UN Rapporteur Urges Compensation for Kosovo’s Poisoned Roma

Roma children at a camp in Mitrovica, north Kosovo, near the Trepca mine complex. Photo: EPA/ Valdrin Xhemaj.

"Around 600 members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities were placed in the camps between 1999 and 2013 on land known to have been contaminated by lead. Approximately half were children under the age of 14," said a statement issued by Tuncak after meeting Roma families who were affected.

The UN Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK's Human Rights Advisory Panel found in 2016 that the UN was ultimately responsible for the victims' hardship and recommended the international organisation pay out cash compensation to the victims.

However, the UN has since refused to acknowledge any responsibility or pay compensation, choosing instead to establish a 'trust fund' to finance projects designed to support the Roma community as a whole. So far, the fund has not received a single contribution.

Tuncak described the trust fund solution as "fundamentally flawed", saying it would "neither provide justice nor the necessary elements of an effective remedy for the victims".

"After sobering discussions with victims and their families, and assessing the facts of this tragic case, the circumstances demand individual compensation and a public apology by the United Nations, in addition to community-based projects," Tuncak said in a statement.

Christine Chinkin, an international legal expert who presided over the lead-poisoning case for UNMIK's Human Rights Advisory Panel, said it was "very frustrating" to see her ruling ignored.

"By setting up a trust fund, they are not accepting that there is a legal obligation on the UN to pay reparations when there's a violation of human rights," Chinkin said.

"Essentially they did not respond in...