Development-Induced Displacement
Around the world, millions of people are being displaced by conflict, natural disasters, development projects, and other causes. Some of these people are internally displaced within the borders of their countries, and others, fearing persecution if they stay at home, cross international borders as refugees. There are approximately 9.2 million refugees in the world, and there is no accurate count of the number of internally displaced people. Nobody knows how many people are displaced by development projects each year. In India alone, the official government estimate is that 50 million people have been internally displaced by development projects since independence.
People displaced by dams, power plants, and other internationally financed development projects are often coercively evicted from their homes, stripped of their land and livelihoods, and forced into dismal resettlement colonies. While international finance institutions, such as the World Bank, under pressure from affected communities, anthropologists and sociologists, have developed some policies to provide increased protection for the rights of people facing “involuntary resettlement,” these institutions must be monitored and the policies strengthened.
The International Accountability Project is one of the only international advocacy organizations that is working systematically to advance the rights of people who are being threatened with eviction from their lands by internationally-financed development projects. The IAP engages in public policy debates to promote the rights of local affected people and to promote the strengthening of international environmental and social standards. Our field visits and our long-term connections to affected communities and their allies has provided us with an in-depth understanding of the ground-level reality of involuntary resettlement, which we factor into our analysis and advocacy work.
We are working to change policies and practices relating to involuntary resettlement, which have led to human rights abuses and misguided development planning. By changing the rules of the game, and developing effective enforcement and compliance systems, we believe that we will reduce the viability of unsustainable development projects, change the nature of international lending portfolios, and lay the framework for repairing past harm. We focus on particular problem projects, but we also focus on policy frameworks and root causes of development-induced displacement. The IAP consistently works to change the systems and policies, to prevent weakening and backsliding in policy protection, and to advocate for improvements and rights-respecting approaches instead. Our work on development-induced displacement currently includes:
- Engaging in public policy debates to defend and improve the rights of people threatened with involuntary displacement, which all too often leads too impoverishment. Current examples include:
- International Finance Corporation: The private sector side of the World Bank Group has completely revised its environmental and social policies. See our IFC Safeguard Policy Update.
- Asian Development Bank: the ADB is beginning a process of reviewing its environmental and social policies, including the policy on involuntary resettlement.
- Participating as part of an Expert’s Group advising the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing.
- Advocating for the rights of people facing forcible eviction by development projects, including promoting policy change away from forced eviction and towards negotiated settlements and respect for the principle of free, prior, informed consent (FPIC).
