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CHAPTER IV. RECOMMENDATIONS
1.
Prevent Intimidation and Secure Free and Informed Consent (or
Dissent) RAN’s counter survey sampled a small fraction of the people to be affected by the National Route One rehabilitation project, and yet the concerns voiced by these people indicate concerns of large scale. It is reasonable to believe that households not interviewed by NGOs share the same anxieties and discontent as those surveyed. JICA
must take immediate measures to ensure that affected people are able to
freely express their opinions during the current processes to secure
agreement for compensation packages.
Considering the intimidation during the PAP’s Survey, JICA should
re-evaluate the agreement already given by affected people.
These measures must be done in accordance with JICA's new
Guidelines. 2.
Ensure that sufficient compensation for land and property losses
are provided at least to maintain, if not to improve, current standards of
living. The
Cambodian Government has stated that it will not provide compensation for
lost land, but will provide substitute land for affected people who will
need to relocate to places other than the land immediately behind their
current dwellings. Even if this promise was actually being implemented,
many others would suffer a decline in their standard of living, some
possibly pushed into poverty. Rates
of compensation for assets other than land are also very low, and if
special measures are not implemented, it will be extremely difficult for
affected people to rebuild their livelihoods.
Thus, the risk of repeating the same tragedy of impoverishing
thousands of people as occurred in the ADB-financed portion of National
Route One’s rehabilitation is very high. The
Guidelines require JICA to ensure that affected people’s livelihoods can
be restored and that their standards of living are improved, if not
restored. JICA’s Guidelines
refer to the need to respect international standards, and JICA should
confirm whether or not compensation for land and assets being offered to
affected people by the PAP's Survey team deviates largely from this
standard. JICA must meet the responsibility to work with the Cambodian
government to implement appropriate measures to remedy any necessary
problems. 3.
Secure Information Disclosure and Meaningful Participation According
to RAN’s counter survey, it is clear that many affected people do not
understand the content of the document they agreed to and had no say in
what it contained. Many of
them also were not given copies of the document.
This is an indication that meaningful participation and local
information disclosure, given great importance in the new Guidelines, have
not been ensured. JICA
must ensure that the clauses in the Guidelines which require local
information disclosure and meaningful participation are respected in the
process to collect agreement from local people for the content of
compensation packages. JICA
must guarantee that the data upon which decisions are made—regarding who
should receive compensation and the content of compensation—is
disclosed. JICA should also
ensure that the content of compensation is decided through a process in
which affected people's opinions are heard and respected.
Finally, JICA should confirm that the content of compensation,
which is agreed upon through appropriate means, is documented and that the
documents are shared with affected people. 4.
Establish Grievance Mechanism JICA
has already generally recognized the need for a grievance mechanism in its
Preparatory Study. An
independent grievance mechanism which prioritizes the restoration of
livelihoods of affected people must be established for this project. This mechanism must be transparent and easily accessible to
affected communities. The
grievance mechanism should ensure that people’s grievances are heard and
recommendations for solutions are made in a timely manner, thus
guaranteeing that the livelihoods of affected people are restored.
The establishment of such mechanism is essential for JICA’s
compliance with its new Guidelines. This
grievance committee would also be able to take actions on the processes
explained in the above mentioned Recommendations 1 to 3, and it is
therefore necessary to establish this committee as soon as possible.
We
expect JICA to take our recommendations into serious consideration. JICA must respect the clauses in its Guidelines in relation
to involuntary resettlement, social acceptability, human rights, and
meaningful participation. JICA
must take immediate actions to prevent the further impoverishment and
disempowerment of affected people.
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