Hiruni Dabarera

Background

Hiruni Dabarera is an Attorney-at-Law in supreme Court of Sri Lanka. As of May 2024, Dabarera’s LinkedIn profile mentions her employment as a legal advisor to the Domestic Abuse Alliance in London, United Kingdom. She served as a freelance journalist for the Daily FT from March 2016 to December 2017. Daily FT is a daily English-language business newspaper published in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by Wijeya Newspapers.

Tobacco Industry Related Activities

Authoring Articles Promoting the Image of Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC)

The Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme (SADP) , initiated in 2006, is recognised as the primary project of the Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC). CTC holds the monopoly of cigarette manufacturing and sales in Sri Lanka, and is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT). Read more about Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme (SADP) by visiting our page.

In 2016, after ten years of the establishment of SADP, CTC organised a trip for invited media personnel to visit five tobacco farming families in Weligama, in the Matara District of the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. These families were selected by Outreach Projects (Guarantee) Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC).

Hiruni Dabrera took part in this trip as a reporter and wrote an article on this project, titled “From Poverty to Self-Sufficiency: SADP Celebrates Decade of Rural Empowerment ” for the Daily FT, which was published on 20.06.2016. The article features testimonials from farmers in Weligama and the CTC staff describing the impact of the SADP program on farmers’ lives.

Image 1 : Testimonials from Weligama farmers.

Image 2 : Testimonials from CTC officers.

Dabarera authored a second article titled “The Tobacco Farmers of Galewela” for the Daily FT, which was published on 11.10.2016. This article was based on a field visit to Galewela in the Matale District, Central Province of Sri Lanka, arranged by the Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC). The article featured interviews with individuals engaged in tobacco farming, highlighting how the rules and regulations imposed by the government are hindering their source of income.

Image 3: Hiruni Dabarera’s article on Daily FT Newspaper published on 11th October 2016

Image 4: Testimonial from H.M.W. Srirathna Banda - The Chairman of the Barn Owner Association at Galewala

Promoting the image of the Tobacco Manufacturer

In her articles, Hiruni Dabarera included detailed descriptions of Corporate Social Investment activities of CCT, giving only the positive aspects of tobacco farming and how the industry supported the farmers. Common counterarguments used by the tobacco industry to challenge tobacco control policies and actions were also used in her articles.

Image 5 :Hiruni Dabarera writing about SADP.

Image 6 :Glamorising Tobacco Manufacturer.

Implications

As per the guidelines of the FCTC Article 13: Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Act, the main legal framework on tobacco and alcohol, prohibits direct and indirect advertisements on tobacco and alcohol. Section 35.1 of NATA Act defines tobacco advertisements as, “any writing, still or moving picture, sign, symbol or distinctive colours or other visual image or any audible message or any combination of the aforesaid that promotes or is intended to promote – smoking, the purchase or use of a tobacco product, a trade mark registered in respect of a tobacco product or articles that include tobacco products, a brand name associated with a tobacco product, the name of the manufacturer of a tobacco product.”

These newspaper articles promoting “the name of the manufacturer of a tobacco product” are thus violating the recommendations of the NATA Act.

TobaccoUnmasked Resources

• Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (CTC)
• British American Tobacco (BAT)
• National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Act
• Sustainable Agriculture Development Programme (SADP)
• Attempts of Ceylon Tobacco to Sustain Tobacco Cultivation in Sri Lanka
• FCTC Article 13: Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship

The local language translations