Rights groups urge dam delays.

(From South China Morning Post)

Byline: Fong Tak-ho

Mainland authorities have been urged to delay the filling of the Three Gorges Dam reservoirs until human rights issues have been resolved.

A week before the area behind the dam is due to start being flooded, two lobby groups say the population displaced by the dam's construction on the Yangtze river should first be given jobs, homes, land and proper compensation.

According to Doris Shen, co-ordinator of the International Rivers Network (IRN), investigations had shown that resettlement funds continued to be "diverted into the pockets of local officials". "Land and jobs to rehabilitate …