Parkland - extract from the book "Un-leaded blood" by Paul Polansky

(Picture by Human Rights Watch)

“My youngest child was very sick... always vomiting... took her to have a blood test... more lead than the machine could register... didn't want my kid to die like Jenita... her death destroyed her mother's soul... nobody offered to help... nobody offered to take my kid to Belgrade to get treated... when I saw my kid almost dying I got the bus from Mitrovica straight to Belgrade... doctors saw my kid was dying... took her, but wouldn't let me stay with her... I was seven months pregnant... ended up living in a city park, on the streets... when I had to give birth didn't have one dinar to go to hospital... gave birth in the park... several Serbian women gathered round me... one was a midwife... helped me a lot... when my new baby was only three days old, decided I couldn't stay anymore in the park ... didn't have any money to pay for a bus ticket back to the camp... also didn't have much milk to feed my new baby... I wasn't eating enough... only once a day... sent all my kids out to beg, to make money to buy bus tickets back to Mitrovica... was dangerous... every one of my kids was beaten up by the Serbian police... didn't want any Roma begging in Belgrade... stopped spending money on food... didn't eat anything, not even me who had to feed a three-day-old baby... knew then I had made a big mistake bringing all my children with me... finally got enough money to buy the bus tickets... filled up some bottles with water... made our way back to Zvechen... came back to our poor little shack in the camp, but that was better than living on the street... that time I spent in Belgrade was very hard... very bad for every member of my family... every day we were eating just bread from the garbage cans... every night we were hungry and tired from walking around the city all day looking for garbage cans... I'll never forget this, never in my life... never found out if the doctors in Belgrade cured my kid... they'd only let me see her just 10 minutes a day... I'd like to go there again... my new kid, born in the Belgrade park, is now sick from the lead... I'm four months pregnant... I don't want the baby I'm carrying to get it too... I'm the most worried mother in camp... no one cares about us... what should I do?”

Mirsada Nishlija, Zitkovac IDP camp

Human Rights Watch/Amnesty International: Investigate Attacks on Roma

Press release on http://www.roma-kosovoinfo.com:

"Kosovo and international authorities should act in concert to halt the recent wave of attacks and harassment targeting Roma communities, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The action should include both speedy investigations leading to identification and prosecution of the perpetrators and measures to prevent any future attacks.

The attacks were initially reported in the Kosovo Roma media in mid-August, 2009. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, in cooperation with Roma nongovernmental organizations, have worked since then to document the incidents and the responses made by the authorities.

"These incidents underscore how vulnerable the Roma in Kosovo remain," said Wanda Troszczynska-van Genderen, Western Balkans researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The only way to stop these attacks is for both Kosovo and international police and prosecutors to make it clear that they will bring the perpetrators to justice.""

a set on flickr with pictures of Cesmin Lug...

Photo Sandro Weltin/ © Council of Europe

"The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, visited the Mitrovica camps of Cesmin Lug and Osterode in March 2009. He was struck both by the very poor conditions in which these families live, and the extremely serious health hazards which they face on a daily basis by simple virtue of the fact that they are living in a lead-contaminated area.
The Commissioner has called the situation a humanitarian disaster and medical emergency and appeals to the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo* (UNMIK) for an immediate and determined response."

not quite enough

200 € are not enough to realize that exhibition in order to raise more funds.

Help "a forgotten promise"!
With a donation of 10€ from each of you, the project is save.
make short stop and think about: for what capriccios do you spend 10€? A Wiesn-Mass? Your lunch? Go to the movies and drink a beer afterwards?

Germany is sending back Roma refugees to Kosovo - hate crimes against Roma in Europe

The following article about racist violence and the deportation of Roma refugees from Germany and other european countries appeared in the german newspaper TAZ on wednesday, 16 of september 2009: http://www.taz.de/1/politik/europa/artikel/1/der-hass-auf-die-roma/

UN's toxic shame pt. 3

well, the last part of the tv-documentation about Mitrovica's Roma Camps:

romarights.wordpress.com

Chachipe goes back to the launch, in December 2007, of an internet platform providing regular information about the situation of Kosovo Roma. Against the background of fears of renewed violence in the context of the pending declaration of Kosovo’s independence, their aim was to highlight the concerns of the Roma and to prevent eventual abuse. At the same time, they wanted to mobilise against forced repatriations of Roma to Kosovo in the aftermath of Kosovo’s independence. For that purpose, they created an online archive with the most recent documents and reports relating to human and minority rights in Kosovo.*
(*text from the site www.romarights.wordpress.com)

Please support A forgotten promise

Thanks to all of you who made a donation! We need a little more money to produce the benefit exhibition in november. Our donations account: Florian Bachmeier – A forgotten promise, Sparkasse Schliersee, Konto-Nr.: 12017216, BLZ 711 525 70

Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker

Campaign for the improvement of the living conditions of Roma in the camps of Osterode and Cesmin Lug on the website of the NGO "Gesellschaft für Bedrohte Völker":
http://www.gfbv.de/inhaltsDok.php?id=1577

More information:
Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker
Postfach 2024
D-37010 Göttingen
Tel.: +49-551-49906-0
Fax: +49-551-58028

UN's toxic shame pt. 2

UN's toxic shame pt. 1

(picture: SBS)

"If there is one group of people who always seem to get the proverbial pointy end of the stick, it's Europe's gypsies - or Roma - as they're otherwise known. They've been harassed and reviled in pretty much every country they've gone to. Recently reporter Amos Roberts was in Kosovo, where he unearthed a particularly shameful story about the shabby treatment of these unfortunate folk and their families." (SBS Dateline)

In April 2009 the Australian TV-Station SBS Dateline broadcasted this video about "UN's toxic shame", concerning the Roma suffering from lead pollution in Mitrovica.

You may watch the video via the SBS-Homepage or directly on a forgotten promise:

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News via "Toxic Waste Kills"

26th August 2009: WHO Head in Serbia and the Head of the WHO Anti-lead team call for immediate evacuation and destruction of the camps during meetings with the Kosovo Minister of Health, the Kosovo government, UNMIK, KAAD, the camp administrators, Mercy Corps, Institute of Health in both N and S Mitrovica. As at least 11 Roma families relocate to S Mahalla, most vacant dwellings are immediately occupied by returning Roma families from Serbia, without any action being taken by the Kosovo government or the camp administrators to prevent this from happening.

On "Toxic Waste Kills" you get the latest news about the tragic situation in Mitrovica

Lead Pollution in China

Mitrovica's Kids are not the the only ones suffering from lead pollution. In the last days a chinese company, that caused the saturnalism-syndrom in the bodies of over 2000 kids was closed after massive attacks in the media:

Help "a forgotten promise" to get more attention in the public via the media. Beijing is just the perfect example, how things can be changed.


Picture: rtr

Tausende Kinder mit Bleivergiftung
Von Bernhard Bartsch, 21.08.09,
Weil chinesische Hüttenwerke Umweltauflagen ignorierten, sind in China viele Kinder im Umkreis der Betriebe an einer Bleivergiftung erkrankt. Die Staatsmedien rechnen mit einer Vervielfachung der Opferzahlen.
Ein Mädchen aus Wugang in der chinesischen Provinz Hunan zeigt ein Blatt mit ihren Untersuchungsergebnissen. Viele Kinder in China leiden unter erhöhten Bleikonzentrationen im Blut.

Read more: http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1246883807343.shtml

Claims of Human Rights Watch - concerning donors

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.



http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/kosovo0609webwcover_0.pdf