Trepča

The Trepča basin with parts of the complex

Trepča ( Albanian Trepça , with its full name Xehtaro-Metalurgjik ; Serbian - Cyrillic Трепча ) is a former industrial combine northeast of Mitrovica in Kosovo .

history

The complex began operating in 1926 under British management. It consists of mines , smelters and processing plants. Are located near larger lead - and zinc - deposits , to come silver , gold , nickel , cobalt , aluminum , iron , cadmium and chromium , as well as lignite .

In the late 1980s, Trepča employed more than 20,000 workers and employees and had factories, lands and hotels in Kosovo and beyond. During this time, the core company consistently made losses and was unable to make the necessary investments on its own. During the Kosovo war , Serbs and Albanians fought over control of the facilities. In August 2000, KFOR troops occupied the company against resistance from Serbian workers.

The lead mine and the lead smelter were closed in 2000. The area has not been redeveloped to this day.

Use as a refugee camp

In 1999 the United Nations set up the temporary refugee camps Žitkovac , Kablare and Česmin Lug on the grounds of the Trepča industrial combine . Here were Roma , Ashkali and Egyptians (RAE) accommodated, including about 300 Roma families (as of 2006). In 2001 responsibility for Česmin Lug was transferred to the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

In July and October 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that a third of the children it examined had high levels of lead in their blood. The blood of twelve children had very high levels of lead. The WHO then called for the residents to be relocated quickly.

In October 2005, the Society for Threatened Peoples sent a working group to examine blood and hair samples in the camps. In the hair samples of some children, the working group found "the highest level of lead ever detected in human hair". The Society for Threatened Peoples then raised massive allegations against the United Nations. For years, UNMIK had knowingly exposed several hundred people to extremely high levels of deadly toxic heavy metals.

In 2006, the camps were Žitkovac and Kablare closed. With the financial support of the governments of several European countries, the temporary Osterode camp was set up for its residents a few meters away from Česmin Lug - this was also contaminated. On October 8, 2010, the Česmin Lug camp was closed.