The Roma camps in the north of Kosova need to be shut down

June 22 - There are no comments yet from the side of Kosova institutions on the forthcoming report of the Human Rights Watch about the situation of the Romas’ living in the camps Northern Kosova. The camps were set up by UN after 1999 when the Romas fled the Roma Mahalla in Mitrovica fearing revenge from the Kosova Albanians for the role this community played in the crimes against Kosova Albanians committed in Mitrovica during 1999.

Nonetheless ten years have passed and Kosova began the active process of healing its wounds. After the declaration of independence the Kosova authorities have build new settlements with entirely new homes for the Romas to return to their previous neighborhoods. Recently, the Municipal authorities in Mitrovica have decided to allocate new funds to build more new houses and residential flats for the Romas.
The Romas live in terrible conditions in these camps risking day to day contamination which is very dangerous for their lives.

The Kosova institutions have no direct control over the situation since the camps are located in a territory controlled by radical Serbs who deny the authority of the Kosova institutions and prevent the Kosova Government to take action in closing these camps.

Unofficially Government officials told “The Kosova Times” that they can not accept the criticism coming from Belgrade, which has often taken advantage of the case, on the situation of the Romas because Kosova is the only country in the region where Romas have political participation in state institutions both in the local and central level and in the same time the Government is investing a lot of funds for new homes for the Romas.. Besides this Kosova has no control over the camps and especially considering that just days ago in Belgrade one Roma settlement was encircled with a barb wire.

The Civil Society in Kosova has reacted many times on the existence of these camps in north Kosova and has called them “the camps of shame” demanding from the Kosova institutions to find ways together with the international community, since the institutions have no direct control of the camps, to close these camps and move the Romas back to their homes.

Ismet Hashani, Deputy Minister of Returns and Communities, in an interview for RTK said on Saturday that some members of the Roma Community do not want to return to their homes hoping that they are going to win residential or asylum rights in the Western Europe. (Source: kosovotimes.net)