Involuntary Resettlement 

Background Information

Good policy should be based on scientific knowledge.  Involuntary resettlement (development-induced displacement) has been extensively investigated for over five decades by social scientists. Most of this research has been by anthropologists, sociologists, and public health professionals.  The following opens a window to this knowledge which is available on the Internet.

Policies and comments on earlier drafts of this proposed Involuntary Resettlement Policy

• Operational Directive on Involuntary Resettlement 4.30, June 1990 version that the proposed draft is to replace.
• The draft policy will fit within a broader, framework of so-called safety net policies found in The World Bank operational directives 
• Public comments on the February 1998 draft of this policy.

International Conferences which explicitly focused on involuntary resettlement. 

• 1996 Oxford Declaration on Involuntary Displacement
• Technical Findings on Involuntary Displacement of the 2nd International 1996
• Findings and Recommendations of the 1st International in 1995

Knowledge of Impoverishment Risks associated with Involuntary Resettlement and Steps for Reconstruction 

Michael Cernea’s article on The Risks and Reconstruction Model for Resettling Displaced Populations provides a state-of-the-art overview of eight impoverishment risks which threaten those who are involuntarily displaced. It also explores avenues for reconstruction.  n 1994, a Bankwide review team, led by Cernea, confirmed that involuntary resettlement places local populations at risk of being impoverished in eight different ways. These impoverishment risks are landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, loss of health status, food insecurity, loss of access to common property assets, and social disarticulation.  In 1998, Downing added a ninth risk - the loss of civil and human rights.  Chapter 4 of this Bankwide Review of Resettlement and Development between 1986-1993 on Performance: Restoring Incomes and Livelihoods, offers more details on the lessons learned over a decade of Bank resettlement experience.  Policies and planning are the cornerstones of the Bank's attempt to avoid or mitigate these risks.  Cernea reviews the evolution of this policy framework in  Social Integration and Population Displacement: The contribution of social science.  A 1999 book on The Economics of Involuntary Resettlement: Questions and challenges, edited by Cernea, concludes that the economics of resettlement and reconstruction is poorly understood.  

Case studies

• New evidence on resettlement risks and reconstruction . Usuing the eight impoverishment risks indicators that had been identified by the Bank, Dr. Balaji Pandey and his team surveyed the on-the-ground impact of displacement after almost fifty years of involuntary resettlement in Orrisa, India.  Would the proposed policy mitigate or avoid these impoverishment risks?
• The same question may be asked about the impact of the Pangue and Ralco dams on the Pehuenche Indians in Chile.  In this case, the International Finance Corporation - the private sector arm of The World Bank Group - was found by the American Anthropological Association to have violated Pehuenche human rights. The Company contends that most of the impacts of the Pangue dam were "indirect" - meaning that Indians along its shoreline did not have their lands inundated.