BANGKOK: Thai health authorities on Friday said cigarette packets will carry warnings on the risks of smoking across 85 percent of their surface, in a blow to tobacco companies who had fiercely opposed the move.
The warnings — featuring gruesome photographs of smoking-related ailments — will increase from 55 to 85 percent of the surface of both sides of every cigarette packet, according to the kingdom’s Ministry of Public Health.
“The law enforces the enlarging of warnings on cigarette packs to 85 percent — effective from today onwards,” the ministry said on its website.
The ministry said it believes “protecting the health of people is important,” adding it had received a letter from Thailand’s Administrative Court on Thursday allowing it to proceed with the new rules.
Last year tobacco giant Philip Morris was among leading cigarette firms to challenge the ministry’s move in the court, prompting the suspension of the plan.
But the ruling means bigger warnings will soon be have to be displayed on packets.
“Every manufacturer and importer of cigarettes has to follow the law,” the statement added.
The tobacco lobby has systematically tried to block laws curbing advertising or raising taxes on cigarettes, but more and more countries are adopting the approach.
The World Health Organization has accused the tobacco industry of deploying legions of lobbyists to block packaging changes.
Thais to get bigger anti-smoking warnings on cigarette packs
Thais to get bigger anti-smoking warnings on cigarette packs
Four more US deportees arrive in Eswatini: lawyer, official
- Two of the newly arrived deportees are from Somalia, one from Tanzania and one from Sudan
- The four arrived at the maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Center
MBABANE, Eswatini: Four more men deported from the United States under Washington’s scheme to expel undocumented migrants have arrived in the southern African kingdom of Eswatini, a lawyer and a prison official said Thursday.
The tiny country took in 15 men last year as part of US deals with several African nations for them to accept migrants under a third-country deportation program that has been widely criticized by rights groups.
Two of the newly arrived deportees are from Somalia, one from Tanzania and one from Sudan, US-based migration lawyer Alma David, who represents some of the other detainees, told AFP.
The four arrived at the maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Center, outside the capital, late Wednesday, an officer said on condition of anonymity.
“They are in perfect health,” the officer told AFP. “They are currently being oriented by the social welfare and health departments.”
The facility was preparing to receive around 140 more deportees, the official said.
According to a document revealed by Human Rights Watch in September and seen by AFP, Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for funds to build its border and migration management capacity.
Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, confirmed in November that it had received around $5.1 million from the United States to accept the deportees.
Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have also accepted US deportees. Cameroon reportedly received 17 African nationals deported from the United States this year.
Eswatini authorities say they are only holding the deportees while arrangements are finalized for their repatriation.
One of the men sent to Eswatini, a 62-year-old Jamaican who had reportedly completed a murder sentence in the United States, was sent back to the Caribbean island nation in September.
Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions, arguing that the deportees are being held “indefinitely” without charges.
