Avaaz.org (which rocks in their petitioning) has a new petition that asks the International Settlement Group (part of the World Bank!!!!!!?????) to rule in favor of Uruguay (whose president, Tabaré Vázquez, unfortunately for Phillip Morris, "is an oncologist by profession”).
In 2010, Phillip Morris brought this complaint to the World Bank against Uruguay "to make an example" of Uruguay because their oncologist president pushed through one of the strictest tobacco regulation regimes in the world:
https://secure.avaaz.org/...
Remember when Joseph Stieglitz worked for the World Bank and then sided with the Seattle protesters against the World Bank.
This is a kid’s lungs vs commerce at its simplest.
It’s enough to make us sick, really.
Phillip Morris vs Uruguay
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The International Settlement Group in the World Bank:
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) is an international arbitration institution which facilitates legal dispute resolution and conciliation between international investors. The ICSID is a member of the World Bank Group, from which it receives funding, and is headquartered in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 1966 as an autonomous, multilateral specialized institution to encourage international flow of investment and mitigate non-commercial risks by a treaty drafted by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development's executive directors and signed by member countries.[1][2] As of 2012 there were 158 member countries contracting with and governing the ICSID. Contracting member states agree to enforce and uphold arbitral awards in accordance with the ICSID Convention. The center performs advisory activities and maintains several publications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Uruguay’s policies wrt anti-smoking legislation:
Uruguay's policies[edit]
Flag of Uruguay.svg
In 2006, Uruguay under President Tabaré Vázquez, an oncologist by profession, began to enact comprehensive anti-smoking legislation. On 1 March 2006, Uruguay became the first country in Latin America to prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces.[5] In March 2008 the legislature approved Law 18.256 [6] which includes six strategies of anti-smoking policy.
Some of the measures by the government were the ban on selling different types of presentations of the same brand of cigarettes, the dissemination of images warning about the risks of smoking and covering at least 80% of the cigarette pack, raising of taxes, banning cigarette advertising in the media, and banning sponsorship sport event. In addition, smoking was banned in public places such as offices, student centers, bars, restaurants, dances and public places, among others.
The smokefree campaign "Libre de Humo de Tabaco" was gradually implemented by the "Ministerio de Salud Pública del Uruguay" (Ministry of Public Health of Uruguay).[7]
Phillip Morris’s complaint:
The company complains that Uruguay's anti-smoking legislation devalues its cigarette trademarks and investments in the country and is suing Uruguay for compensation under the bilateral investment treaty between Switzerland and Uruguay.[2] (Philip Morris is headquartered in Lausanne.)[3]
ohhhhh, poor Phillip Morris, having its trademark devalued. Now the World Bank has to decide.
Thank you Switzerland and Phillip Morris. Why do some of the least responsible companies headquarter in Switzerland? Nestle, for example, is bottling water in California during one of their severest droughts....just saying.
Switzerland, the country that was neutral during WWII because the rich like to hide their untaxed monies there and they stay out of the war games that the rest of us finance and fight.
You’re swell, really - let’s just sell cigarettes to kids on street corners so Phillip Morris can profit off their young lungs.
No problem.
So, this where social policy gets dealt with at the international level - the World Bank.
It’s turned into a question of the rules of commerce, and it boils down to examining a trade agreement between Switzerland and Uruguay at the World Bank.
No wonder we’re in such trouble with public policy. It just doesn’t count, does it? It’s just a trade agreement - as the mob boss in the Godfather says about an assassination of one of their own: “it’s just business”.