The best start is probably:

http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/
http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/newwto5.htm
http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/newwto3.htm

The original documents  from the WTO dispute settlement body which are open to the public can be down loaded from the WTO website. Here you find the links to until now 4 documents :

http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/bananas.htm
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/banab.wp5
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/27-15.pdf
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/27rwecue.pdf

you can get all old and new documents which are open to the public via:

http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/distab.htm

To understand what this case was (is) realy about and what its impact for small farmers in the caribians are you can have a look at this pages:

A study by Oxfam UK on the impact of the case on small caribian farmers:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/bananas.htm
 
 

Article from Lawrence Grossman from May 2, 1999is professor of geography at Virginia Tech and author of the book "The Political Ecology of Bananas: Contract Farming, Peasants, and Agrarian Change in the Eastern Caribbean," the articles  which can be found on the web site of the International Development Netwerk
http://www.idn.org/viewpoints/view99-1.htm

Article by M.Weisskopf in Time Magazin MARCH 31, 1997 VOL. 149 NO. 13
on Carl Lindner who heads Chiquita :
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1997/dom/970331/nation.the_busy_back.html

If you want to keep up to date you might have a look at the web site of the Caribbean Banana Exporters Association
http://www.cbea.org/

or the web page of the General Secretariat of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group)
http://www.acpsec.org/

And don't forget after you visted the upper website to have look at the Chiquita website !!!
http://www.Chiquita.com/

The original documents  from the WTO dispute settlement body which are open to the public can be down loaded from the WTO website. Here you find the links to until now 5 documents (the pdf files are also availabel as wp5 files):

http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/horm1.wp5
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/horm2.wp5
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/hormab.pdf
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/48arb.pdf
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/26arb.pdf

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) couples his financial support for poor countries in need of support on obligations to change the national policys by addoppting so called Structural Adjustment Programms (SAPs) Which obligations these SAPs contain is only known by the IMF and the negotiators of the poor country. The main principles the IMF usually inforces are:

• Privatisation of state owned companies
• Opening the national markets for Trans National Companies (TNCs)
• Reduction of oblications for foreighn Investors
• Openning national resources for exploitation by TNCs
• Reduction of public spending government spendings

The only document which contains at least some background of the IMF policy and SAPs is an un official document (with official status: pamphlet). You can find it at:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/pam/pam47/pam47con.htm

An article which shows the problematic involved with SAPs can be found here:
SAPs link sharpens debt-relief debate, by Karen Hansen-Kuhn and Steve Hellinger (July 1999)
link

A very good website coverring the problematic involved with SAPs is run by SARRIN (Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network)
"SAPRIN is a worldwide network of civil society organizations challenging the imposition of structural adjustment programs (SAPs). The Network is working with citizens' groups in 12-15 countries to organize public processes to determine the real impact of World Bank-and IMF-supported economic-reform programs and  to chart a new course for the future."
http://www.igc.org/dgap/saprin/index.html

A Statement of the Development Group for Alternative Policies (The Development GAP) on the proposed multilateral and G7 debt-reduction plan
"Rejection of IMF Policies and Expanded Role in Debtor Countries"
link

Some times you'll find other abriviations in relation with SAPs:

• SAPs consist of SAMs: Structural Adjustment Measures
• SAPRI: Structural Adjustment Programme Review Initiative
• ESAF: Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility

South Korea:
An article by Ha-Joon Chang on the IMF policy and South Korea.
Ha-Joon Chang is a well known Korean economist and teaches at the Faculty of Economics
and Politics, University of Cambridge.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/souths/twn/title/joon-cn.htm

Brazil
An article by Michael Bailey and Heinz Stecher from OXFAM on the finacial crisis in Brazil and the role of the IMF.
Oxfam International is an international group of 11 autonomous non-government organisations (NGOs). Member organisations share the commitment to working for an end to the waste and injustice of poverty - both in longer-term development work and in times of urgent humanitarian need
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/brazilpp/brazilpp3.htm

hier an article on the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) of the IMF
http://oneworld.org/eurodad/is11_gb.htm

HIPC stands for Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative and is an initiative with the aim to significantly reduce the debt burdens of poor countries. It was launched in 1996 and did not give the expected results.
The HIPC came back to the surface as an reaction of the finance ministers of the G7 top in Cologne to public preasure for dept releave. Theysuggested the HIPC as an alternative to the Jubelee 2000 initiative.

For official information on HIPC the webpage of  the world bank is probably the best place to start
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/hipc.html

or look at the IMF webpage on HIPC
http://www.imf.org/external/np/hipc/index.htm

A lot of information concernig dept releave, HIPC and IMF can be found at:

the webpage of EURODAD - European Network on Debt and Development
http://oneworld.org/eurodad/dadinf.htm

or the web page of the Jubilee2000 campain
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/main.html
http://www.j2000usa.org/
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/policy_papers/research.html
http://www.jubilee2000uk.org/hipc_heres.html

You can find an intersting policy paper for the preparation of the G7 at
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/g7debt/g7debt.htm

Ruanda as an example why an efficient dept releave initiative is urgently needed.
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/rwdebt.htm

TRIMS stands for Trade Related Investment Measures and is one of the WTO agreements.
During the Uruguay Round the rich countries tried to include Investment into the WTO. The so called MIA (Multilateral
Investment Agreement) failed due to protest from developing countries. The TRIMS agreement and a "research group" is all
what is left over from the original initiative.

The original document is available on the WTO website at:
 http://www.wto.org/wto/legal/18-trims.wpf
 http://www.wto.org/wto/eol/e/pdf/18-trims.pdf

While a lot of people are concerned that the TRIMS agreement may become a backdoor for the MAI (multilateral agreement
on investment) it also contains provissions that led to a lot of concern.

TRIPS stands for Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights and is one of the WTO agreements.
Which regulates intellectual property rights like patents and copyright for WTO member states.

The original document is available on the WTO website at:
 http://www.wto.org/wto/legal/27-trips.wpf
 http://www.wto.org/wto/eol/e/pdf/27-trips.pdf

The TRIPS agreement plays an important role in the discussion on patents on live and genetically manipulation.
It also is seen as a mayor obstacle for the implementation of the agreement on biodiversity.

The WTO has a page devoted to intellectual property rights
http://www.wto.org/wto/intellec/intellec.htm

The Agreement on government procurement is a plurilateral agreement, which means that it is an agreement that is only
signed by a few nations (in opposite to a multilateral agreement which is signed by all member states).
The agreement on government procurement limits the choice of a state from whom it is buying a product or service.
The agreement regulates what criteria a state has to apply in its decisions on government procurement.

The original document is available on the WTO website at:
http://www.wto.org/wto/legal/gpr-94.wpf
http://www.wto.org/wto/legal/gpr-94.pdf

The agreement on government procurement does not allow that a state includes human rights or environmental considerations
in his decision on government procurement or tries to support its own economy by giving the order to a national company.

The WTO has a page devoted to the agreement on government procurement
http://www.wto.org/wto/govt/agrmnt.htm