On the occasion of the International Romani Day, the Society for Threatened Peopls (STP) – together with the Harvard Law School, the German Roma Association (Deutscher Roma Verband), Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (VoRAE), the Central Council of the German Sinti and Roma, and other Roma organizations – sent an appeal to UN Secretary General António Guterres and the member states of the EU, demanding compensation for the victims of lead poisoning in Kosovo, which is long overdue. “The affected Roma, Ashkali, and Kosovo Egyptians have been waiting for compensation for years. The UN must no longer ignore the serious human rights violations,” stated Jasna Causevic, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.

In the 1990s, a group of Roma, Ashkali, and Kosovar Egyptian refugees were exposed to lead and other heavy metals in the UN-run refugee camps for internally displaced people in North Mitrovica. Many of them have suffered serious damage to their health: lead exposure has led to several deaths, chronic illnesses and disabilities. “The refusal of the United Nations to take responsibility is a complete failure – and it harms the victims as well as the Roma communities across Europe,” Causevic stated.

Eight years ago, a UN Human Rights Advisory Body (HRAP) had already called for appropriate compensation and for an apology from the UN to the victims and their families. However, the according trust fund remained seriously underfunded. “Now, the United Nations must finally turn the decisions of their own advisory body into concrete results,” Causevic demanded. 

Of the approximately twelve million Sinti and Roma in Europe, around six million are living in the EU. Despite the ban on discrimination in the EU, many Roma are victims of prejudice and social exclusion. They are subject to systematic discrimination in the areas of healthcare, education, employment, and housing – especially in the countries of the Western Balkans. “The discrimination against the Roma, and also their extremely precarious economic and social situation in the Western Balkans, is to be seen as a serious failure of the international institutions, the United Nations, and the approach of the individual state governments towards Roma communities. Despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, Roma are still not treated as equal citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Causevic criticized.

Appeal in German

Appeal in Bosnian​​​​​​​