A/HRC/45/CRP.10 the Panel in 2008. About 75 complainants were women and girls, 13 of which delivered babies in the camps and had submitted the complaint on behalf of their children. 30. The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights wrote that, even if the longterm consequences of exposure to lead were harder to determine, the lead contamination undoubtedly had caused permanent developmental damage to children, which he observed personally during his visit to Osterode and Česmin Lug in March 2009. In a subsequent letter to the SRSG, the Commissioner indicated that the children he met in the camps were “clearly under-developed for their age” and defined the situation as a “humanitarian disaster”. 31. In 2010, UNMIK started the massive relocation of camp residents to other areas, and the last camp was closed in 2013. Lead contamination persisted for years following the shutting down of the Trepca smelter, mainly originating from the uncontained waste piles and tailing dams eroding under wind and water, as well as from the contaminated equipment, buildings and soils left behind by previous operations. 32. In 2013, Norwegian Church Aid and USAID funded the construction of a three-story apartment building situated in the mixed community neighbourhood in Mitrovica/Mitrovicë North. Currently Roma, members of the Kosovo Albanian, Kosovo Serb, Kosovo Ashkali and Kosovo Bosniak communities reside in the neighbourhood. The families moved into the building after the closure of displaced persons camps Osterode and Česmin Lug/Cesminlukë.30 33. The majority of members of the Kosovo Roma community currently reside in the Roma Mahalla area of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica South together with Kosovo Ashkali, whereas the Kosovo Ashkali community also resides in “2 Korriku/Sitničko Naselje”, and Shipol/Šipolje urban quarters. Between 2003 and 2014, the support for gradual return to the Roma Mahalla led to a steady increase of the Roma and Ashkali population and improvements in the settlement’s infrastructure. The “Roma Mahalla” housing infrastructure comprises private single-family permanent houses, collective apartments and individual terraced houses. Access to services, electricity, water and waste collection is functional, however, due to non-payment of utility bills, utility companies have performed several collective water and electricity cuts. The functioning of the sewage system is also an issue in Roma Mahalla. The “2 Korriku/Sitničko Naselje” is located in the centre of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica South town. It is a densely populated and mixed neighbourhood, historically inhabited by the Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Ashkali communities. 34. Overall, the infrastructure and access to services in the neighbourhood is good and includes public lighting, waste disposal and collection, electricity, water and sewage network. The road infrastructure, however, is in a very poor condition. Due to damaged riverbanks and a malfunctioning sewage pipe system, the neighbourhood has also suffered from recurrent flooding from the river Sitnica—resulting in flood damage to houses and the evacuation of families.31 IV. Opinion by Human Rights Advisory Panel of UNMIK32 35. In 2008, 138 members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo who used to reside in the in northern Mitrovica/Mitrovicë since 1999 brought a case to the Human Rights Advisory Panel of UNMIK. All complainants claimed to have suffered lead poisoning and other health problems on account of the soil contamination in the camp sites due to the proximity of the camps to the Trepca smelter and mining complex and/or on account of the generally poor hygiene and living conditions in the camps. 36. In April 2016, the HRAP of UNMIK released an opinion on the case. While formulating its opinion the Panel took into account medical literature which stated that infants, children up to the age of five, and pregnant women, were at greatest risk of harm 30 31 32 Overview of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities in Kosovo, OSCE, January 2020, https://www.osce.org/mission-in-kosovo/443587?download=true. ibid. HRAP, N.M. and Others v. UNMIK, case 26/08 (26 Feb. 2016). 7