Kosovo: Roma Poisoned at U.N. Camps in Kosovo May Get Apology and Compensation

Apr 7, 2016 | Rick Gladstone, New York Times
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Hundreds of Roma families in Kosovo, who were forced to live for more than a decade in squalid United Nations camps built on toxic wasteland that leached lead and poisoned their children, have long become accustomed to frustration and despair. Now the Roma, also known as Gypsies, may be close to receiving compensation — and a public apology — from the United Nations, which has not acknowledged any responsibility for the mass lead poisoning even as human rights groups and medical experts including the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency, repeatedly recommended immediate relocation of camp inhabitants. The camps were finally demolished in 2010, and the inhabitants were resettled elsewhere.