The United Nations is coming under criticism for smoking policies on a variety of fronts, including the fact that its New York City headquarters remains one of the few sites in the state where smoking is not banned outright, Inter Press Service reported July 28.

Fifty-four U.N. member states under the Economic and Social Council have adopted a resolution urging the U.N. General Assembly to make the U.N. site officially smoke-free. Because it is deemed international territory, the U.N. headquarters is not subject to New York's statewide no-smoking statutes, although other U.N. operations located in New York have already moved to bar smoking.

In addition to the concern about smoking policies affecting the headquarters, others have criticized the presence of several tobacco companies in the U.N.'s Global Compact, considered the world's largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. An interagency task force on tobacco control that is made up of several U.N. agencies believes the presence of these companies in the compact sends a troubling message.

"[The World Health Organization] believes that the tobacco industry and corporate social responsibility are an inherent contradiction," states a report from the tobacco control committee.

The Global Compact Office has responded that because the corporate citizenship initiative is voluntary and not a regulatory measure, it relies on public accountability and would not bar certain companies outright from participating. However, the office does try to dissuade tobacco companies from joining, and also does not allow them to make presentations at global events.

"And the Global Compact also has integrity measures that include a dialogue facilitation process so that if credible allegations are made that a company participating in the initiative is engaged in systematic and egregious abuse of the principles, the matter could be raised with the company and they could be asked to respond to the person or organization raising the matter," the Global Compact Office states.