Students and faculty members assembled Friday at the International Student Center to hear about fair trade issues associated with the World Trade Organization.
Raj Bhala, a Rice distinguished professor of law at the University of Kansas who specializes in International Trade Law and Islamic Law, addressed the issues of the WTO's current Doha development agenda.
Bhala argued that the representatives of the WTO have fallen away from the course they had initially set to assist third-world and developing countries - African countries in particular - and help them to compete with countries like the United States and China. He gave examples of some of the proposals that had been put in place to assist developing countries by lowering tariffs or cutting farm subsidies. But he said there were many loopholes big countries could go through to become an exception to these rules. In the end, the developing countries would end up even more disadvantaged than they started out.
He said the complexity of the documents drawn up by the WTO is difficult for even specialists like him to navigate. Thus, if an attempt to make sense of such a document were to be made by a third-world country, where there are few international trade lawyers, if any, the meaning would be extremely difficult, or even impossible, to discern.
With such a self-interested attitude shown by many of the WTO members, Bhala said the organization has lost sight of its original aims and of the common good.
Kelsie Dawson, junior in mass communications, said she came to the lecture to get informed and thought it was very helpful.
"I really didn't know a lot about fair trade, and one of my friends was going to this lecture, so I decided to tag along," she said. "I like to learn new things, and I feel like this was really important."
Dawson said she enjoyed the speaker because he was clear and easy to follow, even though the topic was so complex.
Moses Khamis, graduate student in grain science and president of the African Student Union, said the ASU brings a speaker in every year to talk about issues related to Africa. He said he wanted to bring someone to touch on fair trade issues because so many students are uninformed, but said it is a complex issue that needs to be explained by someone who knows what they are talking about.
"I feel that knowledge gain is important," Khamis said. "And right now, since the world economy is so bad and everyone is working to keep their economy up, we thought this would be an appropriate topic."
Though Bhala has never visited the areas in Africa he spoke about, he spent a bulk of the lecture talking about the Cotton-Four: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali - four countries in Africa trying to promote their cotton industries, and addressing the problems in the WTO proposal concerning the Cotton-Four.
Rebecca Manes, senior in sociology and international studies, said she went to the lecture because she had learned about fair trade in some of her classes and wanted to know more.
"I worked in the international student center for a while, so I try to stay up with things that go on here," Manes said. "The lecture was really beneficial."
Khamis said he has brought several speakers from KU, and they give quality lectures that are well-received by the students and would "definitely" bring Bhala back again.
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