Asia and the Pacific

While development-induced displacement occurs throughout the world, two countries in particular – China and India – are responsible for a large portion of such displacements. According to Fuggle et al. (2000) , the National Research Center for Resettlement in China has calculated that over 45 million people were displaced by development projects in that country between 1950 and 2000. Taneja and Thakkar (2000) point out that estimates on displacement in India from dam projects alone range from 21 million to 40 million. The WBED report notes that, in 1993, World Bank projects in China accounted for 24.6 per cent of people displaced in Bank-assisted projects, while Bank-assisted projects in India accounted for 49.6 per cent of the Bank total.

The Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam Project in India, which is set to displace 127,000 people, has perhaps been the most widely researched and discussed project involving forced resettlement in history. The volume edited by Drèze, Samson, and Singh (1997) provides a comprehensive look at displacement and resettlement in the project. The Morse and Berger report (1992) is the final report of the Morse Commission, the World Bank's internal review of the project, which found systematic violations of Bank policies and loan agreements, particularly those concerning the environment and resettlement. That report eventually led the World Bank to withdraw funding from the project and has been cited as an important factor in pushing the Bank to create its Inspection Panel, a body tasked with investigating claims from citizens in cases where the Bank has failed to enforce its own policies, procedures, and loan agreements.

China's Three Gorges Dam Project, which will displace upwards of 1.2 million people, has also been widely written about. Yangtze! Yangtze!, edited by Qing (1994) , is famous for having been the first book critical of the project published from within China, while The River Dragon Has Come, also edited by Qing (1998) , provides a further cohort of essays on the dam's likely effects, a number of which deal with resettlement. Stein's article (1998) provides an analysis of the displacement and resettlement made necessary by the Three Gorges project. Fearnside's chapter (1990) offers a technical discussion of the project's resettlement plans, while several other chapters in the volume edited by Barber and Ryder (1990) discuss effects of the project that might contribute to later indirect displacement. China's National Research Center for Resettlement has published a number of reports and updates on the Three Gorges project, as well as many other displacement-inducing projects in the country.

Cernea's paper (1993) discusses the displacement of 40,000-50,000 people in Indonesia to make way for a Jabotabek urban development project, which involved the widening and upgrading of roads in Jakarta and nearby cities. The paper also discusses the modernization of Shanghai's sewerage system, which displaced 15,000 urban dwellers in the city.

Website

National Research Center for Resettlement in China, Hohai University, Nanjing, China http://www.chinaresettlement.com/

Africa

Cernea's paper African Involuntary Resettlement in a Global Context (1997) provides a good statistical and conceptual overview and literature review of DIDR on the continent, while De Wet's contributing paper for the WCD (2000) offers a wide-ranging review of dam displacement in Africa. Among many other things, Cernea's paper notes that while countries like China and India lead the world in the number of persons displaced by development projects, the proportion of population and territory affected by even the largest of projects in these countries is much lower than in some projects in African countries. For example, the Akosombo Dam in Ghana displaced 80,000 people, approximately 1 per cent of the country's population, while the Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam in India will displace 127,000 people, roughly 0.013 per cent of the country's population. Furthermore, with regard to land affected, projects in African countries sometimes affect a higher percentage of the host country's territory than projects elsewhere. The reservoir of the Akosombo Dam flooded 3.5 per cent of Ghana's land, while that of the Narmada Sardar Sarovar Dam will cover only 0.01 per cent of India's territory.

Colson's detailed study (1971) of the impacts of the Kariba resettlement scheme on the Gwembe Tonga is a classic work, not just of the literature on displacement but also of the field of anthropology. The WCD case study by Soils Incorporated and Chalo Environmental and Sustainable Development Consultants (2000) also assesses the Kariba Dam project in Zambia, which displaced approximately 57,000 people. Fahim's book (1981) offers an in-depth look at the Aswan High Dam Project in Egypt, which displaced close to 100,000 people in Egypt and Sudan. Beyond this, the dam's reservoir inundated the summer resources previously used by nomadic groups in the Nubian region, the population of which numbered in the thousands. Resettlement and compensation schemes failed to include these displacees.

Ghana's Akosombo Dam Project on the Volta River, which displaced 80,000 people, has been closely examined by a number of researchers. The volume edited by Chambers (1970) provides an in-depth examination of the project's resettlement component. Obusu-Mensah's book (1996) , based on primary fieldwork carried out in the early 1990s, discusses the factors that led to resettlement failure in the project. Hart's book (1980) offers a wider look at the history and politics behind the project. The study by Amarteifio, Butcher, and Whitham (1966) discusses the displacement and resettlement one Ghanaian village beginning in 1952 in order to make room for the construction of a new port and harbour. This study was completed and published prior to the completion of the Volta River resettlement operations in the hope that its findings could be of use to resettlement planners.

Latin America and the Caribbean

While overall displacement in Latin America and the Caribbean is not as high as in Asia, the region has seen a number of large and controversial resettlement operations. The study by La Rovere and Mendes (2000) provides a detailed discussion of Brazil's Tucurí Dam Project, Phase I of which was built between 1975 and 1984 and displaced 25,000-35,000 people, despite a pre-project prediction of displacement affecting only 1,750 families in the region. Guatemala's Chixoy Dam Project is famous for the impunity with which resettlement was carried out. The project involved the resettlement of 2,500 Maya Achi Indians, beginning in 1979 and lasting for over a decade, including the massacring of 369 displacees whom local civil patrols and the Guatemalan Armed Forces deemed to be "guerrillas". The Witness for Peace ( WFP) report (1996) gives an overview of the dam project, its resettlement component, and the project's effects on those displaced. Howard's article (1997) offers an account of DIDR in Haiti, looking in particular at displacement in the Péligre Dam Project and as a result of the spread of Green Revolution agricultural technologies.

Robinson's paper (2000) provides an excellent survey of Mexico's historical record of dam building and resettlement. Barabas and Bartolomé's report (1973) discusses displacement and resettlement in Mexico's Miguel Aleman Dam Project, which displaced 20,000-25,000 Mazatec Indians. As the title of the report suggests, resettlement in this case did little to prevent the impoverishment of oustees. Guggenheim's chapter (1993) looks closely at resettlement in the Mexico Hydroelectric Project (MHP), which took place in the early 1990s and included two separate dam projects, displacing a total of 3,500 people. While problems arose, resettlement in the MHP's two projects was largely considered to be a success. The low numbers of displacees involved might have made such a success easier, but the World Bank's insistence on high resettlement standards and participatory planning methods were undeniably important factors in the success.

Europe, the United States, and Canada

Large-scale DIDR is not common in industrialized countries in Europe and North America today. However, history is replete with examples of displacement-inducing projects in these countries, particularly in North America, even if the literature is not. Scudder's chapter (1996) is well known for its examination of livelihood displacement and political mobilization amongst the Cree in Canada's James Bay Power Project. The WCD case study report by Ortolano et al. (2000) offers a detailed examination of the Grand Coulee Dam Project in the United States – a project that extended over some forty years between 1933 and 1975 and displaced approximately 5,100-6,350 people (both indigenous and non-indigenous) in the region, while also adversely affecting (without compensation) indigenous populations north of the border in Canada. Berman (1988) provides a critical discussion of the displacement and resettlement of 300 indigenous families from land protected by treaty to make way for the Garrison Dam in the United States in the 1950s.

Dams

Of the types of development projects that bring about physical displacement, dams and their related infrastructure, including power stations and irrigation canals, stand out as the largest contributor to displacees. This is partially a product of the enormous scale of many dam projects – China's Danjiangkou Dam displaced 383,000 people, while its ongoing Three Gorges Dam project will displace 1.2 million. The high overall level of dam displacement is also a product of the speed with which dams have been built since 1950. The International Commission on Large Dams ( ICOLD) reports that the world had 5,000 large dams in 1950 and over 45,000 by the late 1990s.

The WBED has calculated that roughly 40 per cent of development-induced displacement every year – over 4 million people – is a result of dam projects. Over the range of projects assisted by the World Bank, 63 per cent of involuntary displacement and resettlement occurs in dam projects. Overall estimates of dam displacement over the latter half of the twentieth century range between 30 and 80 million people. As with the figures for overall development-induced displacement, these estimates often do not cover the full extent of displacement outside dam and reservoir sites.

The literature on large dams and their economic, environmental, and social impacts is vast. McCully's book (2001) and the WCD report (2000) provide comprehensive overviews of the impacts of large dam projects, including direct displacement and resettlement, but also other impacts that could lead to indirect displacement. These include: the inundation of valuable farmland and animal habitat; the capturing of sediment by dams, leading to erosion and soil degradation downstream; the endangerment of freshwater habitats, leading to the extinction or threatening of riverine and wetland lifeforms; reservoir-induced seismicity; the spread of diseases by insects that thrive in stagnant reservoir water; and environmental destruction and human death as a result of dam failure or collapse. The report by Bartolome et al. (2000) , prepared to inform the WCD report-writing process, offers a comprehensive discussion of recent practices concerning the displacement, resettlement, rehabilitation, and development of people adversely affected by dam projects. It also suggests a number of ways to improve accountability and facilitate negotiation in future resettlement schemes.

Case studies of dam projects dominate the literature on development-induced displacement. While only a few are listed here, many more are listed in other sections of this research guide. The volume edited by Picciotto, Van Wicklin, and Rice (2001) includes six case studies of dam displacement and resettlement, including that in the Upper Krishna Project in India, the Shuikou and Yantan dam projects in China, the Pak Mun Dam Project in Thailand, the Kedung Ombo Dam Project in Indonesia, the Itaparica Dam in Brazil, and the Nangbeto Dam in Togo. The WCD website provides online access to countless case studies of dam projects throughout the world, many of which have involved displacement and resettlement. International Rivers Network (IRN), and its regular publication World Rivers Review, are good sources of news on dam and water infrastructure projects and their impacts on people and the environment.

Websites

World Commission on Dams ( WCD) http://www.dams.org

International Rivers Network (IRN) http://www.irn.org

Urban infrastructure and transportation

Urban infrastructure and transportation projects that cause displacement include slum clearance and upgrading; the establishment of industrial and commercial estates; the building and upgrading of sewerage systems, schools, hospitals, ports, etc.; and the construction of communication and transportation networks, including those connecting different urban centres. Cernea's paper (1993) , The Urban Environment and Population Relocation, provides a brief review of the literature and gives a comprehensive overview of some of the most important issues involved in urban displacement and resettlement.

The WBED has estimated that 60 per cent of development-induced displacement every year – about 6 million people – is a result of urban infrastructure and transportation projects. This same proportion is not reflected in World Bank-assisted projects – in 1993, only 22.6 per cent of displacement was caused by urban and transportation projects. Evidence from case studies suggests that the number of people displaced in individual urban and transportation projects is much lower than the number displaced in many large infrastructure projects. Indonesia's Jabotabek project, which displaced 40,000-50,000 people, and India's Hyderbad Water Supply Project, which ousted 50,000 people, are among the largest urban displacements on record. However, Cernea's paper points out that, while displacement from individual urban development projects is low, the frequency of such projects is higher than in some other sectors, resulting in a high overall number of displacees. Furthermore, while the amount of land appropriated for individual urban projects is often minimal compared to that acquired for individual large dam or irrigation projects, the ratio of people displaced per unit of expropriated land is usually higher as a result of high urban population densities. This situation only looks to be intensifying as the global trend of urbanization grows. While in 1980, only 15.8 per cent of the world's population lived in cities with 4 million or more residents, demographers suggest that by 2025 this will rise to 24.5 per cent globally and 28.2 per cent in developing countries. Rural development projects that have caused displacement have played their own role in this rise, as many resettlers have either been relocated to cities or have migrated there from poor resettlement sites in search of employment.

Perlman's book (1976) is a well-known account of favela (slum) removal and forced relocation in Rio de Janeiro, while Pereira's chapter (1994) provides a discussion of the resettlement of 130 families in two separate urban relocation operations in Mozambique, which together generated space for an urban renewal project. Manga's chapter (1994) depicts the displacement and resettlement of roughly 45,000 people in the Nylon Urban Upgrading Project in Douala, Cameroon, which aimed to restructure and improve conditions in an urban "spontaneous" settlement. As is the case in most cases of DIDR, many displacees in the Nylon project were amongst the city's poorest residents.

Natural resource extraction

Principally, this category of projects includes those having to do with mineral and oil extraction. Despite their similarity, forestry extraction projects are dealt with in the research guide focusing on conservation-induced displacement. No cumulative or annual statistics are available on the number of people displaced by natural resource extraction projects world-wide; however, anecdotal evidence and figures from World Bank projects (shown above) suggest that displacement in such projects is much lower than in many dam and urban renewal and development projects.

The DIDR literature on mining and oil projects is sparse compared to that on dams and urban renewal and development projects. This is likely due to two factors. Firstly, mining and oil projects cause only limited displacement compared to large infrastructure projects. Secondly, the displacement caused by such projects is often indirect – for example, seepage from an oil pipeline might cause drinking-water contamination and the destruction of farmland, leading families to abandon their homes and lands for safer conditions elsewhere. In contrast to the direct displacement caused by many large infrastructure projects, such indirect forms of displacement are less apparent and seldom lead to formal resettlement operations. They are therefore less examined in the literature.

Chatty (1994) discusses a case of petroleum exploitation that led to physical and livelihood displacement among members of the Harasiis tribe, a pastoral nomadic group in Oman. Human Rights Watch's ( HRW) report (1999) on oil extraction activities in the Niger Delta of Nigeria details the abuse of local dwellers' human rights by the Nigerian government and participating corporations in their efforts to quell local opposition to the extraction projects. It also discusses the projects' environmental impacts, including those stemming from regular oil spills (at least 300 annually, according to Nigerian official estimates, which are likely low) and the construction of roads and canals, which contribute to the displacement of some from the region. Amnesty International's report (2000) discusses the oil industry and its role in human rights abuses in Sudan, including the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of people from their homes. Government troops have reportedly used bombings, helicopter gunships, and mass executions as tools to ensure that people flee the region.

Downing's report Avoiding New Poverty: Mineral-induced displacement and resettlement (2002) offers an overview of the issues surrounding displacement and resettlement in mining projects and suggests ways forward in preventing the impoverishment of displacees. A special issue by Cultural Survival Quarterly (2001) looking at mining projects on indigenous lands contains a number of articles dealing with mining-induced displacement and resistance to it.

Theoretical models

In the early 1980s, building upon earlier approaches that dealt primarily with the processes of voluntary resettlement, Scudder and Colson proposed a four-stage model of how people and socio-cultural systems respond to resettlement. The stages were labelled recruitment, transition, potential development, and handing over or incorporation. In the recruitment phase, policy-makers and/or developers formulate development and resettlement plans, often without informing those to be displaced. During transition, people learn about their future displacement, which heightens the level of stress experienced. Potential development occurs after physical relocation has occurred. Displacees begin the process of rebuilding their economy and social networks. Handing over or incorporation refers to the handing over of local production systems and community leadership to a second generation of residents that identifies with and feels at home in the community. Once this stage has been achieved, resettlement is deemed a success.

The Scudder–Colson model focused on the different behavioural tendencies common to each of a series of stages through which resettlers passed. At first, the model was formulated to explain the stages of voluntary settlement, and was only later applied to some cases of involuntary resettlement (i.e., those "successful" cases that passed through all four stages). In the 1980s and 1990s, the mounting evidence of involuntary resettlement schemes that failed to pass through all four stages suggested that a new model was necessary to explain the consequences of involuntary relocation. In particular, it was recognized that a new theory was necessary to model what was increasingly seen as predictable impoverishment in forced resettlement schemes.

Cernea's Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction ( IRR) model arose in the 1990s in response to this recognition. In contrast to the Scudder–Colson model, the IRR model does not attempt to identify different stages of relocation, but rather aims to identify the impoverishment risks intrinsic to forced resettlement and the processes necessary for reconstructing the livelihoods of displacees. In particular, it stresses that, unless specifically addressed by targeted policies, forced displacement can cause impoverishment among displacees by bringing about landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, food insecurity, loss of access to common property resources, increased morbidity and mortality, and community disarticulation. To these risks, Downing and others have added: loss of access to public services, disruption of formal education activities, and loss of civil and human rights. The model also recognizes risks to the host population, which, while not identical to those of displacees, can also result in impoverishment. Not all of these processes necessarily occur in each case of forced resettlement and not all displaced households are necessarily affected in the same way by each process. Rather, the model notes that, when taken together, these processes capture the reasons behind many failed resettlement operations. Aside from distinguishing risks, the IRR model serves several other functions: as a predictor of impoverishment; as a guide for formulating research hypotheses and conducting theory-led field investigations research; and as a compass for risk reversal, advocating targeted resettlement policies, such as land-based (as opposed to mere cash-based) resettlement, job creation, health and nutritional safeguards, and social network rebuilding.

The IRR model has been used as a framework for a number of studies. Mahapatra (1996) uses the model to examine India's experience with involuntary resettlement from 1947-97, examining each of the IRR risks in turn. Thangaraj's chapter (1996) employs the model to analyse resettlement operations in two Indian projects – the Upper Indravati Hydroelectric Project and the Orissa Water Resources Consolidation Project. Lassailly-Jacob's chapter (1996) looks specifically at land-based resettlement strategies in African dam projects, arguing that such strategies must include not only land on which to resettle, but also common lands, adequate productive farmland, full title for lands (rather than tenant arrangements), and resettler-directed (rather than top-down imposed) development programs.

De Wet's article (2001) casts some doubt on our capacity to ever formulate a process that will ensure that all, or at least a large majority, of those affected by a project will benefit from it. While recognizing the thoroughness of the IRR model, he concludes that the model's assumption that resettlement problems can be erased by improvements in planning is overly optimistic. His article points to the importance of recognizing the complexities inherent in the resettlement process, such as "non-rational" political motivations and difficulties with financing and institutional capacity. De Wet advocates an open-ended, flexible approach to resettlement planning, which recognizes that projects rarely proceed according to plan.

Varying levels of risk for indigenous peoples, women, and other groups

In aggregate terms, DIDR often affects the economically, politically, and socially most vulnerable and marginalized groups in a population. However, at the individual and community levels, impoverishment risks associated with resettlement can be felt more intensely by certain segments of the displaced population.

Colchester's paper (2000) provides an overview of the impact of dam projects throughout the world on indigenous populations and ethnic minorities. It highlights that these groups make up a disproportionately large percentage of those whose livelihoods are adversely affected by development projects – for example, despite constituting only 8 per cent of India's population, Adavasis (tribal peoples) are estimated to make up 40-50 per cent of those displaced by development projects in the country. Colchester's paper points out that the experience of indigenous peoples with dams has been characterized by cultural alienation, dispossession of land and resources, lack of consultation, insufficient or a complete lack of compensation, human rights abuses, and a lowering of living standards. The specific and strong cultural connection that many indigenous groups have with the land on which, and the environment in which, they live makes their physical dislocation potentially more harmful than is often the case for other groups. Cultural Survival Quarterly has published several issues focusing specifically on the displacement and resettlement of indigenous populations, all of which are listed in the bibliography below.

In general, the issue of gender disparities in resettlement operations has been ignored in the literature. A small number of studies have shown that women often experience the adverse consequences of forced resettlement more strongly than men. For example, compensation payments are usually paid to the heads of households, which can concentrate the cash value of family assets in male hands, leaving women and children at higher risk of deprivation. Agnihotri's chapter (1996) exposes another form of gender discrimination in compensation criteria in Orissa, where entitlement to land compensation for unmarried persons is set at age 18 for men and age 30 for women. Other research has shown that, in urban development projects, women can be harder hit by displacement because they are more likely to derive income from small businesses located at or near their residences. In rural areas, women can be more adversely affected because they are often more dependent than men on common property resources for income sources. Participatory methods of resettlement planning can also expose the ways in which women can be prevented from shaping and/or benefiting from projects. For example, Guggenheim's (1993) discussion of Mexico's Zimapan Dam Project highlights that, at first, women were common participants in community consultations because their husbands were working away from home for the agricultural harvest. The women's demands changed resettlement plans to include not only land compensation but also credit to open sewing and baking enterprises. However, once the consultations began producing tangible results, men began attending in place of their wives.

For children, Cernea (2000) notes that resettlement often interrupts schooling. In many households, owing to drops in income and living standards, children may never return to school, instead being drafted into the labour market earlier than might otherwise have occurred. Other groups, such as the elderly and the disabled, might also face higher risk intensities in the displacement and resettlement processes, although, as for the other groups, the conditions of the project, resettlement procedure, and resettlement site play a role in determining which groups, if any, experience different and more intense risks.

Comparing the experiences of development displacees and refugees

While few studies compare the experiences of development displacees with those of refugees and IDPs, there is a growing awareness that all types of displacement, whether by development projects or as a result of violence, persecution, or natural disaster, can lead to impoverishment. Cernea (1996) voices an interest in bridging the research and policy divide concerning both groups, and in encouraging a two-way transfer of knowledge on successful settlement experiences. While recognizing that differences exist between the two populations – for example, in the compensation for expropriated lands in most cases of DIDR – Cernea questions the divide between the bodies of knowledge, pointing out that both populations experience a major disruption in their patterns of social organisation and culture, and therefore face the same challenge of physically and culturally surviving this disruption by reorganising their economies and ways of life.

In contrast, Voutira and Harrell-Bond (2000) argue that such knowledge exchanges can only be limited because, while impoverishment serves as a methodological common denominator among the two groups, the causes of impoverishment and the definitions of success are not the same. Moreover, they note that, beyond conceptual barriers to knowledge exchange, institutional obstacles also exist. The two populations are dealt with by separate agencies that operate with separate budgets and a radical division of labour, that define their roles and relationships to host and donor states differently, that function under different legal and regulatory regimes, and that sometimes promote incompatible long-term objectives.

Muggah (2000) compares the experience of development displacees and those fleeing from conflict in the context of Colombia, discussing the validity of the IRR model in examining conflict-induced displacement ( CID). While highlighting that DIDR and CID share similarities, Muggah stresses that fundamental differences exist in terms of predictability, permanence, and purposive versus arbitrary targeting. His article finds that the IRR model's impoverishment risks feature prominently in CID, but that, in the context of CID, the model fails to address potentially destabilising structural issues preceding the displacing event and focuses solely on risks without recognizing the potential and real capabilities of IDPs for poverty avoidance.

The volume edited by Cernea and McDowell (2000) contains a number of essays comparing and contrasting the experiences of development displacees and refugees in different contexts, using Cernea's IRR model as a basis for comparison. Robinson (2000) briefly considers the similarities between development displacees on the one hand and refugees and IDPs on the other. Much of his report focuses on a discussion of DIDR, including several case studies, and a consideration of the international community's responsibility towards development displacees who have been forced to bear the costs of development projects while being denied a share of their benefits.

The development of policies, standards, and guidelines on involuntary resettlement

While there is nothing new about development-induced displacement, it was long the case that project sponsors – be they governments, multi-lateral or bilateral development agencies, export credit agencies, or private developers – had no policies or guidelines on involuntary resettlement. It was common for states to have policies on eminent domain, many of which dealt solely with the legal process of expropriation, a number of which outlined compensation mechanisms, but none of which dealt in detail with resettlement in ways that would prevent impoverishment.

In 1980, the World Bank broke ground by formulating the first policy on involuntary resettlement of any development agency engaged in funding or constructing projects that caused displacement. Cernea (1993) offers a brief history of the policy's birth and development up to the early 1990s. Since it first appeared, the World Bank's policy has been through a number of upgrades and alterations, although its core has remained the same. The latest version (OP/BP 4.12) was released in December 2001. The World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (WBOED) has produced two reports – one in 1993 and one in 1998 – examining the World Bank's experience with involuntary resettlement and measuring it against the policies and standards that have been developed since 1980. The World Bank also has a policy on indigenous peoples, which is relevant in many cases of involuntary resettlement. It aims to ensure that "the development process fosters full respect for the dignity, human rights and cultures of indigenous peoples."

The Asian Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have followed suit, developing their own policies on involuntary resettlement, the latest versions of which were released in 1995 and 1998 respectively. The African Development Bank's Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Unit (PSDU) is in the process of formulating a similar operation policy. Governments have been slower in developing their own policies on involuntary resettlement, although the larger multi-lateral lending agencies, particularly the World Bank, have at times used their leverage to push this process along. Today, relevant policies on involuntary resettlement exist in a number of countries, including China, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, and the Central African Republic. Three states in India – Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka – also have resettlement legislation.

Several initiatives aimed at regulating private-sector activity in international business have appeared in recent years. Among others, these have included the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) guidelines regarding human rights, sustainable development, and the environment for corporations operating in or from one of its member countries; the United Nations Global Compact; and the UN Working Group on the Working Methods and Activities of Transnational Corporations, which has formulated a code of conduct for corporations based on human rights standards. While these initiatives have produced guidelines for private companies, none of these documents are legally binding. As Feeney (2000) points out, the non-binding nature of current efforts makes them ineffective. Szablowski (2002) offers a discussion of the regulatory impact of the World Bank's involuntary resettlement policy, and the legal field that surrounds it, upon relationships between mining companies and affected communities in situations where the policy is called upon to fill perceived voids in domestic law. The article looks in detail at a case study of mining operations in Andean Peru.

In 2000, international "best practice" was informed by the findings and recommendations of the WCD, which was tasked with reviewing the development effectiveness of large dams and formulating international standards and guidelines for large dam projects, including those concerning resettlement. The WCD's findings criticized the level of displacement and inequitable distribution of benefits in past dam projects. Its recommendations called for a socially and environmentally more comprehensive and transparent decision-making procedure. The WCD report has increased pressure on institutions dealing with dam projects to reform (or create) resettlement policies safeguarding the needs and rights of displacees. However, as of 2003, little has been done by institutions dealing with resettlement to push these recommendations into binding policies.

Websites

Operational Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (OP 4.12), December 2001 http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/Institutional/Manuals/OpManual.nsf/toc2/CA2D01A4D1BDF58085256B19008197F6?OpenDocument

Operational Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (OP 4.12), Annex A – Involuntary Resettlement Instruments, December 2001 http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/Institutional/Manuals/OpManual.nsf/whatnewvirt/46FC304892280AB785256B19008197F8?OpenDocument

Bank Procedure on Involuntary Resettlement (BP 4.12), December 2001 http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/Institutional/Manuals/OpManual.nsf/toc2/19036F316CAFA52685256B190080B90A?OpenDocument

Draft Operational Policies on Indigenous Peoples (OP 4.10), March 2001 http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/63ByDocName/PoliciesDraftOP410March232001

Draft Bank Procedures on Indigenous Peoples (BP 4.10), March 2001 http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/sdvext.nsf/63ByDocName/PoliciesDraftBP410March232001

Involuntary Resettlement Policy, August 1995 http://www.adb.org/Documents/Policies/Involuntary_Resettlement/default.asp?p=rsttlmnt

Handbook on Resettlement: A guide to good practice, 1998 http://www.adb.org/Documents/Handbooks/Resettlement/default.asp

Summary of the Handbook on Resettlement: A guide to good practice, 1998 http://www.adb.org/Documents/Handbooks/Resettlement_Summary/default.asp

Operational Policy on Involuntary Resettlement (10/98, IND-103, E, S), October 1998 http://www.iadb.org/sds/ind/publication/publication_138_102_e.htm

Involuntary Resettlement in IDB Projects. Principles and Guidelines, November 1999 http://www.iadb.org/sds/ind/publication/publication_138_105_e.htm

Operational Directive on Involuntary Resettlement (OD 4.30), June 1990 http://www.ifc.org/enviro/EnvSoc/Safeguard/Resettlement/resettlement.htm

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Development Assistance Committee, Guidelines on Aid and Environment(3 – Guidelines for Aid Agencies on Involuntary Displacement and Resettlement in Development Projects, 1992 http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/37/27/1887708.pdf

Working Party on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, 31 October 2001 http://www.oecd.org/

United Nations Global Compact http://www.unglobalcompact.org

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, United Nations Draft Human Rights Responsibilities for Companies, 2003 http://www.lchr.org/workers_rights/wr_other/wr_other.htm

"The Way Forward", Part III of WCD report, WCD (World Commission on Dams), Dams and Development: A new framework for decision-making. London: Earthscan, 2000 http://www.dams.org/report/contents.htm

International instruments

DIDR raises a number of human rights questions. In particular, debates often occur over whether or not the rights of displacees are violated by forcible resettlement or by specific strategies of resettlement. Where governments or other agencies have resettled with impunity, basic rights listed in the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights have often been violated. In other cases, the rights to adequate housing, education, participation in cultural life, or the advisability of measures, all listed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, or the right to culture, listed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, have been breached.

Shihata (1993) offers an overview of some of the important legal issues – including those relating to eminent domain and human rights law – relevant to involuntary resettlement. In her essay, Ricarda Roos (1999) examines whether or not the prohibition of genocide in international law can be applied in cases of forced resettlement of indigenous peoples or ethnic minorities. She concludes that, while a broad interpretation of "intent to destroy" might cover cases of physically and culturally harmful resettlement, the case law of the international criminal courts does not support such a wide application. Yildiz's WCD submission (2000) discusses human rights abuses in the context of Turkey's ongoing Ilisu Dam Project.

With regard to the rights of indigenous peoples, the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention 169 concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries stipulates that government signatories must respect the right of indigenous peoples to participate in development planning that affects them. It furthermore requires that signatory governments take measures to preserve the institutions, goods, culture, and environment of indigenous populations.

Websites

University of Minnesota Human Rights Library: International Labour Organisation Convention No. 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, entered into force 5 September 1991 http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/r1citp.htm

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 December 1948 http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/eng.htm

Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted 4 December 1986 http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/74.htm

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, entered into force 3 January 1976 http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, entered into force 23 March 1976 http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_ccpr.htm