Roma from Kosovo Forced to be Outsiders: A Decade of Exclusion (1999 - 2009)
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The Roma community, so-called gypsies, have been suffering discrimination all over Europe. However the situation of the Roma minority from Kosovo has been even more difficult after the Kosovo Conflict in 1999. This chapter analyzes the human rights situation of the Kosovo Roma community in the decade after the Humanitarian intervention by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and United Nations (1999-2009). The chapter seeks to identify the different factors which have caused the present social exclusion situation of the Roma community inside Kosovo. This chapter focuses on the actions taken by the international community, international agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the protection and integration policies towards the Roma minority as well as on the unfavourable results of policies from the most important international agencies aiming at improving the fragile situation of the Roma minority. The case study of the Mitrovica Roma internally displaced person (IDP) camp may be used as an example to highlight the negative outcomes of this situation. In this IDP camp, the Roma community has been exposed to social exclusion, and also to toxic contamination with lead. The international community, led by the United Nations, has been incapable of resolving the Roma drama.