‘We Suffered When We Came Here’: Rights Violations Linked to Resettlements for Tajikistan’s Rogun Dam, 25 June 2014

The dam will create a massive reservoir that will displace an estimated 7,000 families (about 42,000 people) by the time the project is completed. Between 2009 and early 2014, the government has already resettled approximately 1,500 families out of the reservoir zone to several other locations in Tajikistan...

Many families compelled to resettle by the government have faced serious hardships in trying to re-establish their lives in new locations, including reduced access to food, water, and education. The government has allocated land to displaced families, but it has not built houses for them on that land nor provided sufficient compensation to all families in accordance with international human rights standards to build new homes of a similar size and standard to those they previously owned. In many cases, families suffered undue burdens due to the loss of agricultural lands that provided means of subsistence and income to the majority of families prior to resettlement...

Over 85 percent of resettled families interviewed by Human Rights Watch stated that they had lost access to land or described feeling compelled to sell livestock due to lack of adequate land in the resettlement sites and the need to raise additional funds to finance home construction...

Resettled people also reported few prospects for formal, long term employment. Resettled people in some communities complained that, despite government promises of job placement and assistance, they have not been able to secure employment...

In some resettled communities visited by Human Rights Watch, residents faced water shortages that left them without sufficient water for drinking and other household needs and prevented them from growing even a small amount of food...

The government is responsible for building schools in each resettled community, but despite Flood Zone Directorate representatives emphasizing plans to prioritize building schools, the communities in Rudaki and Dangara have been without a local school for several years. Children and parents in those areas reported that children spent as much as two hours walking to school, due to the long distances. During certain times of the year, children as young as seven years old must walk to or from school in the dark...

People at all stages of the resettlement process reported that the government did not provide sufficient compensation for the homes that they must leave behind. Most people told Human Rights Watch that they had to spend considerable amounts of their own money in order to build a house of similar size and quality to their former home. Residents stated that they were compelled to contribute their own funds to construction not only due to the amount of compensation awarded but also due to significant delays between assessment and compensation, during which time the cost of construction materials increased significantly due to inflation...

Government representatives told Human Rights Watch that they had built a number of homes for people needing special assistance, such as for widows, war veterans, and people with disabilities. But when researchers visited those houses and spoke with residents, they found that only government employees (who did not have disabilities) lived there and that the houses were in any event not wheelchair accessible...

The government has not taken sufficient steps to provide families awaiting resettlement and those who have already resettled with timely, accurate, and specific information about certain aspects of the resettlement process such as compensation procedures, complaint mechanisms, availability of land for farms and pastures, employment opportunities, and other assistance. Nor did the government provide people with an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the crafting of the proposed resettlement plan or facilitate legal, technical and other advice to people about their rights and options...