IX. Expanded Recommendations

To the Special Representative of the Secretary General (in charge of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo)

• Immediately nominate the United Nations Kosovo Team under the leadership of the UN Development Coordinator to take responsibility for urgent medical evacuation, administration of medical treatment, and devising sustainable long-term solutions, for all camp residents (with Cesmin Lug and Osterode as the priority, followed by Leposavic).
• Compile all relevant information about the history of lead contamination in the Roma camps (dating from the beginning), subsequently making the report public for the purpose of lesson learning.
• Cooperate fully with the Human Rights Advisory Panel's investigation into the complaint by displaced Roma from Mitrovica, and implement any resulting recommendations aimed at providing redress to those whose rights were affected.
• Pay reparations to Roma families for the damage to their health during the decade of exposure to dangerous levels of lead in the camps.

To the United Nations Kosovo Team (including UNHCR, UNDP, WHO, UNEP)

• Arrange a temporary housing solution for the residents of Cesmin Lug and Osterode, providing the residents with guarantees about maximum time in their temporary location and ensuring they agree with the arrangement made.
• Relocate immediately the residents of the Cesmin Lug and Osterode camps. Ensure adequate assistance and income generation to ensure economic sustainability at camp residents' places of temporary and permanent relocation.
• Close and seal Cesmin Lug and Osterode camps.
• Consult camp residents, including in Leposavic, about their preferred long-term housing solution and proceed with planning for it accordingly.
• Urgently organize medical treatment for lead contamination. Meticulously monitor all treatment, making all findings transparent and readily available to the patients and their families.
• Develop a public outreach program to ensure displaced Roma and others living close to the contaminated area are aware about the dangers of lead contamination, available treatment, and risk reduction strategies.
• Develop an assessment of environmental health threats to the entire population of the Mitrovica region. Liaise with all relevant authorities and international donors to secure cooperation and necessary funding.

To the Kosovo Office of the Prime Minister

• Lend political support (through overseeing the south Mitrovica municipal authorities' and Kosovo ministries' timely and effective cooperation with all stakeholders involved) for the return of those Roma who wish to resume living in the Roma Mahalla.

To the Kosovo Ministry of Returns

• Prioritize financial support for the relocation and medical treatment of the lead-contaminated Roma IDP camp residents (including access to free medication).
• In conjunction with the south Mitrovica municipal authorities, ensure that the Roma Mahalla returnees receive all necessary assistance and services, including social welfare benefits.

To the Kosovo Ministry of Health (in consultation with UNKT)

• Devise a comprehensive public health strategy to tackle lead contamination in the Mitrovica region.
• Ensure no-cost access to medical treatment and to free medicine for displaced Roma.

To the Kosovo Ministry of Environment (in association with UNKT)

• Devise a comprehensive environmental clean-up strategy for the lead contaminated areas in the Mitrovica region.

To the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs

• When negotiating bilateral readmission agreements with Western European countries, ensure that the UNHCR protection guidelines are respected and that no vulnerable RAE are returned to Kosovo in the absence of adequate housing and programs to assist them on return.

To the Serb-controlled Municipal Authorities

• Support and facilitate a sustainable long-term solution for the camp residents within the Mitrovica region, by allocating suitable land away from the epicenter of contamination to accommodate housing for those camp residents wishing to stabilize in the place of displacement.
• Collaborate with all relevant authorities to ensure the best possible solution for returnees to the Mahalla from the camps north of the Ibar, by facilitating continued access to education, medical facilities, and employment in the north Mitrovica region.

To the European Commission and other International Donors

• Ensure that donor funds for Kosovo are directed toward facilitating urgent medical evacuation, covering short-term housing and longer-term sustainable housing costs, medical treatment costs, and income generation projects to ensure economic sustainability.
• Ensure that donor funds for Kosovo are directed toward financial support for the environmental clean-up of the Mitrovica region.

To the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel

• Promptly determine the merits of the claim against UNMIK by Roma families from Osterode, Cesmin Lug, Leposavic, and the Mitrovica Roma Mahalla (as well as some former residents of Kablare and Zitkovac) alleging violations of the right to life, health, housing, and lack of access to a legal remedy, among others.

To the Roma Camp Leaders in the Mitrovica Region

• Cooperate with all relevant authorities to ensure the timely relocation of the displaced residents of Cesmin Lug and Osterode as a priority, and Leposavic at a later stage, and those camps' permanent closure.
• Liaise with the relevant authorities to ensure that all current and former camp residents receive medical treatment.