Children's right to a tobacco- and smoke-free environment

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of cancer worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco kills nearly six million people a year. 600,000 of these die from exposure to secondhand smoke. When it comes to smoking, children are especially vulnerable. Research shows that 90 percent of adult smokers start in their teens, or earlier. Two-thirds become regular smokers before they turn 19. In the Netherlands, 23% of adults and 9% of adolescents smoke daily. Every day, 100 Dutch children start smoking.

The negative consequences of smoking raise several questions regarding the protection of human rights. Worldwide, trade, tax, and public health related measures have been introduced including blank packaging. Public and private smoking bans have also been enacted to mitigate this massive public health crisis.

Against this background and starting from the right of children to health, the Faculty of Law's research project focuses on strengthening the regulation of tobacco. A specific focus is on such regulation in Europe. As such, the project has three objectives:

• To analyze and identify the rights of children to a tobacco-free environment.
• To gain new knowledge on tobacco control regulations in Europe.
• To create the European Network on Law and Tobacco (ENLT).

This research project is conducted by Groningen Centre forl Health Law-director Prof. Brigit Toebe, dr. Michelle Bruijn and dr. Katerina Tsampi.

European Scientific Network on Law and Tobacco (ESNLT)

The European Scientific Network on Law and Tobacco (ESNLT) is an academic network of and for legal scholars in Europe with a clear interface with policy and practice. The purpose of the ESNLT is to provide a platform for knowledge exchange and to facilitate the exploration of future research agendas. The Groningen Centre for Health Law acts as ESNLT lead party. All networking activities are organized with financial support from the Dutch Cancer Society.

Brigit Toebes

Brigit Toebes is Professor of Health Law in International Perspective at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen (Department of International Law) and Rosalind Franklin Fellow. Her research focuses on the interface between health and human rights and the definition of international health law as an emerging branch of international law. In this video, Toebes talks more about her research and motivations: