COP 3 - The Conference Blog

Soyons exigeants pour la semaine qui vient

A l'issue de la session plénière de la CDP2 en Thailande l'an dernier, l'ACC a offert un bouquet d'orchidées au Président sortant de la CDP, l'Ambassadeur Juan Martabit du Chili. Il a été ovationné par toutes les Parties présentes; symbole du réel succès de la CDP.

Le principal résultat de CDP2 a été l'adoption de la première série des lignes directrices de la mise en oeuvre de la CCLAT.

Traduction française de cet article du Bulletin 80 de la FCA par Véronique Le Clézio

The FCA Bulletin 80 COP 3 for Monday 17

The FCA Bulletin 80 for Monday is available on their site in a pdf format.

Page 1: High standards demanded for the week ahead
Page 2: Momento crucial para el control del tabaco in Mexico
Page 3: New Africa Tobacco Control Initiative unveiled
Page 3: Waling the talk
Page 4: Size matters: more countries increase the size of health warnings. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Page 5: A window on tobacco industry corruption
Page 6: How do you sell death and who gets the Dirty Ashtray and the Orchid Awards.

Lutgard about cigarette sweets in Tanzania

Chewing gums packaged as cigarette sweets have appeared in Tanzania and target children. Lutgard tells the story.  LISTEN (2 min)

Marching in Durban to promote tobacco control

Songs from the march as if you were there LISTEN (3 min) also HERE

See more pictures below.

150 countries in Durban to advance implementation of the FCTC

About 600 delegates from more than 150 countries are expected to attend the third session of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), hosted by the government of South Africa, next Monday in Durban. The overall objective is to make further and faster progress on the implementation of the FCTC, the first health treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO.
Source: WHO Press release

I took the picture of the Shark Nets billboard walking along the beach, sort of an allegory for tobacco control keeping the tobacco industry sharks at bay...

Pre-conference workshop organized by ATSA for African advocates

Many stories were shared about the strategies used by the industry and how best to combat them.

Durban, nous voilà!

The magnificent beach in front of the Blue Waters Hotel...

African journalists attending COP3

A few African journalists have been invited to attend COP3. Maybe they'll agree to share some of their impressions on this blog. Here is some background we were able to find on line. Our apologies for eventual mistakes and all our best wishes in their reporting.

Charles Ligan is with the Radio Télévision du Bénin in Cotonou. He won an investigative award in 2005.
Armstrong Tih is with Le Heraut National in Cameroon.
Kemo Cham is with the Daily Observer in Gambia.
Musah Jafaru is with the Daily Graphic in Ghana.
John Muchangi is with the Nairobi Star in Kenya (no website yet)
Kondwani Munthali is based in Malawi. He was a Harvard Nieman Global Health Fellow, a program funded by the Gates Foundation.
Radha Rangsamy is from Mauritius
Fernando Mbanze is from Mozambique
Oumarou Keita is from Niger
Yishau Olukorede is with The Nation in Nigeria
Idrissa Ndiaye, with the Radio Télévision in Sénégal is a member of African Media and Malaria Research Network
Wilson Kaigarula is with the Guardian (IPP group) in Tanzania. He is the author of Mini Devils (2001) and Poisoned Love.
Linda Nyondo with the Daily Mail in Zambia
Robert Mukondiwa with The Sunday Mail in Zimbabwe

Why this blog?

After the positive experience of a collective blog during the COP2 conference in Bangkok here is the possibility to blog again during COP3 in Durban.

If you feel like sharing your comments on line about what is happening so that the wider, global community can feel/be involved. Just email me so you can be registered as a co-author/contributor.

We also intend to record interviews thanks to digital voice recorders. An opportunity for those of you who want to experience podcasting (internet radio).

You can also use the comments function under each post (without having to register).

Pourquoi ce blog?

Après l'expérience positive d'un blog collectif pendant COP2 à Bangkok voici à nouveau une possibilité de bloguer, cette fois-ci à Durban, durant COP3.

Si vous avez envie de partager vos analyses sur ce qui se passe à COP3 via ce blog, il vous suffit de me contacter par email afin que je puisse vous enregistrer comme co-auteur/contributeur.

Nous allons également enregistrer des entretiens grâce à de petits enregistreurs digitaux. Une opportunité pour celles et ceux d'entre vous qui veulent faire l'apprentissage du podcasting (radio sur internet).

Vous pouvez aussi utiliser la fonction commentaires sous chaque billet (sans avoir à vous enregistrer).

Voices from Radio-COP3: become a radio-journalist

Thanks to small voice digital recorders like this one we'll be able to record interviews and post them on the blog. Since we have several of those we can lend you one if you want to experience being a radio journalist.

Getting ready for COP 3

Here are the FCTC preparatory documents already available (unfortunately only in pdf) for the preparation of COP 3 that will take place in Durban (November 17-22).

Provisional Agenda  in english et ici en français

How to receive automatically the latest postings into your mail box

Just write your email address in the Feedblitz  case at the top right of the blog.

How to become a co-author of this blog

Please email me and tell me a little about you so I can post a brief bio: readers like to know who's who.
Also send a picture :)
Thank you in advance.
Philippe Boucher