
Departments of the Red Cross received money from Philip Morris against instructions
By Jochem van Staalduine, Gidi Pols, | 30 March, 2021
Local offices of the Red Cross accepted more than 3 million dollar in donations from tobacco producer Philip Morris. This goes against the instruction of the international umbrella organization that had urged to reject such donations in 2015.
The Red Cross does “not want to be associated with an industry that supplies a product (…) from which 6 million people die yearly”, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) wrote in a letter to its members in 2015. The humanitarian aid organization therefore ‘strongly urged’ its departments to not collaborate with tobacco companies and to not accept donations from them.
Mostly regional departments
In spite of the urgent request of the International Office, the Swiss, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Ecuadorian and Italian Red Cross independently accepted hundredth thousands of dollars from Philip Morris between 2016 and 2019, as appeared from documents of the cigarette producer. With 870.693 dollar (739.100 euro), the Swiss Red Cross accepted the largest sum of money. In four years time, Philip Morris donated a total of 3,1 million dollar (2,6 million euro) to various Red Cross departments.
Part of these donations went to regional departments of the Red Cross. The local offices of the aid organization in the Swiss canton Vaud and the Vietnamese city Can Tho yearly received ten thousands dollars, on top of the donations to the national departments in these countries. The operational headquarter of Philip Morris is located in Vault, in Can Tho the company holds a large factory.
The Red Cross used the money for emergency aid after earthquakes and droughts, for sowing workshops for women of poor households, and for support of the less fortunate to help them with the acquisition of cattle.
After questions of the Investigative Desk, the Swiss branch of the Red Cross said it will cease to accept donations of the tobacco industry. “Earlier, the Swiss Red Cross accepted donations from tobacco companies in exceptional cases. These donations were used for humanitarian emergency aid in foreign countries”, says a spokesperson. She emphasizes that the donations of Philip Morris are not part of a public relations campaign.
‘Members determine their own policy’
The international umbrella organization of the Red Cross indicates there is not much it can do when national or regional departments ignore instructions from higher up. The charity is an organization with members, which means that the departments determine their own policy. “We will continue to express our concerns about the use of funds from the tobacco industry. We will also continue to offer support to find new, alternative money sources.”
Philip Morris also donates money to Dutch charities. In the past five years it donated 260 thousand dollar to charities, mainly in the region of Bergen op Zoom where Philip Morris has a factory.
Read the full article in Dutch newspaper Trouw (in Dutch).
More investigations

Goliath vs. David: The race to the EU defense money
The war in Ukraine has unveiled a new threat to Europe’s security: Russia’s deployment of hypersonic missiles. With their unparalleled speed and maneu

The Investigative Desk Newsletter special edition July 2023
Read the full newsletter here. Dear readers, In this special edition we present you two major stories we just published. An international team,

Big Tobacco’s Beyond Nicotine Strategy
The past few years, the four biggest tobacco companies (Philip Morris International/Altria, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and

Why Europe is failing to provide Ukraine with sufficient ammunition
Since the February 2022 invasion, Ukraine’s five main military partners alone (US, Germany, UK, Poland, and the Netherlands) pledged more than 60 bill

The Investigative Desk Newsletter Q2 2023
Read the full newsletter here. Dear reader, This time, we bring you two stories and a book. Our editor Tim Luimes investigated the lobbying activitie

Chemicals lobby moves full steam ahead to undermine pfas ban
Europe wants to ban all pfas at once. The chemical industry is lobbying for the exemption of fluoropolymers. These substances, a type of plastics, are