VI. Current Conditions in the Camps and the Rebuilt Mahalla

During our research in December 2008, Human Rights Watch visited Roma camps and settlements across Kosovo, including the camps at Cesmin Lug, Osterode, and Leposavic, and the Roma Mahalla.

The Camps

As noted above, management of the camps passed from Norwegian Church Aid to the Kosovo Agency for Advocacy and Development at the beginning of 2009. KAAD's budget, funded by the Kosovo Ministry for Communities and Returns, helps to cover the utility bills of the camps, as well as the costs of running a small clinic (ambulanta[131]) serving Cesmin Lug and Osterode, and amounts to only €78,000 for the first six months of 2009.[132]

In terms of the availability of basic medical facilities and medicine, the poor situation in the camps around Mitrovica is not entirely distinguished from similar camps in other parts of Kosovo: Human Rights Watch observed similar problems with access to medicine and specialized medical help in other Roma IDP camps and settlements we visited in November-December 2008.[133]  What is unique about the situation in the Mitrovica Roma camps is the lack of systematic efforts to monitor the levels of lead contamination and provide adequate remedy.

Cesmin Lug

Among all the camps visited, Human Rights Watch observed the worst living conditions in the Cesmin Lug camp, located in the vicinity of the toxic slag heaps of lead-contaminated soil. The inhabitants there live in small shacks made of wood, some of them insulated with cardboard lining. There is no running water in the huts-the inhabitants collect water by bucket from outside pumps. Camp residents complained bitterly about this to Human Rights Watch.[134] As throughout the north Mitrovica region, the electricity supply is frequently interrupted: According to the people Human Rights Watch interviewed in Cesmin Lug, the normal cycle is two hours on/three hours off during the winter.[135]

In Cesmin Lug Human Rights Watch spoke to the camp leader, Latif Musurica, as well as other camp residents. According to Musurica, Cesmin Lug hosts around 170 persons (47 families)-33 families have been resident in the camp from the very beginning, while the others moved there after the closure of the Kablare and Zitkovac camps.[136] (Musurica's figures differ from data from NCA and Mercy Corps in mid-2008 that there are 38 families in the camp.[137])

According to the residents Human Rights Watch spoke to, the most prevalent diseases among the camp residents are kidney problems, high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatism, asthma, and heart problems.[138] According to the head of the Mitrovica hospital, "Even though these problems are quite common in Kosovo, and it would require scientific studies to say something authoritative, these problems are more aggravated in the case of Roma IDPs from the camps simply because of the living conditions they are in (low temperatures, high moisture), poor diet, less frequent medical visits and examination, and the physical work they do."[139] Basic medical services for the population in Cesmin Lug are supposed to be met by the ambulanta located beside the camp and serving Cesmin Lug and Osterode. The Roma IDPs complained to Human Rights Watch that the ambulanta suffers from a chronic lack of medicine,[140] although a nurse who staffs the ambulanta (with whom Human Rights Watch subsequently spoke by phone) rejected this.[141]

The majority of Cesmin Lug residents are holders of a "health book" issued by the Serbian government, which entitles them to free-of-charge treatment in the hospitals in north Mitrovica (but not medicine). All interlocutors Human Rights Watch spoke to in Cesmin Lug reported having free access to hospital when needed.[142]

Latif Musurica told Human Rights Watch that the camp children experience all kinds of serious health problems, which he attributed directly or indirectly to lead contamination. According to him, children often are "nervous, even hysterical, they have diarrhea all the time and wounds on their head." During the winter season, they are "the first ones to catch pneumonia."[143] Medical literature explicitly links lead contamination with hyperactivity and impulsive behavior;[144]the rest of the symptoms mentioned are not explicitly linked to lead in medical literature. However, according to a local Serbian doctor Human Rights Watch spoke to, skin diseases are widespread among Roma children due to poor hygiene, and they have overall weakening of their immune systems due to their difficult living conditions.[145]

Osterode

Human Rights Watch visited the Osterode camp in November 2008. Located just next to the Cesmin Lug camp, Osterode currently hosts around 500 people (around 105 families).[146] The Osterode site used to belong to KFOR, which moved its staff from there by the beginning of 2005. According to Habib Hajdini, the Osterode camp leader, this was due to its having tested high for lead levels and being deemed unacceptably hazardous for KFOR personnel.[147]

Human Rights Watch contacted KFOR to enquire about this allegation. On April 6, 2009, we received KFOR's reply, in which it stated that the agreement between the French Ministry of Defense and UNMIK (on the basis of which the transfer of grounds, buildings, and other real estate took place) "did not mention any reasons for removing KFOR troops from Osterode."[148]

Osterode was selected by the multi-agency task force created by UNMIK in 2005 as the transition place for the Roma Mahalla return project, despite concerns among displaced Roma that the level of lead exposure is as high there as it is in Cesmin Lug.[149]Notwithstanding claims by UNMIK and WHO that testing has shown that it is "lead safer" than Cesmin Lug (see Chapter V), common sense would suggest that a site located in a similar vicinity to the Trepca toxic slag heaps as Cesmin Lug would present similar health risks.

Javorka Jovanovic, a nurse working in the ambulanta located beside Osterode camp, told Human Rights Watch that in most cases of health problems she deals with every day, it is impossible to distinguish between purely lead-related medical complaints and those simply linked to poverty and deprivation, as they "go together and make each other worse." She pointed out, however, that she observes some lead contamination symptoms in children on a daily basis, such as stunted growth, nervousness, fatigue, or epilepsy, and the children are more vulnerable to other diseases and epidemics (there was a large-scale chickenpox outbreak in the camps at the time of our conversation with the nurse). She suggested that the children's health conditions are made worse "because their diet is only bread and tea, they are constantly cold, and do not have running water, soap and shampoo to wash themselves or their clothes."[150] A mother from the Osterode camp similarly complained about the poor hygiene and diet, which in her opinion exacerbated the health conditions in the camp, especially among the children.[151] Jovanovic said the concentration of illnesses in the camps makes the medical situation unparalleled to "anything else I have seen."[152]

According to the Osterode camp leader, Habib Hajdini, the biggest problem in the camp is the health situation of its residents. He asserts that the stunted physical and mental growth of children is evidence of dangerous effects of the lead contamination there.[153] Medical research offers plenty of evidence for a connection between lead exposure and intellectual deficits. For example, a 2004 study of Karin Koller et al. found an inverse association between blood lead levels and cognitive function in children exposed to low levels of lead and concluded that there is no safety margin for such exposure.[154] And although no comprehensive research has been done on this issue, Human Rights Watch made a general observation in all the camps visited, as well as the Mahalla, that the children seem thin, pale, and fragile-looking.

According to Habib Hajdini, the children from the camp attend (Serbian) schools "without any problem" and people get admitted in the (north) Mitrovica hospital "when they need something."[155]

The living conditions in Osterode are better than in Cesmin Lug (most people live either in small flats or barracks and have access to running water in their households). But the electricity goes on and off the same way as in Cesmin Lug. One of the camp residents Human Rights Watch spoke to complained that tap water (heated by electricity) is "never warm enough" in the wintertime.[156] Men in Osterode, as in other camps, support their families by daily labor (jobs in the Serbian areas, or collecting garbage and scrap metal to sell),[157] while women stay home to take care of children and household. All Osterode camp inhabitants are welfare recipients from the Serb-controlled (north) Mitrovica municipality administration.

Human Rights Watch spoke to an Ashkali family of five currently residing in one of the flats in the Osterode camp. They had been forcibly returned to Kosovo from Germany in 2006. They complained about the lack of free medicine, giving the example of their daughter's contracting hepatitis in 2007-having to pay for the medication nearly ruined them. They also complained that nobody from any institutions had assisted them upon their return, and that they had to rely on "good hearted people, acting in their individual capacity," to provide them in the beginning with some mattresses and food.[158]

Leposavic

Human Rights Watch visited the Leposavic camp in November 2008. Located around 45 kilometers northwest of the other two, the camp currently hosts around 130 persons, living in a hangar and barracks abandoned by the Yugoslav army.[159] The Leposavic camp is considered by many displaced Roma from Mitrovica interviewed by Human Rights Watch to be "the best" of the camps (probably due to the fact that it is located further away from the toxic slag heaps).[160] But the living conditions in the camp are among the worst witnessed by Human Rights Watch during our visits to displaced Roma camps in Kosovo. The living accommodation at the Leposavic camp is dark, cramped, damp, and cockroach-infested, Residents have no indoor running water, and the outside water taps often freeze in the winter.[161] Camp residents access medical services either in the Leposavic health house or in the hospitals of north Mitrovica. The local leader reported no problem with healthcare, stating that all the residents are holders of Serbian-issued health books.[162]

While walking around the camp, Human Rights Watch informally spoke to a group of around 10 residents, who complained about the lack of running water inside the camp, bad conditions in the barracks, as well as their fear that they would be forgotten by what they termed the "international community" because they are not directly next to lead tailings like the residents of Cesmin Lug and Osterode.[163]

The Mahalla

Since 2005 the position of international agencies working in the Mitrovica Action Team has been that return to the Roma Mahalla is the most sustainable return solution. According to information collected by Human Rights Watch from the representatives of NGOs historically involved in assistance to the camps and the Mahalla (Norwegian Church Aid, Mercy Corps, and the Danish Refugee Council), ongoing assistance is mainly focused on plans to provide sustainable housing in the Mahalla and possibly beyond (see Chapter VIII, "Future Scenarios"). The specific assistance to Cesmin Lug and Osterode from the Kosovo Ministry of Returns and implemented by KAAD is limited to the payment of utility bills and the costs of the ambulanta.

As noted above, around 90 families returned to the Mahalla in the early summer of 2007. Since then, many of the returnees have moved out again, and others move between the Mahalla and the camps, in correlation with ongoing political developments. (For example, most of the returnees briefly moved back to the camps, staying with family or friends, around the period of Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008.[164] Whenever intercommunal tensions arise, the Roma tend to seek refuge in the north, as they feel vulnerable in the Mahalla, which is on the frontline of the Serbian-Albanian community divide marked by the Ibar River).

The return site consists of two finished apartment blocks and a few others currently under construction. There are also 54 individual houses constructed for returnees.

Human Rights Watch spoke to around a dozen persons from the Mahalla (the local leader individually and members of five other families). Those residing in the apartment blocks said that the blocks are partially occupied, with some families living in the flats a few days per week, and going back to the camps in the north for the rest of time.[165] The great majority of the newly constructed individual houses are not occupied: Interviewees in the Mahalla told us that the inhabitants of the empty houses had gone "abroad."[166] The abandoned houses had been looted-we observed that the houses were emptied out, with windows broken, and sometimes even the doors had been stolen.[167] Human Rights Watch spoke to the head of a family of seven, forcibly returned from Germany, who had moved into one of the looted houses.[168] The family have cleaned up the house and boarded up the windows.

The living conditions inside the flats and houses seemed better than the conditions observed in Cesmin Lug and even Osterode (even though some homes seemed overcrowded). But all Mahalla returnees we interviewed said that they did not think they would stay in the Mahalla much longer, due to lack of access to social welfare support, the impossibility of finding work in Albanian-populated south Mitrovica, and lack of confidence that the situation would change. Two of those interviewed also mentioned security concerns.

One of the key complaints was that returnees who moved from Osterode or Cesmin Lug to the Mahalla lost all their welfare payments, as they had been removed from the Serbian welfare system in the north when they relocated (losing between €50-100 per family per month in payments)[169] The Mahalla returnees, returning to south Mitrovica and therefore the control of the Kosovo Albanian authorities, cannot remain beneficiaries of the Serbian welfare system,[170] but in practice they generally cannot access the welfare system administered by the Kosovo authorities; even if they can, Serbian welfare payments are at least twice as high as the ones provided by the Kosovo welfare.[171] According to a south Mitrovica municipal representative interviewed by Human Rights Watch, only a handful of IDP families in the Mahalla qualify as welfare recipients because most cannot produce all the certificates (birth, marriage etc.) necessary to complete registration. The representative also remarked that municipal welfare inspectors could not find certain families in the Mahalla when they came to assess whether the family met criteria to become welfare recipients[172] (it is unclear how diligent they were in pursuing contact with claimants).

On a day-to-day basis the Roma-Serbian speakers-also have a problem using services in south Mitrovica because of the language barrier.

Overall, it appears that no action has been taken to facilitate access to welfare assistance-including working to overcome practical barriers-for Mahalla returnees by the Kosovo central authorities, the local authorities in south Mitrovica, or the international agencies who helped organize the return, despite the evident dependence on (Serbian) welfare assistance of virtually everyone living in the camps.

Serbian authorities allow Serbian-speaking children to access schools in the north. Formally, people who return to live in the Roma Mahalla can no longer use the hospital in north Mitrovica, although according to the north Mitrovica municipality, Serbian doctors continue to treat Roma patients irrespective of where they live, even those who no longer are health book holders.[173] Some Roma IDPs, however, seemed unaware of this and believed hospital care in north Mitrovica was not available any more to Mahalla returnees.[174]

Returnees told Human Rights Watch they are unable to find employment in the south: They contended the economic outlook was worse in south Mitrovica, and even menial jobs are highly sought after by the ethnic Albanian majority, which they said makes the Roma unwelcome competitors in the local labor market.[175] Some of them consequently cross the bridge to do daily labor in the north, where they are used to Serbs hiring them to work in the fields in the summer, and for other types of physical daily labor.[176] When organized returns began to the Mahalla in the summer of 2007, the returnees received from international donors (including Norwegian Church Aid and Danish Refugee Council) income generation grants of €2,000 per family, as well as some in-kind donations such as electric chainsaws (for wood chopping) and tractors (to transport garbage or wood). According to Cazim Gusani, the community leader in the Mahalla, the returnees use this equipment but the only market for their goods and services is in the north, as they are not welcome in the south.[177] These "start-up grants" are no longer available to returnees.[178]

A few returnees complained to Human Rights Watch about being uncomfortable when crossing the bridge over the Ibar. Even though security issues were not the key complaint among those Human Rights Watch interviewed in December 2008, some people complained that Roma children are verbally (and sometimes physically) harassed by some Albanian inhabitants of south Mitrovica on their way to or back from school in north Mitrovica.[179] One man also mentioned that Roma women are sometimes teased in a vulgar way when they cross the bridge.[180]

News about the current conditions in the Roma Mahalla has inevitably spread to the camps in the north, deepening their inhabitants' reluctance to consider relocating there.

At this writing, the construction of two additional housing blocks in the Roma Mahalla goes on, funded by Norwegian Church Aid (see Chapter VIII). KAAD continues to manage both Osterode and Cesmin Lug camps, funded by the Ministry of Returns and Communities. Mercy Corps continues to develop a plan to relocate 50 families from Cesmin Lug, Osterode, and Leposavic to the Roma Mahalla and possibly beyond (see Chapter VIII, "Future scenarios"). The European Commission continues to prepare its 2010 assistance package, which has informally been reported to contain an assistance package for the Roma camps and the Mahalla.