Let Indigenous populations make their own decisions

Following on from the previous COPWatch article about the side events to be held during breaks at COP11 (downloadable at this page), attention was drawn to a side event scheduled for the afternoon of Thursday 20th November; one which reeks of Western interference towards approaches which are working in indigenous populations.

Organised by Australia, “Implementing the WHO FCTC: Indigenous Leadership, Equity, and Community-Driven Solutions”, is quietly buried in the schedule. The only event acknowledging Indigenous leadership in tobacco control, you would expect the session to recognise the value of community-led, culturally grounded approaches. You would also expect it to highlight truth-telling and lived experience, concepts that Western NGOs love to cite but never practice when it threatens their authority. 

Sadly, our hopes aren’t that high. We anticipate that instead, it will perform a ritual of denunciation, condemning any view that challenges the WHO’s abstinence-only nicotine doctrine, as blessed by their financial patron.

COP11 exposes a grim reality that global health circles rarely admit. What should be an inclusive conversation about saving lives has instead become a showcase of philanthropic imperialism. Bloomberg Philanthropies and its network of paid mouthpieces have captured the global tobacco control narrative, turning harm reduction into heresy and Indigenous self-determination into a side note.

This imbalance is not an accident. It is the direct result of Bloomberg’s philanthropic empire, which has spent more than a billion dollars imposing its moral worldview on the Global South. Under the banner of charity, this empire dictates policy to entire nations, rewarding compliance and punishing deviation. Harm reduction advocates are branded as industry puppets, while compliant NGOs receive endless funding and access. This is not public health. It is colonialism repackaged as benevolence.

For Indigenous peoples, this interference cuts deep. Harm reduction is not about protecting corporations, it is about reclaiming autonomy. Many Indigenous communities face disproportionate harm from combustible tobacco. Safer nicotine alternatives, introduced on their own cultural and regulatory terms, offer a way to reduce disease without repeating the paternalism of the past. Yet Bloomberg’s network insists on denying these communities the right to choose their own path. They are told, once again, that Western experts know best.

This is philanthropic colonialism in its purest form. A wealthy foreign power dictating morality to poorer nations and Indigenous peoples under the pretext of saving them. The rhetoric of “protecting youth” and “defeating industry interference” has become a convenient cover for silencing inconvenient truths and suppressing local agency.

If the WHO FCTC truly values equity and participation, it must recognize the hypocrisy of allowing billionaire-backed NGOs to dominate the conversation while Indigenous voices are tokenized and marginalized. Harm reduction, when guided by communities rather than donors, is not an industry tool, it is liberation.

At COP11, the world will hear much about saving lives and protecting health. But unless it confronts the corrosive influence of philanthropic colonialism, those promises will remain hollow. The fight for tobacco harm reduction is no longer just about nicotine, it is about sovereignty, truth, and the right of Indigenous peoples to chart their own path to wellness.