Adopting New International Health Instruments – What Can We Learn From the FCTC? Comment on "The Legal Strength of International Health Instruments - What It Brings to Global Health Governance?"

Abstract

This Commentary forms a response to Nikogosian’s and Kickbusch’s forward-looking perspective about the legal strength of international health instruments. Building on their arguments, in this commentary we consider what we can learn from the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for the adoption of new legal international health instruments.

A renewed call for transdisciplinary action on NCDs

“…There is already a strong international cooperative practice available through the first binding treaty on NCDs: the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control under auspices of the WHO in 2005. Important lessons can be drawn from this effort (see further below) [25]. In fact, over the years, several so far unsuccessful proposals have been made to replicate the FCTCs regulatory initiative, such as the calls for a Global Convention on Healthy Diets from 2014 onwards, in response to the perceived failure of the WHO's Healthy Diets Strategy adopted 10 years prior [26], or the failed initiative for a Global Alcohol Convention in 2006.…”

“…Our article of 2017 suggested that successful law and policy-making in the sphere of NCDs will benefit from further understanding and insights into how international (legal) norms may emerge over time, or be met with resistance [1,25]. In particular, research at the intersections of international law and international relations will improve our understanding of how formulation and adoption of new legal norms may be shaped through appropriate framing of problems, solutions and the consistent spread of public messages on NCDs.…”

International norm development and change: can international law play a meaningful role in curbing the lifestyle disease pandemic?

“…Are legal principles the most appropriate mechanism?views from critical legal scholarship There is substantial advocacy for the development of international legal principles (whether 'soft' or 'hard) almost to the point of assuming that international law is the most appropriate instrument to address the global NCD pandemic [23,29,48,49,57,79,80]. As noted earlier, this approach is broadly supported by the UN and its agencies.…”

“…A number of leading analysts have shown a strong preference for the development of new international legal agreements as a means of reducing the incidence and prevalence of NCDs globally [23,29,[47][48][49][50]. This view is shared by the United Nations (UN) and some of its agencies (e.g.…”

Curbing the lifestyle disease pandemic: making progress on an interdisciplinary research agenda for law and policy interventions

“…There have been many calls over the last decade to adopt more instruments addressing the other risk factors [ 17 ]. The feasibility of new instruments should be explored further and important lessons regarding the form and content of such instruments can be drawn from the FCTC [ 18 ].…”