The McCabe Centre for Law & Cancer was honoured to be invited to present in a range of sessions at the World Conference on Tobacco Control Conference in Dublin, Ireland - 23-25 June 2025. The conference presented a valuable opportunity to connect and collaborate, at a crucial time in the global fight against tobacco.  

McCabe Centre's Director, Hayley Jones, and Regional Manager for Africa, Rachel Kitonyo-Devotsu, presented in a number of sessions focusing on: 

• Forward-looking tobacco control measures – and how these can be best protected from legal challenges; 
• The importance of global collaboration on capacity building in tackling tobacco; 
• The impact of 10-years of our legal capacity building programs for tobacco control and noncommunicable disease prevention; and 
• Tobacco plain packaging, and how Australia’s world-leading initiative can and has been successfully implemented in other countries. 

On the first day, as the WHO FCTC Knowledge Hub on Legal Challenges, we co-hosted a 3-hour practical workshop bringing together the nine official Knowledge Hubs to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The standing-room only session focused on “Powering the WHO FCTC implementation: WHO FCTC Knowledge Hubs supporting the global fight against tobacco”, to showcase the diverse technical and regional expertise offered in support of WHO FCTC implementation. After the formal presentations, there were small group discussions for delegates to explore how the Knowledge Hubs can assist Parties with evidence, capacity building, and policy support across tax, legal challenges, surveillance, and other key areas of tobacco control.   

The conference sparked thought-provoking discussions on new opportunities in global tobacco control. The opportunity to use consumer law, as in Nigeria, or to expand the playbook to include others in the regulatory system, were great initiatives to learn about. Yet, in many ways, the fight is the same: industry interference looms large in politics across countries of all income levels, the industry is creatively finding new ways to circumvent existing laws and create confusion on new products. 

So it was wonderful that young delegates were front and centre at the Conference – with  inspirational presentations from them on youth movements countering tobacco, use of tax and law to control tobacco, and unmasking tobacco industry interference. Their energy, commitment and message, that we must trust the youth and believe in them, was highly persuasive. We must continue to foster the next generation of tobacco control advocates – but happily, with these leaders involved, the future is looking bright. 

During the conference, we were also thrilled to meet with many alumni, colleagues and friends in and around these sessions, from Cancer Council Victoria, Quit, Cancer Council Australia, Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Sante publique France, THL, the Convention Secretariat, Cancerfonden, Johns Hopkins University, Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare, and more. 

With the UN High Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Disease and Mental Health coming up in September 2025, and the next Conference of the Parties for the WHO FCTC in November 2025, the conference was a great opportunity to re-energise efforts to ensure tobacco control remains front and centre in global political commitments. 

The World Conference on Tobacco Control 2025 was organised by International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.