Justice for lead-poisoned Roma from Kosovo

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes a decision of the Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) in Kosovo, according to which the United Nations (UN) should apologize and pay compensations to a group of Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptians who had lived in five refugee camps in North Mitrovicë / Mitrovica between 1999 and 2012. The camps – which had been established by the UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) – were contaminated with lead and other heavy metals. Approximately 500 to 600 refugees arrived in the camps in 1999, after extremist Albanians had expelled members of the Roma, the Ashkali, and the Balkan Egyptians and burned down their homes in South Mitrovicë / Mitrovica. Back then, about 130,000 to 150,000 Roma and Ashkali had been driven out of the country by means of murder, rape, kidnapping, torture, as well as by racist persecution – which is still widespread today.

With support from our human rights organization, 138 Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptians had addressed the HRAP with accusations that the UNMIK was guilty of human rights violations. Not only were they accommodated in camps that were seriously contaminated – the UNMIK also failed to inform them about the health risks and to move them to a safe place. Moreover, the people did not receive adequate medical treatment. The refugee camps had been established close to a lead smelter and a mining complex. Many of the residents are still seriously ill. Heavy metal poisoning can, for example, cause irreparable brain damage in children, kidney diseases, and stunted growth. Further, it can lead to a higher risk of miscarriages and is to be seen as a cause of inherent mental and/or physical disabilities. At the end of October 2005, the STP had sent a fact finding mission to the contaminated area, led by Klaus-Dietrich Runow, a German expert of environmental medicine. He examined several people and noted that their lead levels were much too high. The levels for arsenic and cadmium were worrying as well. Four of the people stated that family members had died from the effects of lead poisoning.

“The HARP’s decision is groundbreaking, although it has no binding effect. It is to be hoped that the UN is now aware of the fact that the minority rights of the Roma, the Ashkali and the Balkan Egyptians in Kosovo were trampled underfoot following the NATO intervention in 1999 – and
that the affected people have a right to receive compensations,” said Jasna Causevic, the STP’s expert on Southeast Europe.

You can find the link to the decision of the Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) here.

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