The U.N. Sells Out.

• Position: United Nations involved with a questionable agreement with companies promising to defend human rights

The United Nations has joined hands with big business. And many unlikely groups are clapping.

On July 26, fifty companies signed a "Global Compact." In it, they promised to end child labor, protect human rights, allow unions to organize, and operate under sound ecological principles in all countries where they do business, even when national laws do not require it.

Among the fifty multinationals that made such promises were Nike, Royal Dutch Shell, BP Amoco, BASF, and Rio Tinto, the British-Australian mining company.

Among the watchdog groups that signed the compact were Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

"This Global Compact has the potential to become a historic partnership," Philip Knight, the chairman and chief executive of Nike, told The New York Times.

Infamous may be more like it.

By embracing multinationals, the United Nations has tarnished its reputation and abdicated its role as a protector of human rights. In this day and age when huge companies have more power than many of the countries in which they operate, the United Nations should be establishing itself as a tough, independent monitor. Instead, it's jumped into bed with some of the most notorious companies in the world.

The compact is not legally binding. This means that companies could engage in human rights violations even while benefiting from their connection to the United Nations. According to The New York Times, "Several executives warned that the compact would fail if it became the basis for sanctions."

Secretary General Kofi Annan has been explicit about what he was asking of the multinationals that joined in--not much. "The Global Compact is not a code of conduct," he said in a May speech to Swedish businessmen. "Neither is it a disguised effort to raise minimum standards, nor a vehicle for special interest groups. It is a compact to help the markets deliver what they are best at--while at the same time contributing to a more humane world."

Make no mistake: Annan has become a cheerleader for corporations. "Markets offer the only realistic hope of pulling billions of people in developing countries out of abject poverty, while sustaining prosperity in the industrialized world," he said during his "Opening Remarks at the High-Level Meeting on the Global Compact" on July 26.

For the United Nations, the new set-up is attractive for several...