“Human Rights Abuses
in Tobacco Agriculture”
Michael H. Crosby, OFMCap.
TOBACCO CONTROL AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Singapore
19 March, 2012
FOUR LEGS OF TOBACCO-CONTROL
 LEGISLATION (public policy [FCTC, federal, state,
local], smokefree facilities, taxes, etc.)
 LITIGATION (false advertising, victim compensation,
etc)
 RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (media campaigns,
counter advertising, materials/courses for schools)
 ADVOCACY OF VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS (organizing farm workers and others, demonstrations,
boycotts, socially responsible investing, attendance
at annual meetings of the tobacco companies)
THE INTERFAITH CENTER ON CORPORATE
RESPONSIBILITY
• Who: Coalition of 275 religious institutions
(Protestant, Catholic, Jewish) buying/holding
stock in major U.S.-based corporations
• How: Dialog and filing shareholder resolutions
• Why: Recognizing the need to include moral
and ethical concerns to investments (i.e.
adding environmental, social and governance
issues) to fiscal concerns
• Links to similar faith-based and SRI groups
around the world
ISSUES OF THE ICCR
Climate Change: GHG reduction, sustainable energy supplies
Access to Capital: predatory lending, international debt,
bailout
Militarism and Violence: foreign military sales, video games
Corporate Governance: executive compensation, pay
disparity, women/minorities on boards
Food and Water: issues of sustainability and safety
Vendor Standards: supply chain, sweatshops
Access to Health: full coverage principles, pricing, HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis, malaria, tobacco
Human Rights: codes of conduct, worker rights, safety
2012 SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTIONS OF
ICCR MEMBERS WITH TOBACCO COS.
ALTRIA: Board to authorize an annual report
detailing the company’s policies and procedures
related to lobbying legislators and regulations
directly and indirectly (through trade associations).
LORILLARD and RAI: Board to create a special ethics
committee to review any and all efforts to ensure
shareholders that its products and product promotions are not undermining efforts of governments at
any level to adopt laws and practices that will free
Americans from the negative consequences of the
use of its tobacco products.
2012 SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTIONS OF
ICCR MEMBERS WITH TOBACCO COS.
PMI: Given revelations in the media (i.e., “Sex, Lies
and Cigarettes,” “The Smoking Baby,” “From Age 2-7:
Why Are children Smoking in Indonesia”) of what PMI
is doing . . .
Ask Board to create an independent ethics committee to review any and all future marketing efforts of
PMI anywhere in the world to ensure shareholders
that all of its tobacco products and promotions do not
undermine the efforts of sovereign nations to adopt
laws and practices (based on the FCTC) meant to keep
its products from illiterate people or children.
ONGOING DIALOGS & SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTIONS
with MOVIE STUDIOS/COMPANIES re: TOBACCO-FREE
MOVIES
CBS
Comcast (Universal)
NewsCorp (20th Century Fox)
Walt Disney Company (Disney)
Time Warner (Warner Brothers)
Viacom (Paramount)
[Sony]
2012 SHAREHOLDER ACTIONS OF ICCR
MEMBERS WITH OTHER TOBACCO COS.
ALLIANCE ONE and UNIVERSAL LEAF similar to
past resolutions filed with Altria, PMI and RAI:
Board to commit itself to create protocols
ensuring it will not buy any product at
tobacco auctions or from suppliers who are
revealed to be in violation of their own
countries’ stated laws related to laborers or
who operate in countries with consistent
records of human rights violations, especially
vis-à-vis egregious forms of forced child labor.
ICCR EFFORTS SINCE MUMBAI
REGARDING TOBACCO FARMWORKERS
AND FORCED CHILD LABOR
IN USA: Multi-stakeholder meeting in
April, 2012 to address concerns related to
problems linked to North Carolina tobacco
industry, farmers and farmworkers.
GLOBAL: Adoption of Good Agricultural
Policies and Procedures and independent
monitoring related to tobacco farms and
farmworkers by Altria and PMI.