Contaminated camps

The New-York based human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for immediate action to close the poisoned camps in Mitrovica, northern Kosovo.

"Roma have been stuck in these poisoned camps for a decade," said the report's author Wanda Troszczynska-van Genderen, Western Balkans researcher at HRW. "How long would the UN and Kosovo officials put up with it if their own families were forced to live in a place like that?"

She said the camps' inhabitants should be relocated and receive necessary medical treatment for lead poisoning.

But Rudko Kawczynski, president of the European Roma and Travelers Forum, said it is way too late. "The majority of the people there are profoundly lead poisoned," Kawczynski said. "The levels of lead found in their blood have never before been measured in humans."

He said simply relocating the Roma to a safer area did not turn back the clock.

"The crime has been committed," Kawczynski said.

Severe effects for children

During the Kosovo war in 1999, ethnic Albanians drove the Roma out of their homes in the Mahalla district, claiming they were collaborating with the Serbs. The UN resettled many in makeshift camps next to the disused, but contaminated, lead mine complex Trepca in Mitrovica.

The move was originally intended to be temporary. Today, some 1,000 to 1,500 Roma live in the three remaining camps, Kawczynski said - despite the widely known high levels of toxicity in these areas first documented by the UN in 2000.

Kawczynski, who has been following the issue closely for the past decade and has visited the camps several times, said many Roma have already died as a result.

"But in particular every single one of the children are affected," Kawczynski said. Lead is particularly harmful to children, as it can cause irreversible brain damage.

"We are talking about living corpses walking around here," he said.

Troszczynska-van Genderen confirmed this in her report "Poisoned by Lead: A Health and Human Rights Crisis in Mitrovica's Roma Camps."

"It is clear that lead contamination has damaged the health of people in the camps," she said. "Children are especially badly affected, with some suffering from stunted physical and mental growth."

Excessive lead levels in the human body can cause damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, as well as kidney failure, Troszczynska-van Genderen said. Very high lead levels result in coma and death.

Finding a solution

After years of futile negotiations, Kosovo authorities recently established a coordination group, led by the prime minister's office and including the US and the European Commission, to develop a plan to tackle the situation.

Andy McGuffie, communications director for the EU's Special Representative (EUSR) in Kosovo, said the International Civilian Office and EUSR were "fully supportive" of the Kosovo government's efforts to finally close the camps.

"The government has created a steering committee, in which we participate, to coordinate the activities of all stakeholders in closing the camps," McGuffie said. "This is a clear sign of the government's determination to resolve this issue."

Francesco Ardisson, Senior Protection Officer at the UN refugee agency UNHCR's office in Pristina, said it hasn't been easy to find a solution.

"We are dealing with humanitarian problems within a very tense and complex ethnic environment," Ardisson said. "Ethnic relations cannot be healed in a matter of days. The healing process takes years and this is why it has been so difficult."

But a solution is near and the response from the community leaders is positive, he said.

"After lengthy negotiations, a durable solution is emerging," Ardisson said. Approval had gone through for 180 accommodations in southern Mitrovica, in the former Roma Mahalla district.

This new home, however, is in the Albanian-controlled south. The Roma have been reluctant to move there because of security concerns - and rightly so, said Kawczynski.

"The Albanian authorities have repeatedly told me personally that we cannot ensure their safety here," he said. "We don't want these people here, they said."

Ardisson, however, disagreed.

"Now the situation has improved to such an extent that they can safely move to the south," Ardisson said.

A political challenge

The HRW report said much more work, including more financial and political support from major donors, was required. There also needed to be a stronger focus on medical testing and treatment.

"After 10 years, it's about time we had some momentum to solve this problem," said Troszczynska-van Genderen. "It is vital that the US and EU work with the authorities in Kosovo, including in Serb-controlled municipalities, to solve the crisis."

Kawczynski, however, said he has only fallen on deaf ears in his efforts to draw more attention to the urgency of this problem. He clearly places the blame on the European Commission. He said he has been trying for years to speak to Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso about the issue.

"He has turned down all talks across the board," Kawczynski said. "I don't know how Barroso can sleep at night with these children on his conscience."

Author: Sabina Casagrande
Editor: Rob Mudge