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A Framework Convention on Alcohol Control: Getting Concrete about Its Contents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2020

Robin ROOM Open the ORCID record for Robin ROOM [Opens in a new window]  and
Jenny CISNEROS ÖRNBERG
Robin ROOM
Affiliation:
Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia and Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; email: R.Room@latrobe.edu.au; ORCID number: 0000-0002-5618-385X.
Jenny CISNEROS ÖRNBERG
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; email: Jenny.Cisneros@su.se; ORCID number: 0000-0003-2702-6553.
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Abstract

This article proposes and discusses the text of a Framework Convention on Alcohol Control, which would serve public health and welfare interests. The history of alcohol’s omission from current drug treaties is briefly discussed. The paper spells out what should be covered in the treaty, using text adapted primarily from the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but for the control of trade from the 1961 narcotic drugs treaty. While the draft provides for the treaty to be negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization, other auspices are possible. Excluding alcohol industry interests from the negotiation of the treaty is noted as an important precondition. The articles in the draft treaty and their purposes are briefly described, and the divergences from the tobacco treaty are described and justified. The text of the draft treaty is provided as Supplementary Material. Specification of concrete provisions in a draft convention points the way towards more effective global actions and agreements on alcohol control, whatever form they take.

Type
Special Issue on the Global Governance of Alcohol
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 12 , Special Issue 2: Symposium on COVID-19 Certificates and Special Issue on the Global Governance of Alcohol , June 2021 , pp. 433 - 443
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This paper is revised from a background paper at a Kettil Bruun Society thematic conference, “Public Health and the Global Governance of Alcohol”, Melbourne, 30 September–3 October 2019. Support for the conference and for preparation of this paper was received from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education and from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation.

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