‘Flood affectees stuck in a cycle of economic vulnerability’

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders, recently held a press conference regarding the compensation process of the 2022 flood affectees of Sindh.

They conducted a fact-finding mission from January 6 to 10 to investigate the compensation process. The mission visited Larkana, Shikarpur, Nawabshah and Hyderabad districts to review the actions and omissions of the government’s performance in the post-flood reconstruction and rehabilitation process as well as document rights violations.

The preliminary findings contradict the government’s claims of operating one of the world’s most significant housing projects for flood affectees. The mission is concerned that a single room without a kitchen or toilet cannot qualify as a home.

They said the Rs300,000 allocation to build this so-called house is insufficient, forcing residents to self-fund or borrow money to complete construction, and record inflation has driven up material and labour costs, resulting in substandard housing that puts the poorest flood victims at risk again.

They also said that by treating post-flood reconstruction as routine administrative work, the government has undermined the urgency of fund distribution, while women and children are bearing a disproportionate burden of the flood’s aftermath. They also pointed out that the floods washed away the means of subsistence.

They said that awareness of climate change is almost non-existent among the communities, and the people the mission interviewed do not have the basic idea of climate change and its effects.

Weak oversight of post-flood reconstruction has caused severe delays, while political divisions have fractured community advocacy efforts, with government authorities ignoring local activists’ and organisations’ recommendations for integrated development, they added.

They highlighted the fact that though Pakistan’s contribution to greenhouse emissions is less than one per cent, its burden is unjustifiable and the climate finance mechanism is problematic.

They said Sindh has received approximately $2 billion from the World Bank and other financial institutions mostly through debt financing, which needs to be returned with interest, which would come from poor Pakistanis through unjustifiable taxes and add to their miseries.

They also said that the catastrophic floods in Sindh underscore the importance of the Loss and Damage Fund established at COP27, adding that while the region contributes minimally to global emissions, it bears disproportionate climate impacts, with damages from the 2022 floods estimated at over $40 billion.

They pointed out that the current financing model, which relies heavily on loans from institutions like the WB, forces affected communities to take on additional debt burden for recovery.

They lamented that this creates a cycle of economic vulnerability, as seen in Sindh, where flood victims must repay loans with interest through increased taxes despite already struggling with poverty and inflation.