COP11 creeps closer
The eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will be held in Geneva from 17 to 22 November 2025. Once again Copwatch will be monitoring the official channels, in our self appointed mission to demystify the workings of the FCTC Conference of the Parties (COP). Will this be the COP where FCTC drags itself into the 21st century, and stops denying harm reduction for people who smoke? Copwatch is sorry to report that the signs aren’t good.
The workings of FCTC COP can seem mystifying, so we would like to take this opportunity to point you towards some of the explainers on this site. The articles are not recent but that’s ok, because one of the secrets of FCTC COP is that little ever happens. A quick read of these should get you up to speed:
The COP11 documents
A few of the documents for November are already up on the COP11 website. Documents will be added up to 60 days before the meeting opens, although it is not unheard of for documents to appear after that deadline. This page is where the documents should appear. (COP documents sometimes get posted in odd places or get moved, but we do our best to keep track.)
The Provisional Agenda
Of the documents already posted, the Provisional agenda is the most interesting. Agenda item 4.5 signals that the FCTC Secretariat is doubling down on their opposition to harm reduction for smoking:
Copwatch has some thoughts on this…
- Why are there quote marks around the phrase harm reduction, in 4.5? Does harm reduction only exist in marketing campaigns – what about the harm reduction experience of the millions of us who used to smoke?
- Why is there no reference to the FCTC’s Article 1(d), which explicitly states that harm reduction is a pillar of tobacco control?
- Instead, Article 5.2(b) and 5.3 are referred to – signalling that the Secretariat wishes Parties to discuss harm reduction as a threat – not an opportunity – for tobacco control. Here is the relevant part of Article 5:
From Article 5, Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, 2003
From this we infer that the Secretariat is hell bent on not only ignoring the lived experiences of millions of consumers, but also ignoring the multiple calls from countries at COP10 for harm reduction to be recognized as a pillar of tobacco control. It seems that the Secretariat has responded to these calls by including harm reduction on the agenda, but to be considered as a threat. We wonder how some of the sovereign parties will view that, during the discussions at COP11.
A shame that we have no chance of getting admitted to observe those proceedings – observer status to FCTC COP has never yet been granted to any group representing people who smoke or those who use safer nicotine products to stop.