In 2014 the Human Rights Watch reviewed early resettlement from Rogun reservoir bottom and highlighted issues such as lack of access to land for farming and raising livestock, reduced access to and variety of food, loss of income-generating activities, unreliable and inadequate access to basic services, and lack of fair or adequate compensation.
In 2024 the dam project documentation downplays and neglects diverse and problematic consequences of resettling 50.000 people, which will inevitably have massive environmental and social impacts. All the more so in a society with few political and individual freedoms, low levels of transparency, the highest level of corruption, and exacerbating human rights violations. In such circumstances, the fact that at least 7297 people have been already displaced and 42,000 are still expected to be resettled should be a red flag for IFIs.
In addition, the Rogun HPP Project documentation fully neglects impacts on communities downstream from the Vakhsh hydropower cascade who reside along Amu-Darya River and depend on its water flow. The Resettlement Framework fails to explain what compensation procedure is available to people downstream of Vakhsh Casacade in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in case they will be negatively affected by water shortages or other impacts of Rogun HPP Project.
Related documents:
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Human Rights Watch | “We Suffered When We Came Here: Rights Violations Linked to Resettlements for Tajikistan’s Rogun Dam” (June 2014)
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Resettlement Framework Consultations Critique 4 July 2024
- Analysis of the Draft Resettlement Framework and belated response from the World Bank. August 2024