Romani People In Mitrovica Refugee Camps

In 2008 there were about 500-700 Romani people in Mitrovica refugee camps. These three camps were created by the UN in Kosovo. The camps are based around disused heavy metals mines which have fallen out of use since the end of the Kosovo War of 1999. There have been complaints that the residents are suffering severe lead poisoning. According to a 2010 Human Rights Watch, Romani displaced from the Romani quarter in Mitrovica, due to its destruction in 2000, continued to be inmates of camps in north Mitrovica (Cesmin Lug, Osterode and Leposavic), where they were exposed to environmental lead poisoning.

Current situation

A number of people have been resettled to the local mahala and to the former French UN barracks.

The current situation is that approximately 150 Romani, Ashkali and Egyptian families live in the camps of North Mitrovica. There are plans to resettle the majority of these families to the Romani Mahala neighbourhood in the main part of the city (across the Rivar Ibar), where 100 families already reside. The community is receiving assistance from a number of local and international NGOs.

The former French barracks, Osterode camp, is managed by a local NGO Kosovo Agency for Advocacy and Development (KAAD) - funded by the Kosovo Ministry for Communities and Returns, while the nearby Cesmin Lug camp, where living conditions are noticeably poorer, is officially under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in Mitrovicë/a.

Unemployment is extremely high in the community of relocation, Romani Mahala and Mitrovica more generally. There was a commitment to close the camps by the end of 2010 but this goal may be overambitious, especially as Western European countries continue to forcibly return RAE people to Kosovo despite the obvious lack of absorptive capacity in the receiving society.

Background

A BBC
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