Involuntary Displacement and Resettlement — Policy and ... - CEPA

ForewordCEPA’s annual symposium on poverty has now become a regular notableevent in the intellectual calendar of Sri Lanka. Over the years, participationin the symposium, which focuses on a particular aspect of poverty everyyear, has expanded. Although the main language of the symposium isEnglish, simultaneous translation of the proceedings into Sinhala and Tamilhas contributed to opening up the event and the body of knowledge to awider audience. This year’s symposium attracted over 80 people includingresearchers, academics, policy makers, university students, media personneland representatives of development agencies, interested and involved indisplacement and resettlement issues.The 9th symposium focused on involuntary displacement and resettlement.Large scale resettlement of people is nothing new to Sri Lanka. Irrigation ofthe dry zone and settlement of people in these areas became a significantdevelopment strategy of this country, some of it starting in the colonialperiod. The more significant projects were implemented in post-colonial SriLanka. The Accelerated Mahaweli Project remains one of the largestdevelopment projects ever undertaken by Sri Lanka.As the papers in the volume show, in recent times, involuntary displacementhas become complicated. A number of factors have contributed to it. Thecivil war that has ravaged the country for more than two decades, the 2004tsunami and large scale infrastructure projects have resulted in displacementand resettlement. In other words, Sri Lankan displacement has been due toconflict, natural disasters and development. This raises a complex set ofissues both in understanding the processes behind displacement, and in thesearch for policies and practices that deal with involuntary resettlement. It istherefore important to take into account different contexts in whichdisplacement occurs while also being conscious that varying resettlementpolicies and programmes can potentially aggravate inequities amongdifferent affected groups as well as among their host communities. Thisvolume is a contribution to this debate on improving policies and practicesfor all forms of displacement and resettlement.Sunil BastianFormer Chairman, CEPAvii