ATCA's Board has decided on April 6 not to co-host the IDRC meeting planned for April 20/22 in Dakar: ATCA's Board members will not participate and call all their members to boycott the meeting as well.
This information is not posted -yet- on ATCA's website nor on the ATCRI-ATSA site.
ATCA's borad members are: Rachel Kitonyo (Kenya) President, Patricia Lambert (South Africa), Patrick Musavuli (DRC), Yussuf Salooje (South Africa), Mohamed Sidi (Burkina Faso), Issa Ali (Ghana), Francisco Cabo (Mozambique)
Dear ATCA members,
As many of you are aware, the Africa Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA) has been cohosting the Africa Tobacco Control Situational Analysis (ATSA) final meeting to be held in Dakar, Senegal between April 20-22, 2010.
During the final stages of planning, however, it was brought to our notice, that the Chair of the IDRC Board, Ms Barbara McDougall is also a Director of Imperial Tobacco Ltd, a Canadian subsidiary of British American Tobacco Ltd.
This situation poses a conflict of interest for ATCA on the basis of Art 4.1 of the ATCA Constitution, which expressly prohibits ATCA or its members from having any affiliation, whether direct or indirect, with the tobacco industry.
The situation also contravenes Art 5.3 of the FCTC and the guidelines adopted thereunder.
To date, the ATCA Board has taken the following actions to try and deal with the situation:
Consultations with FCA, ATCRI and Canadian NGOs involved in tobacco control.
A formal letter to IDRC drawing their attention to the issue and asking them to resolve it. (This letter was copied to you)
A follow-up phone call with the Head of Programmes at RITC (Greg
Hallen) and the head of the Health Equity Programme under which RITC falls (Michael Clarke).
E-mail and other consultations with ATSA Country team leaders.
A further letter to IDRC dated 1st April 2010 asking for a postponement of the Dakar meeting until the issue is resolved. (This letter was also copied to you.)
Following an email notification to the ATSA group on 2nd April 2010 by IDRC that they would proceed with the meeting, the ATCA Board on Tuesday April 6, 2010, has unanimously adopted the decision N°0002/ATCA/04/10 of April 6, 2010 as follows:
1) THAT ATCA officially withdraws from co-hosting the ATSA final consultation in Dakar, Senegal with all the ATCA Board members> withdrawing from participating in the meeting;
2) THAT in light of the provisions in Article 4.1 of ATCA’s constitution, the Board urges all ATCA members not to participate in the meeting.
We thank all our members for bearing with us as we came to this difficult but necessary decision. We appreciate our members’ efforts in carrying out tobacco control in Africa, and in particular for their efforts to promote the implementation of Article 5.3 of the FCTC.
As your Board, we are committed to promoting the implementation of the FCTC in Africa, supporting you in your efforts to do so and in working with others of a like mind.
Together, the fight continues.
On behalf of the ATCA board,
Ebeh Kodjo Fabrice, Executive Secretary
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