Roma in Mitrovica Camps

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Roma in Mitrovica Camps is the description used for about 500-700 Roma people living in three UN-created refugee camps in Mitrovica, Kosovo. The camps are based around mines which have fallen out of use since the end of the Kosovo War. There have been complaints that the residents are suffering lead poisoning.

1 Current Situation
2 Background
3 Response
4 Documentary
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Current Situation

The current situation is that a number of people have been resettled in the traditional mahala area; and most are moved from the camps to the former French UN barracks.

[edit] Background

A BBC article ^[1] in June 2005 said that the European Roma Rights Centre was preparing legal action against UNMIK, the interim Kosovan Government over its failure to relocate the camps.

[edit] Response

The leading NGO taking up the case is the Kosovo Roma Refugee Foundation, led by Paul Polansky. Mr. Polansky's article ^[2] in the International Herald Tribune in the Spring of 2005, sparked an international uproar.

Since that time, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Society for Threatened Peoples, Refugees International (and many other humanitarian organizations) have demanded in writing to the UN the immediate evacuation of these three camps.

Legal actions are currently being taken by the European Roma Rights Centre. On February 20, 2006, ERRC filed a lawsuit ^[3] against the UNMik with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. On March 24, 2006, a meeting was held ^[4] by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to review the ERRC's report on the human rights situation in Mitrovica, Kosovo.

As of late 2006, there were reports of new sites being found for the Roma refugees, but suitability (given location in Albanian quarter ) and progress on moving, is unknown.^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

[edit] Documentary

A documentary about the issue, Gypsy Blood: The Roma, Ashali and Egyptian IDPs of Mitrovica, Kosovo, was completed in July 2005 by American filmmaker Daniel Lanctot.

Gypsy Blood: The Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian IDPs of Mitrovica, Kosovo has screened at numerous venues. It won the award for Best Informative Film at the Golden Wheel Film Festival (2005) in Skopje, Macedonia. Also in 2005, it screened at a European Parliament hearing on the "Situation of Roma women in the European Union" and at the International "One World" Festival of Documentary Films on Human Rights in Priština.