Right now, 200 ROMA/ASHKALI CHILDREN under ten years of age are losing their lives to lead poisoning. They are living in two toxic camps, set up by the UNITED NATIONS in Kosovo, located on the largest lead mine in Europe. Despite demands by the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION, international NGOs, human rights commissioners, and many others calling for IMMEDIATE EVACUATION and MEDICAL TREATMENT, these children and their families have remained for eleven years on these deadly waste sites. After 89 deaths and children exhibiting the highest lead levels in medical literature, the UN and the Kosovo government failed to find a solution to evacuate and medically treat these children and their families. The only program now on offer is a long-term resettlement plan that will only contribute in the meantime to more miscarriages, irreversible brain damage, and death.
GUARDIAN REPORT "LIFE UNDER THE TOXIC MOUNTAIN"
However, we believe there is a precedent and a solution. In 1999, the United States government airlifted more than 7,000 Kosovo Albanians to Fort Dix, NJ, (the largest military base in the USA) to save them from the war. Today the United States base at Camp Bondsteel is the largest military and medical facility in Kosovo, and now that most of the soldiers have been withdrawn, there is ample space for these very sick children and their families to be housed and medically treated while their resettlement is underway.
Video and written materials are available via these links:
BBC REPORT "KOSOVO TOXIC CAMPS"
www.toxicwastekills.com/
As citizens from around the world, we, the undersigned call on you as a parent and a humanitarian to use your authority to save the lives of these forgotten children and their families today by moving them from their toxic and life-threatening Kosovo refugee camp environment into Camp Bondsteel for proper medical treatment for lead poisoning.
Such action on your part will not only support the US, EU and Kosovo government plan for a long term resettlement, but by preventing further child deaths and miscarriages, greatly enhance the international reputation of the United States by saving the lives of these highly endangered Roma/Ashkali children.
