Human Rights and the Environment

Case Study: Hydro-electric Dam

Country: Turkey

Region: Europe

Issues: Public Participation, Trade, Water, Indigenous People, Displacement, Infrastructure

The Ilisu dam, a proposed hydro-electric power project on the Tigris River that is part of the larger South East Anatolia Project, tragically threatens the environment, the human rights to health, water, residence, property, culture, among other rights, and the current political stability in the region. A consortium of foreign companies financed through the Union Bank of Switzerland with the Export Credit Agencies of Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and, potentially, the United States plans to build the Project at an estimated cost of two billion US dollars, making it the largest hydro-electric project in Turkey. The companies intend to situate the dam forty miles from Turkey's border with Syria and Iraq where it is expected to flood 15 towns and 52 villages, force the resettlement of up to 25,000 Kurdish people and potentially incite water wars with countries downstream as the dam reduces the flow of the Tigris. Moreover, the dam will impact already poor water quality on the river by increasing the flow of local waste deposits from nearby cities along the river. Sadder still, the flooding will destroy the ancient city of Hasankeyf, which has great cultural, religious and archaeological significance, particularly to the Kurds.

Local residents have not been included in the decision-making. No resettlement plan has been approved and compensation procedures are inadequate. There is no evidence that an environmental impact assessment was ever prepared. Moreover, in July 2000, the International Development Committee of the Turkish House of Commons issued a report critical of the project and of the United Kingdom's export credit of 200 million US dollars to build the dam.[1]

NGOs, particularly in Europe, continue to campaign against the project.[2] Such efforts most likely contributed to the November 13, 2001, withdrawal of one of the lead contractors, Balfour Beatty.[3] Despite the withdrawal, the project continues.

[1] See Ilisu Dam Scandal: MPs Back Campaigners, Friends of the Earth Press Release, July 12, 2000, at http://www.foe.co.uk/pubsinfo/infoteam/pressrel/2000/20000712105750.html (last visited Dec. 19, 2001); The Ilisu Dam Turkey: Resettlement and Human Rights, Summary of Proposed Presentation to World Commission on Dams, Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project, December 1999, at http://www.eca-watch.org/resettleandhr.html (last visited Dec. 19, 2001). See generally Ilisu Dam Campaign, at http://www.ilisu.org.uk (last visited Dec. 19, 2001).

[2] E.g. Ilisu Dam Campaign, at http://www.ilisu.org.uk (last visited Dec. 19, 2001) and People and Planet, at http://www.peopleandplanet.org (last visited Dec. 19, 2001).

[3] See Press Releases, Ilisu Dam Campaign and Friends of the Earth, at http://www.ilisu.org.uk/news23.html (last visited Dec. 19, 2001).

Last Updated: 09/09/05