers following a report that the Department of Health is marshaling the composition of the delegation.

“Millions of farmers depend on tobacco. We hope the discussions and policy recommendations that will be crafted during COP 9 will consider this reality. There are pragmatic approaches to address the smoking epidemic that will not drastically and adversely impact our farmers,” he said.

The APPG inquiry was conducted by a panel of parliamentarians on behalf of the APPG for Vaping, including Members of Parliament Mark Pawsey, Mary Glindon, The Viscount Ridley DL, Gareth Johnson, and Adam Afriyie.

Behold God’s glory and seek His mercy.

Pause, ponder, act, and pray, people.