Bisks and Reconstruction: Experiences of Resettlers and Refugees

THIS EDITED COLLECTION presents a multi-dimensional comparative analysis of two large groups of the world's displaced populations. Refugee populations are generated by conflicts such as war, civil strife and ethnic persecutions, or by natural disasters including famines. They either cross national boundaries or, increasingly as borders become less porous, remain inside national borders and are defined as internal refugees or internally displaced people. Involuntary resettlers are uprooted by large infrastructure development projects such as industrial estates, dams and reservoirs, highways, ports and airports, and urban transportation networks. The number of people in these two categories has increased considerably during the last two decades. According to recent statistics, there are some 30 million refugees in the world, while the number of persons involuntarily displaced and resettled by infrastructural development projects during the last ten years is between 90 and 100 million.

The papers in this collection aim to analyze the risks faced by these populations and to describe problem-resolution approaches, good safeguarding practices and other successful reconstruction experiences. The book is divided into eight sections. The first presents the theoretical impoverishment risks and reconstruction (IRR) model, which disaggregates the main components of impoverishment as lack of access to land, jobs, housing, food and common property assets, increased morbidity and mortality, community disarticulation and marginalization. Reconstruction must be based on restoring access to these variables in an integrated way. The sections which follow explore in detail one or other of these specific issues, drawing on country or regional case studies. Section II discusses landlessness and strategies for land-based relocations, or alternatives when land is not available, with examples from India and Africa. Section III examines joblessness and re-employment options in China and Argentina, where evidence shows that, while institutional support for job creation is essential, refugees tend to have less access or entitlement to this type of support than resettlers. Section IV focuses on urban resettlement, with examples from India and Eritrea, and shows
that home rebuilding is the first step in reconstructing the social fabric of the new community. The paper in Section V describes the psychological aspects of marginalization and social exclusion, and the need for resettlement projects to address these. Section VI focuses on food insecurity and malnutrition among displaced people in Indian and African contexts, and their struggle to re-establish a sustainable food basis. Section VII documents the social and economic complexities of losing, maintaining or regaining access to common property resources, with examples from Mali. The final section brings together the theoretical strands discussed in the previous papers and presents experiences of social reconstruction and successful relocation.