The human cost of development:Situating development-induced displacement in international human rights law

Abstract

Development-induced displacement (DID)—a phenomenon where people are involuntarily moved from their homes or residences to make room for development projects—is one of the prominent causes of internal displacement affecting millions of people every year. DID can be caused by a range of small and large-scale development projects, such as the construction of dams, urban (re)development projects, and extraction of natural resources. While these development projects have significant economic potential, the involuntary displacement they often cause comes with a plethora of risks and consequences including, inter alia, loss of land, a decrease of income sources, lack of access to public services, and disruption of culture and way of life. These adverse consequences further interfere with and potentially violate a range of human rights, such as the right to housing, the right to property, the right to work, and the right to education. Moreover, DID and its adverse consequences often hit the hardest vulnerable and marginalized groups potentially perpetuating existing vulnerabilities and inequalities. Against this background, the current study seeks to situate DID and its adverse consequences in international human rights law. Using the human rights-based approach as a theoretical framework, it seeks to (re)frame the adverse consequences of DID as human rights issues and explore rights-based solutions to address these issues. The study will identify the pertinent human rights norms and assess their application in the context of DID. In doing so, it seeks to explore the human rights safeguards that need to be provided for people(s) affected by DID and the corresponding obligations of states. Overall, the objectives of this research are twofold, i.e. map out the existing international human rights law norms that apply to DID and assess the adequacy of these norms in addressing the adverse consequences and the salient features of DID