The fair trade movement – designed to give Third World farmers a living wage while also protecting the environment – started with the best of intentions; it is now paving the road to hell. Although it purports to be a consumer-driven movement that promotes trade over aid, it is funded by government foreign aid agencies and trade unions bent on keeping Third World goods out of Western markets. Although it claims to have the small farmers’ interest at heart, it acts as a gatekeeper that excludes small farmers from the fair trade club to ensure the movement’s own self-preservation.
Sovereign debt and social rights: legal reflections on a difficult relationship
(September 10, 2008) The relationship between the sovereign debt of developing countriesand the protection of social rights in those countries has received a lot of attention from an economic, political and moral perspective, but relatively little has been written about the legal side of this relationship.
‘Odious Debts’ Vs. Debt Trap: A Realistic Help?
(September 10, 2008) Read the first page here
China wages war on opium in the Three Gorges area
(July 30, 2004) As police try to crack down an opium-poppy growing in the heart of the Three Gorges reservoir area, local officials draw links between the illicit cash crop and the economic turmoil in the region caused by dam-related resettlement.
‘Massive corruption’ on world’s biggest construction site
(March 2, 2006) A web of corruption and violence is now endemic in the world’s biggest dam construction site, according to a searing report released by Probe International.
China’s assault on the environment
(March 6, 2006) Probe International’s Three Gorges dam investigative work highlighted.
Yunnan’s Jumping Tiger Gorge to be submerged under reservoir
(September 13, 2004) The Jumping Tiger Gorge [Hutiaoxia] in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, is regarded as a wonder of nature, with 17,000-feet high snow-capped peaks looking down upon Asia’s longest and most turbulent river, the Jinsha (the upstream of the Yangtze). However, within ten years, the Jumping Tiger Gorge is scheduled to be developed into a reservoir
Corruption impacts China’s Three Gorges resettlement
(March 13, 2006) Probe International’s Dai Qing says it is never too late to stop construction of the Three Gorges dam. Yet dam construction is proceeding on schedule as Three Gorges migrants, without money or jobs, continue to resist resettlement.
Staid papers nourish saucy little sisters
The dismissal of senior editorial staff at the Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend has focused attention on the city’s media market
Many Chinese farmers oppose Three Gorges resettlement
Of all the problems facing the Three Gorges dam project, none has been more difficult than resettlement, says Probe International’s Dai Qing.
Tiger Leaping Gorge under threat
One of the world’s most spectacular natural attractions is threatened by a plan to build eight big dams on the Jinsha River (as the upper Yangtze is known), and the Chinese press and environmental groups are speaking out.
Gorges Dam: Premier Zhu stresses quality
Premier Zhu Rongji stressed that construction quality is of life-and-death importance to the Three Gorges Project.
Three Gorges shiplock not up to speed
Improving navigation on the Yangtze was a chief justification for going ahead with the Three Gorges project, but so far the dam’s shiplock has proved to be a bottleneck and delays have become routine.
THREE GORGES ORAL HISTORY SERIES: Lost Lives: The Plight of the Migrants
Old Man Chen and his family own a thriving orange orchard and are considered among the wealthiest in Guanyin Village.  When they are forced off their land to make way for the Three Gorges dam and not properly compensated, Chen petitions the government for redress.
Major flooding risk could span decades after Chinese earthquake
(September 7, 2008) Up to 20 million people, thousands of whom are already displaced from their homes following the devastating Chinese earthquake, are at increased risk from flooding and major power shortages in the massive Sichuan Basin over the next few decades and possibly centuries.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 