HRW on Monday called for the government of Senegal to provide adequate housing to a community displaced by rising sea levels, saying that 1,000 residents have lived in temporary housing, isolated and cut off from many services, since 2016.

The group called on the World Bank to improve how it consults with communities that are impacted by climate change, so that the projects that are funded properly meet the needs of affected communities in the future.

The residents of Khar Yalla were relocated inland after floods destroyed their coastal community in 2016. Flooding was in large part due to global warming and sea level rise. Since most residents were fishers or in livelihoods reliant on fishing, the relocation of the community five kilometers inland has prevented many from making a living, resulting in a spike in poverty.

This barrier to accessing the community’s livelihood, combined with the lack of support from the government, has compounded the poor living conditions of the community, which was constructed with the intent of being a temporary shelter for those impacted by the floods.

The Senegalese government’s inaction, and the community’s lacking housing and economic access, could violate resident’s rights to an adequate standard of living, which is protected by Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, given the site’s lack of electricity, waste disposal, overcrowding and vulnerability to flooding.

Although Senegal has received extensive funding from the World Bank for the relocation of coastal communities, this funding has not been used to help those who are still living at Khar Yalla, which has since been acknowledged as an unsuitable location for habitation.