case study on development of dams and human rights violations

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• SIWI – Leading expert in water governance

Large dams and human rights obligations: The Pancheshwar multipurpose project

Are large infrastructure development projects possible with maintained respect for human rights? This report discusses ways to balance between the benefits of a large dam project and the negative impact it is likely to have on local communities and other concerned parties?

Building on the human rights-based approach (HRBA), as proposed two decades ago by the World Commission on Dams, the report analyses the transboundary Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, on the Mahakali-Sharda River between India and Nepal.

HRBA, it is argued, can be a helpful tool when assessing large dam projects, as it provides a step-by-step method to identify rightful claims, freedoms, and entitlements. It is a value-based, people-centered way to foresee and prevent conflict by ensuring due participation and transparency in decision-making processes.

History shows us that poor or ignorant planning may lead to human rights abuses on a large scale, most commonly in the form of population displacement and the loss of livelihood and cultural heritage. There is however a different route to take, according to the report. It means that respect for human rights does not necessarily rule out large infrastructure development projects, but it will impose conditions and procedural limits on them, to the benefit of all parties.

The Mahakali–Sharda River forms part of the international border between India and Nepal. This report analyses the planned Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project, a transboundary hydropower scheme. The development of clean and renewable energy is indispensable to meet the increasing demand for electricity while limiting the impact of climate change. The planning and construction of large dams have always stirred up feelings. There are, inevitably, trade-offs between the benefits they aim to bring and the negative impacts they are likely to cause.

Some 60,000 people risk forced eviction in this case. The report, published by the International Centre for Water Cooperation at SIWI, provides recommendations on appropriate steps and mitigation measures by applying the human rights-based approach (HRBA). The human rights at stake do not prevent large infrastructure development projects from taking place, but impose conditions and procedural limits on them.

Please, help us understand your needs better Are you reading this publication as part of a course, for work or for your own knowledge? Let us know by emailing: [email protected] Lesssons learnt

• Large hydropower dams tend to have a set of negative impacts on people and the environment in the areas where they are being built. Yet, they also bring benefits from clean, renewable energy, irrigation opportunities and reduced risk for devastating floods, all of which are foundations for prosperous development and investments for present and future generations.
• Trade-offs between benefits and negative impact are treated as something inevitable. In theory, there is still time to remedy and cure the human rights and fundamental freedoms that are at stake in this case, to avoid future violations and abuse. The HRBA has its limitations, though. For instance, it cannot remedy how interlinked dimensions of poverty—inequality, dignity, and deprivations—influence access to the institutions and advocacy groups that can assist in enforcing the rights of the affected.

“In recent years, hydropower has received renewed attention as a source of reliable and sustainable power supply, however, hydropower dams do not come without environmental and social costs that need to be mitigated.”

“the human rights approach is useful to lay bare the rightful claims of those concerned that the states in question need to consider. it is the way in which projects such as this hydropower dam is conceived, developed, and implemented that is important.”, related reports.

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Big Dams and Protests in India: A study of Hirakud Dam

Related Papers

Economic and Political Weekly

Arun K Nayak

International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding IJMMU

Burhan Yasin

This paper attempts to investigate human rights violations in different parts of the developing world due to the impact of mega-projects and large-scale infrastructure development activities. Out of the many existing mega-projects in the developing world, this paper highlights concerns of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) violations due to the effect of mega-dams exemplifying cases in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. States and private sector investments in such large scale projects aim at fostering faster development, economic stimulation and benefiting the majority of the society and bear collective advantage. Human rights violations arising from the impacts of mega-projects are greater in developing countries; where the need for development is also higher. On the other hand, weaker institutional setup for human rights promotion and fortification leaves the victims to a lesser protection by the international law. However, such large scale projects, despite the effort to reduce shortcomings, have several, complex and ill effects on some communities. Typical examples of mega-dam projects discussed in this paper, having inadvertent social, environmental, economic, and political pitfalls include the Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil. A project is considered a mega-project based on several conditions. The expression “mega-project” indicates a very large-scale investment project in size, cost and its impact on the environment, economy and people. The widely used criterion is the cost of the project. A project, to be considered as “mega-project” should cost more than US $1billion. These projects draw significant public attention for having an enormous impact on the environment and economy, and the attempt to benefit substantial portion of the society with their outcomes. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) (2006) states that: “Forced evictions share many consequences similar to those resulting from arbitrary displacement, including population transfer, mass expulsions, mass exodus, ethnic cleansing and other practices involving coerced and involuntary displacement of people from their lands and communities”. The findings of this paper also demonstrate that apart from the negative impacts on the environment, climate, and the inhabitants, most mega-dams clearly violate the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) of communities. The nature of mega-dams requires large areas of land which lead to lifestyle disturbance, mass displacement, forced eviction from homes and land with stark violations of human rights of the inhabitants in the surrounding.

N.Ganga Vidya

Harry Verhoeven

Jeanne Feaux de la Croix

Massey University

Richard MacGeorge

Global Environmental Politics

Richard A. Matthew

Studies of Transition States and Societies

Filippo Menga

Megaprojects, with their sheer size and their physical and emotional impact, can emerge as central elements around which political elites construct an ideology. Following a comparison of the narratives surrounding the Strait of Messina Bridge in Italy and the Rogun Dam in Tajikistan, I find that similar narratives appear in arguments for mega projects across different regime types, as advocates portray large infrastructure as a panacea for varied problems and thus justify the significant investment such projects require. Politicians in both Italy and Tajikistan have embraced images of heroic progress toward a better future to frame megaprojects as inevitable signs of progress and national well-being.

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