September 11, 2001

A new survey will assess Three Gorges dam migrants’ human rights situation, reports Zhongguo xinwen she (China News Service). Described as an “empirical survey,” to be conducted jointly by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Resettlement Bureau of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, the study will examine whether migrants’ human rights conditions have improved or deteriorated, what migrants’ rights and responsibilities are, and how forced resettlement has affected migrants’ employment, cultural, educational and political rights.

The human rights condition of more than one million Three Gorges migrants has attracted “great attention” from both inside and outside China, Zhongguo xinwen she reports. But, in order to determine the reality of Three Gorges migrants’ human rights situation, researchers will adopt a strategy of “seeking truth from facts,” says the head of the joint research team.

The research team will interview more than 1,200 households and more than 4,000 individuals in the Three Gorges reservoir area, focusing on changes in migrant standards of living, social stability, and psychological well-being before and after resettlement. The research is expected to be completed by the end of 2002 and the results will be published in a report entitled “China’s Human Rights Report on Three Gorges Migrants.”

Zhongguo xinwen she did not say whether the report would investigate the cases of migrants jailed for exposing corruption by resettlement officials whom they accused of pocketing resettlement funds. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch:Asia have taken up their cause.