Fresno Bee
The World Trade Organization's (WTO) bureaucracy has come up with a really bad idea: seeking private donations to help finance an admittedly worthy project, helping poor countries develop the expertise and obtain the finances to defend their rights before a body many believe is run by and for the world's rich countries.
A WTO spokesman says the Geneva-based organization plans to set up a panel to screen out potential conflicts of interest, and will not accept corporate contributions. But no amount of monitoring and good-faith screening could remove the taint of suspicion, especially in the context of mounting criticism of the WTO by a variety of environmental, labor and human rights groups. Wealthy individuals (and the foundations they may establish) clearly have interests in the realm of trade, which includes such issues as intellectual property rights.
While it's true that other organizations have received private donations -- the United Nations Children's Fund is one, and the United Nations itself has been favored by media executive Ted Turner -- they do not have the kind of powers that the WTO does to rule for or against countries on trade issues where billions of dollars may be involved.
The WTO argues that money to help poor countries is needed (it is) and that rich countries such as the United States may not be willing to pay more to finance such efforts (good bet). But given the stakes, and the benefits that major countries derive from WTO decisions in their favor, surely it should be possible to avoid a step that could make the vital task of an already controversial organization more difficult.:
