Is the tobacco industrys human rights makeover growing bolder?

The tobacco industry lacks serious commitment to human rights,1 2 including its exploitation of civil rights efforts to curry favour with groups that experience tobacco-related health disparities.3 British American Tobacco (BAT)’s Journey to a Better Tomorrow: Human Rights Report 2020,4 published on Human Rights Day (10 December 2020), presents another window into the industry’s misuse of human rights framework. It is the first large-scale report from a multinational tobacco company focused solely on human rights.5 It possibly heralds a growing industry-wide attempt to claim the title of human rights advocates linked with business investments in new products.

BAT’s report emphasises, unsurprisingly, the company’s ‘less risky products’ and efforts to grow the non-combustible nicotine market, which appears to be all that is needed for a ‘better tomorrow’.4 BAT’s CEO Jack Bowles’ foreword states that ‘ESG [environmental, social and governance] is…

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