Development-induced impoverishment among involuntarily displaced populations

Abstract

Over the past few years, involuntary resettlement has incurred adverse social and economic consequences for those displaced due to the shortcomings of resettlement and rehabilitation policies. Poor planning, implementation, and monitoring during the involuntary resettlement process resulted in unnecessary resettlement that interrupted provision of basic necessities to the people affected. This article attempts to address the severity and scope of this problem by comparatively reviewing past development projects that were accompanied with involuntary resettlement. The article proposes alternative models of development and resettlement that can potentially inform an internationally viable set of standards to be used as an evaluation tool for domestic policies surrounding displacement.