Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Development-induced displacement'

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO<br>COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR<br>PROGRAMA DE SUPORTE À PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE INSTS. DE ENSINO<br>PROGRAMA DE EXCELENCIA ACADEMICA<br>Esta dissertação examina a política de deslocamento de pessoas no contexto do projeto da Usina Hidrelétrica Belo Monte, região Norte do Brasil. Especificamente, eu investigo a política de deslocamento de ribeirinhos, pequenos agricultores e populações indígenas em Belo Monte. À luz do entendimento de política de Jacques Rancière, faço minha análise olhando para os males do deslocamento ao invés de para os direitos que alegadamente pertencem aos atingidos. Ao trazer isto ao debate, proponho reformular deslocamento como uma questão de exclusão política, não um problema de natureza técnica ou social. Embora remonte aos tempos coloniais, migração forçada raramente é um tópico discutido no Brasil. O país possui 1268 centrais elétricas de alguma escala, das quais 219 são hidrelétricas. Construir essas barragens exige, em quase todos os casos, pessoas e lugares sacrificiais. Em consequência, laços familiares são desfeitos, formas de vida extinguidas, lares são mortos. A literatura sobre pessoas deslocadas por projetos de desenvolvimento a partir de uma abordagem baseada em direitos não conseguiu dar conta da política de deslocamento. A terceira maior barragem do mundo em capacidade instalada trouxe com seus 11.233 MW as mesmas violações de direitos, anunciadas por projetos anteriores. Ao longo do tempo, estima-se que um milhão de pessoas tenham sido expulsas de suas casas devido a projetos de barragens hidrelétricas e sua migração para outras áreas, ou seu abandono e empobrecimento, foram tratados como apenas mais um exemplo de exclusão social em meio ao portfólio brasileiro de problemas sociais. Isso, no entanto, pode não ajudar a abordar as causas da migração forçada nesses casos. Situado no âmbito mais amplo da política mundial moderna, em suas formas de ler e pensar o Estado, as implicações da política na (re)produção da condição de deslocado são constitutivas. Este trabalho argumenta, portanto, que os deslocados de Belo Monte são a parte sem-parte na democracia brasileira. Eles são feitos povo suplementar pelos danos de uma obra de desenvolvimento, mas é também através da sua resistência a esses danos que denunciam a desigualdade na democracia. Ao resistir a essa partição e ao espaço de negligência atribuídos à sua existência, eles fazem mais do que o designado. Enquadrando deslocamento como um conflito sobre a produção do espaço, então, a dissertação sugere como as pessoas resistem, intervêm e contestam a representação de seu espaço. Deslocados resistem ao seu status suplementar criando espaços alternativos de representação. Suas práticas de resistência, portanto, evidenciam seu status político e desafiam a vida democrática a garantir sua parte em casos futuros. Concluo trazendo insights práticos inspirados por essas críticas teóricas para os próximos projetos hidrelétricos no Brasil; já anunciados e, até agora, inevitáveis.<br>This dissertation examines the politics of the displacement of people in the context of the Belo Monte Complex project in the North of Brazil. Specifically, I investigate the politics of the displacement of riparian, small farmers and Indigenous populations in Belo Monte. In light of Jacques Rancière understanding of politics, I do so by looking at the wrongs of displacement rather than to the alleged rights belonging to subjects. Bringing this to the debate will reframe displacement as a matter of political exclusion, not a social or technical problem. Although it goes back to colonial times, forced migration is a rarely discussed topic in Brazil. The country has 1268 hydroelectric plants of some scale, among which 219 are hydroelectric dams. Building those dams requires, in almost every case, sacrificial people and places. As consequences, family ties are undone, ways of living extinguished, homes are killed. Literature on people displaced by development projects grounded on a rights based approach has not been able to address the politics of displacement. The world s third largest dam in installed capacity brought with its 11,233 MW the very same old, foreseen and announced rights violations of previous projects. Over time, it is estimated that one million people have been put out from their homes because of hydroelectric dam projects and their migration to other areas, or their abandonment and impoverishment, have been treated as only one more example of social exclusion amidst the vast Brazilian portfolio of social problems. That might not help to address the causes of forced migration in these cases, though. Situated in the broader scope of modern world politics, in its ways to read and think the State, the implications of politics in the (re)production of the displaced condition are constitutive. This work argues, therefore, that Belo Monte displacees are the part with no-part in Brazilian democracy. They are made supplementary people by the wrongs of a development work but it is also through their resistance to those wrongs that they denounce the inequality in democracy. In resisting this partition and the space of neglect attributed to their existence, they do more than the assigned. By framing displacement as a conflict over the production of space, then, the dissertation shows how people resist, intervene and contest the representations of their space. Displacees themselves resist to their supplementary status, creating alternative spaces of representation. Therefore, their practices of resistance make evident their political status and challenge democratic life to guarantee their part’in future cases alike. I conclude by bringing practical insights inspired by these theoretical critiques to forthcoming hydroelectric projects in Brazil; already announced and, so far, inevitable.

Irrespective of the regional setting, displacement of all kinds results in considerable disruption and loss of assets for both the individual and the collective, with greater likelihood of socio-economic impoverishment and reduced access to rights entitlements. Although there is evidence that displaced people face additional challenges of life in a new environment, living day to day with uncertainties around their survival, the larger proportion of these studies are concerned with physical resettlement and the livelihood restoral of people displaced as a result of conflict or large development projects (whether as refugees or internally displaced people (IDP). There has been relatively little critical reflection on how the policy framework can deliver the rights and entitlements of forced migrants, including those who should be obliged to protect them and the relevance of individual agency . This paper critically engages with current internal displacement protection policies that are based on risk management or short-term relief measures. It considers how a policy paradigm of social protection might offer a framework to minimize the loss of rights so often associated with displacement.

This thesis analyzes how the interests of minority and majority groups in state-led development practices can be bridged, with the Indian tribals affected by the Sardar Sarovar Dam Project (SSP) serving as a context for my analysis. The SSP threatens the livelihoods of approximately 100,000 people with displacement, who are primarily comprised of Indian tribal minorities. The construction of the SSP makes tribals more vulnerable to the risks associated with development-induced displacement, such as landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, and food insecurity. When analyzing the SSP, a lack of adequate compensation, resettlement, and legal protection for the tribals becomes apparent. This has led to discussions of human rights violations among the national and international community, raising concerns regarding the protection of minority groups affected by state-led development. Attention is placed on what it means to be a citizen of a country in terms of legal representation and state protection, and how the under-representation of societal groups can lead to the creation of second-class citizens. The objective is to go beyond current discussions of human rights neglect in the context of the SSP by analyzing the position of minority rights in state-led development practices.

Imagine that one morning you wake up and learn that the place you have called home for generations is no longer going to be home. Your house will be demolished and in its place, government or a private developer will construct a dam or put up a residential complex. You have no right to say no because government has eminent domain over your land (or a legal right to compulsorily acquire it in the public interest). Now imagine that the development will also result in the acquisition of the land on which you grow crops for subsistence and trade. It will close off access to the river where you fetch water for daily household use and catch fish for home consumption and for trade. In other words, this is the land where you live and where you obtain your means of living. Lastly, imagine that the project area also contains your social, cultural and spiritual being. It is where over time, you have built social capital consisting of relatives and friends: a community network that you can count on for daily survival. It is where your ancestors are buried, the religious and spiritual institutions you subscribe to are located and your cultural ties entrenched. This is no fiction. And it is not abstract. It is the everyday reality of the millions of people displaced by mega projects such as dams that are built in the name of development. There is a rich body of literature that explores the issue of development-induced displacement and its impact on communities. This thesis builds on that conversation by situating its analysis in law. Throughout the thesis, I trace the silences of law on the one hand and its aggressiveness on the other hand to determine the ways in which formal legal tools have enabled or disabled Project Affected Communities to secure their interests. I also explore how understanding dam projects from an investment perspective can further the understanding of the challenges faced by these communities when striving for inclusive laws and policies. Uganda’s Bujagali Hydroelectric Project is used as the case study for the analysis.

Planned community relocation or “resettlement” is not new, however the contexts in which people are being relocated and the safeguards in place to protect them are changing. Multilateral development banks are under competing pressures to minimise the negative impacts of community resettlement without over-burdening the governments of borrowing countries. Intensive debates are underway about what rights should be afforded to resettled people and what safeguards are most effective. Similar concerns are being voiced by policy-makers working on climate change adaptation, who are looking to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to identify ways to safeguard communities being resettled in response to climate change. One of the most important tensions shaping these debates, is how resettlement safeguards developed at an international or “global” level can cater to the needs and aspirations of affected people in different local settings. As a contribution to this debate, this thesis explores a resettlement scheme for an ADB co-financed railway project in Cambodia in which advocacy interventions resulted in improvements in the resettlement sites over the eight years of the project from 2006 to 2014. Drawing on the railway project as a case study, the research focuses on understanding how safeguards, developed at a “headquarter level”, aligned and misaligned with community needs and aspirations at different points in time. It investigates how advocacy interventions altered the course of the project and considers the implications of relying on resettlement safeguards in a country where domestic legal protections are otherwise not well-established.