(Page 27 of 27) - Saving the World from Big Tobacco: A Case Study of NGO Coalition Building authored by Wilkenfeld, Judith.

highly popular. By the time the treaty closed for signatures, 168 countries had signed,
approximately 90% of the possible countries and the 40

ratification was secured on

November 30, 2004. The treaty went into effect on February 28, 2005.

One could argue that the U.S. failure to impose its will in this case results from the
secondary importance of this treaty to the Bush Administration, which does not oppose
public health per se; but it merely gave primary concern to the trading freedom of one of
its largest exporters instead. Thus, the loss did not undermine important Administration
objectives.

One could also posit that timing played a major role in the force with which the opposing
countries held firm. INB-6, when the final coming together of resolve and frustration
produced a strong treaty, was during the weeks leading up to the second Iraq war. It is
fair to suggest that many countries took out their anger and feelings of impotence at being
unable to avert U.S. plans to invade Iraq with an anti-U.S. vote during this negotiation.

Finally, although U.S. desires were thwarted in much of the final language of the treaty,
in those areas that were most central to U.S. needs because they implicated areas over
and above tobacco, for example the language on trade, the U.S. either prevailed or was
able to practice significant damage control. The final negotiated outcome on trade--
basically silence with pro health preambulatory language-- did not achieve U.S. goals of
trade primacy language but it did thwart the desired language favored by the vast
majority of delegates for health primacy language.

Nonetheless, the final treaty represents a significant step forward for global public health,
both in the provisions contained in the document and the catalyst it provided to energize
and unite a new civil society force for change. Whether it represents a significant defeat
for U.S. policy is yet to be determined but for the countries involved in this negotiation,
and the civil society that supported them, the defeat was real and justly deserved.

It could also be argued equally as well that the US interest in the promotion of international health, as in

AIDs as well as the tobacco pandemic, will always be trumped by its overriding determination to preserve
the freedom of its exporting multinationals, even if that export is the source of mass death and disease. In
addition, the Bush Administration continues to put its own perceived interests ahead of international
concerns. Its failure to attend an important review conference on the 1997 international treaty on land
mines because it could not justify the expense suggests that it has withdrawn further from positive
international relations. See “U.S. won’t attend international conference on land mines,” Gedda, G, AP
newswire, November 26, 2004.