A panel of United
Nations human rights advisers urged the global organization
more than a year ago to publicly
apologize and compensate hundreds of ethnic Roma who were
poisoned by lead waste in decrepit camps run by its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
But it is increasingly unclear whether the Roma, also known as Gypsies, will
get even an apology.
A draft statement that would “sincerely apologize” for
the poisoning and other problems that the panel attributed to negligence by the
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, known as Unmik, has
been under revision since March, according to people in and outside the United
Nations who are knowledgeable about the deliberations.
Those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity
because they were talking about internal United Nations discussions, also said
that the precise mechanism and amount of any financial remedy, should there be
one, had not been determined.