Past campaignNovember 2025

WHO FCTC COP11

Youth organizations brought demands on tobacco industry interference, liability and environmental harm to the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

About the Campaign

At COP11, held in Geneva from 17 to 22 November 2025, GYV brought a shared youth agenda to discussions on the future of tobacco control. The campaign called on governments to protect young people from industry influence and addiction, recover the costs of tobacco-related harm and address the industry’s environmental damage.

The campaign linked GYV’s Declaration with the questions before Parties: how to protect policy from tobacco industry interference, strengthen liability for the harms it causes and respond to tobacco’s environmental damage. It also called for stronger protections against new and emerging products and for public health decisions to remain independent of industry narratives. Youth played an important role in ensuring their experience and shared demands would inform discussions before, during, and after each COP.

Campaign Strategy

Objectives

  • Bring coordinated youth positions into COP11 discussions and engagement with governments.
  • Advance industry accountability and environmental protection while safeguarding decisions from tobacco industry interference.

Key Messages

  • Make the industry pay. Use liability and cost-recovery measures to place the financial burden of tobacco harm on the industry.
  • Protect environmental policymaking. Exclude tobacco industry interests and reject greenwashing.
  • Strengthen product regulation. Ban new and emerging products; where bans cannot yet be adopted, apply strict controls, including comprehensive flavor bans.
  • Keep public health independent. Harm reduction policies must serve human rights and public health, free from industry influence and industry-funded research.
  • Go beyond minimum measures. Support stronger action targeting the industry, backed by cooperation between countries.

Progress & Updates

This section records campaign outputs, institutional responses, and verified developments as the campaign progresses.
November 16

Reaching young people through Instagram Live

GYV spokesperson Juan Camilo Herrera of Alianza Juvenil and the WHO Youth Council joined an Instagram Live hosted by the Council. He discussed how the tobacco industry targets young people through new and emerging products, taking the issue to an audience beyond COP11 delegates.
Read more: Reaching young people through Instagram Live
November 17

Youth bring shared demands to COP11

As COP11 opened in Geneva, GYV issued an open letter calling on governments to make the tobacco industry pay, protect environmental policy from its influence and strengthen product regulation. The letter brought these demands together around the decisions facing delegates that week.
November 17-18

Bringing the messages beyond the meeting rooms

GYV joined demonstrations at the Broken Chair in Geneva, calling for accountability and protection from tobacco industry interference. At the conference venue, the GYV booth gave government representatives, civil society organizations, and youth advocates a place to discuss the movement’s demands. The open letter was also circulated to senior WHO and WHO FCTC Secretariat officials.
Read more: Bringing the messages beyond the meeting rooms
November 17

Sharing advocacy experience in the Strategic Dialogue

Lisa Lu of International Youth Tobacco Control and Priyobrat Rajkhowa of No More Tobacco 21st Century joined Michelle Zinck of the Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP as panelists in the Secretariat’s Strategic Dialogue. They shared how they began their advocacy and their perspectives on strengthening global tobacco control.
November 17-22

Taking youth priorities to WHO DG, COP President, and other WHO and Convention leadership

GYV conveyed its messages during a meeting with COP11 President Dr. Reina Roa, organized by another youth organization. A brief side conversation with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also took place. In a social media post, he encouraged young people to advocate for their health and demand stronger government protections against tobacco and emerging products. Additionally, GYV held discussions with Andrew Black, Acting Head of the WHO FCTC Secretariat, and Dr. Etienne Krug, WHO Director of Social Determinants of Health. During these meetings, youth representatives highlighted priorities from their open letter, including industry interference, environmental harms, and accountability under Article 19. The Secretariat shared a video of its meeting with GYV during the conference.
Read more: Taking youth priorities to WHO DG, COP President, and other WHO and Convention leadership
November 17

Challenging industry narratives through youth-led advocacy

GYV supported the side-event, Youth-Led Advocacy: Unmasking Tobacco and Nicotine Industry Narrative to Advance Tobacco-Free Generations, hosted by ENSPNext. Helen Stjerna of A Non Smoking Generation and Winnie Olwal of Y-ACT spoke at the session, bringing youth perspectives into the discussion on countering industry narratives.
November 18

Calling for stronger Article 19 accountability

A youth plenary intervention called on Parties to strengthen accountability mechanisms and ensure that the tobacco industry pays for the harms it causes. It brought the movement’s demand for liability into the formal conference discussions.
November 18

Examining non-judicial approaches to liability

At the side-event entitled Non-Judicial Pathways to Article 19 Liability, Kana Halić Kordić represented IFMSA on behalf of GYV. The contribution brought youth advocacy into a technical discussion on holding the tobacco industry accountable beyond court-based approaches.
November 18

Addressing misleading claims about Sweden

Helen Stjerna of A Non Smoking Generation contributed to Something Old, Something New: The Tobacco Industry’s Misleading Narrative on Swedish Experience. The session addressed the way the industry uses the Swedish experience in its public messaging.
November 19

Protecting the integrity of harm reduction discussions

Anthonia Zachari of A Non Smoking Generation presented on behalf of GYV at Ensuring Integrity: Countering Industry Narratives on Harm Reduction, carrying the movement’s position on independent public health policymaking into the discussion.
November 19

Creating space for youth voices

GYV and ENSPNext co-sponsored Empowering Youth Voices in Tobacco Control, hosted by IFMSA. Speakers from GYV included Yvette Mbewe of TOFAZA Youth Advocates, representing the World Heart Federation; Mikolay Patalong of the JA PreventNCD Youth Advisory Group hosted by ENSPNext; and Gene Gesite, GYV Coordinator.
November 21

Contributing to cessation discussions

IFMSA co-sponsored Turning Commitments Into Care – Accelerating Article 14 Implementation, with Kana Halić Kordić among the speakers. This was a further contribution by a GYV participating organization to the conference’s technical discussions.
November 22

Calling for stronger tobacc control to protect youth

At the closing plenary, GYV and other youth organizations, called for stronger tobacco control to protect youth from the harms of the tobacco industruy. In his closing remarks, Andrew Black recognized youth delegates’ contributions and the importance of their voices in shaping future implementation of the Convention. Participating organizations involved in the joint youth intervention included IFMSA, Y-ACT, ENSPNext, A Non Smoking Generation, the South African Tobacco-Free Youth Forum and TOFAZA Youth Advocates.
Read more: Calling for stronger tobacc control to protect youth