III. Chronology of Events

June 10, 1999: UN Security Council passes Security Council Resolution 1244 placing Kosovo under the authority of UNMIK and KFOR.

June 1999: The Roma Mahalla is attacked by ethnic Albanians; all inhabitants flee prior to the attack fearing for their lives. KFOR does not intervene to prevent looting and destruction of all houses and infrastructure in the Mahalla.

Phase 1: UNHCR in charge

June 1999: Displaced Roma occupy the primary school building in Zvecan as well as some other public buildings in the Mitrovica region. UNHCR begins to organize temporary accommodation for the IDPs, so that they can vacate the occupied school building before the school year starts.

October 1999: UNHCR moves some of the displaced Roma residents of the Mahalla still remaining in the Mitrovica region to two camps located there: Cesmin Lug and Zitkovac. The remaining IDPs spontaneously occupy barracks in Kablare and Leposavic, creating two other camps. The move is intended to be temporary.

August 2000: Trepca mine complex is closed on public health grounds, after a damning UN study indicating high levels of lead contamination in the surrounding area.

Phase 2: UNMIK in charge

October 2001: UNMIK takes over responsibility for managing the camps from UNHCR. Displaced Roma have now been resident in the camps for two years.

2004 (month unclear): WHO facilitates the first blood testing on a group of around 50 children in Cesmin Lug, Kablare, Zitkovac, and Leposavic camps, carried out by local Serb doctors.

September 2004: WHO releases a report demonstrating very high levels of lead contamination among the Roma population in all the camps. Displaced Roma have been resident in the camps for almost five years.

April 2005: UNMIK initiates a multi-stakeholder task force called the Mitrovica Action Team-MAT (in cooperation with the Kosovo Ministry of Health and UNHCR, WHO, UNICEF, and OSCE) to develop a framework for the temporary relocation of Roma IDPs from Cesmin Lug, Zitkovac, and Kablare to the vacant KFOR barracks in Osterode.

2005: MAT concludes that return to the reconstructed Mahalla is the most sustainable solution available. It aims to devise a risk management plan for the camps, to minimize lead exposure while durable solutions for relocating camp residents are developed. Negotiations with the south Mitrovica (Kosovo Albanian-controlled) authorities begin about return to the Mahalla. Some interim remedial measures are taken in the camps, including the distribution of food and hygiene packs, delivery of wood stoves, and installation of additional water taps.

2005 (month unclear): WHO facilitates the second blood testing on a group of around 50 children from the camps in Cesmin Lug, Kablare, Zitkovac, and Leposavic, carried out by local Serb doctors.

September 2005: A local Roma activist, Argentina Gidzic, files a criminal complaint against unknown perpetrators in the Pristina court alleging a violation of article 291 of the Kosovo Provisional Criminal Code (which outlaws actions impacting the environment that endanger human life).[1] No action is taken in response to this criminal complaint.

December 2005: Norwegian Church Aid is designated by UNHCR as manager of the camps in Cesmin Lug and Osterode. KFOR hands over the Osterode camp (land and housing facilities) to UNMIK.

February 2006: The European Roma Rights Center files a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of Roma IDPs alleging violations of the European Convention on Human Rights: article 2 (right to life), article 3 (prohibition of torture), article 6 (right to a fair trial), article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), article 13 (right to an effective remedy) and article 14 (prohibition of discrimination). The complaint is ruled inadmissible by the Court within weeks, on the ground that it lacks jurisdiction.

March-April 2006: Zitkovac and Kablare camps are closed (following a fire in the Kablare camp in March that year) and their residents moved to the Osterode camp, as a transitional location pending a durable solution in the Roma Mahalla. Residents of Cesmin Lug decline to move to Osterode.

May 2006: Start of the first part of the Roma Mahalla reconstruction project-2 apartment buildings (containing 48 flats) and 54 individual houses constructed on the Mahalla site in south Mitrovica. The flats are intended for the IDPs who cannot prove they were owners of property in the Mahalla in June 1999; those who can prove ownership have their individual houses reconstructed.

2006 (month unclear) WHO facilitates the third blood testing on a group of around 50 children from the camps in Cesmin Lug, Osterode, and Leposavic, carried out by local Serb doctors.

August 2006: WHO arranges the first of two distributions of oral chelation therapy to a group of children from the Osterode camp (the timing of the second distribution is not known to Human Rights Watch). In total, around 40 children are treated in the two rounds.

June 2007: Around 90 families (around 450 individuals) return to the Roma Mahalla from all the Mitrovica camps as well as from Serbia proper[2] and Montenegro. The return is organized by the MAT task force under UNMIK's leadership.

May 2008: UNMIK hands over management of the Cesmin Lug and Osterode camps to the Kosovo Ministry of Communities and Returns. Norwegian Church Aid continues to act as manager of the Cesmin Lug and Osterode camps. Some displaced Roma from the Mahalla have been resident in lead contaminated camps for more than 8 years.

Phase 3: Kosovo Ministry of Communities and Returns in charge

July 2008: A complaint is filed by a Roma rights activist on behalf of Roma families from all the camps (Cesmin Lug, Osterode, Leposavic) with the Human Rights Advisory Panel alleging criminal negligence leading to severe environmental contamination causing a severe health hazard to the camps' inhabitants, as well as violation of the rights to life and family life, and lack of a legal remedy.

October 2008: Roma leaders ask the Mitrovica Institute for Health to conduct blood tests on children in Cesmin Lug, Osterode, and Leposavic. Out of 53 tested, 21 have blood lead levels requiring immediate medical intervention as they face significant threats to their life (over 65 mcg/dl, which is the highest level the machine could register), 18 had levels of 45 mcg/dl, and only two children had results within the norm. The results in Leposavic (the fourth camp located around 50 km away from the other three) were lower, yet still above the acceptable norm of 10 mcg/dl.

January 2009: WHO visits Kosovo to examine the situation in the camps and talk to the key local and international interlocutors, following which it publicly calls for the closure of the Osterode and Cesmin Lug.

January 2009: Norwegian Church Aid hands over management of the Cesmin Lug and Osterode camps to the local NGO Kosovo Agency for Advocacy and Development (KAAD), funded by the Kosovo Ministry of Returns and Communities.

June 2009: Some displaced Roma from the Mahalla have now spent a decade living in lead contaminated camps.

June 5, 2009: The Human Rights Advisory Panel rules the Roma claim to be admissible on multiple counts, including in relation to allegations of  violations of the right to life, the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment, respect for private and family life, the right to a fair hearing, the right to an effective remedy, the right to adequate housing, health and standard of living, the prohibition against discrimination in general, the prohibition of discrimination against women, and the rights of children.