Agence France Presse
June 6, 2006

Clients with stock in the financial services giant Morgan Stanley Dean Witter on Thursday filed a shareholder resolution questioning the bank’s approach to human rights and the environment in its underwriting decisions. The resolution asked Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to take account of environmental issues, human rights and public relations risks in its stock and bond underwriting. "We also questioned MSDW’s underwriting of bonds for the China Development Bank, a major lender to the Three Gorges Dam corporation," said Simon Billenness, senior analyst for Trillium Asset Management Corporation representing clients with stock in the bank. The Three Gorges Dam, brainchild of former Chinese leader Li Peng and the world’s biggest hydroelectric project, will submerge huge parcels of land and force the relocation of some 1.2 million people. Doubts about the massive 27 billion dollar project in China’s central Hubei province have led experts to question the financial logic of the project and warn of its damaging impact on the environment. After years of protest, activists opposed to the plan are holding companies like MSDW accountable for their role in such projects. The International Rivers Network Three Gorges Campaign is calling for consumers to cut up their Discover Cards, effectively boycotting a significant section of the bank’s financial services.