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Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Report of the World Health Organization Depleted Uranium Mission to Kosovo

Auteur	WHO
	6-05-2-20-10.pdf
Datum	januari 2001
Classificatie	6.05.2.20/10 (VERARMD URANIUM - MILITAIR - (vml) JOEGOSLAVIË)
Voorkant

Report of the World Health Organization
Depleted Uranium Mission to Kosovo

Undertaken at the request of the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
22 to 31 January 2001

1. Background to the Mission
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) received a request for
assistance from the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The request
appealed to WHO ‘to send public health experts to assist in monitoring any possible
health consequences of the use of depleted uranium among the civilian population.’
Accordingly, WHO responded positively to this request, and assembled a mission to
travel to Kosovo comprising a team of four specialists. The team members arrived in
Prishtinë/Pristina on 22 January 2001 and began their work immediately. In addition to
the specialists that comprised the WHO Depleted Uranium Mission, additional assistance
was provided by WHO staff based in Kosovo as part of the long-running WHO
Humanitarian Assistance Programme.
The composition of the mission and the terms of reference are presented in Appendix 1.
The purpose of the mission from the outset was to assimilate the information and
opinions presented to it from all interested parties within Kosovo. The mission team has
been conscious of the recent intense international interest in depleted uranium and the
desire of UNMIK to institute prompt action, if and where needed. Therefore, in the
limited time available, strenuous efforts have been made to consider all of the
quantitative and qualitative information within Kosovo presented to the mission team
members. Information from Kosovo sources has been supplemented with authoritative
knowledge gathered from the international medical, scientific and environmental
literature and organizations and WHO personnel outside of Kosovo.
In the time available, the mission endeavoured to be as comprehensive as possible in its
assessment of health issues relevant to Kosovo. In this respect the mission is confident
that the assessments made and the advice given to UNMIK are practical and relevant.
The main thrust of the WHO assistance to UNMIK has been a fact-finding and
assessment mission. This was determined to be the most expeditious way to assist
UNMIK. No new environmental sampling was conducted. Instead, those who have
undertaken environmental sampling in the recent past, such as the United Nations
Environment Programme’s (UNEP's) Balkans Task Force, have co-operated and
supported the work of WHO.
The mission focused solely on the Kosovo geographical area and endeavoured to use the
UN adopted names for all villages and towns.