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Depleted Uranium in Kosovo. Post-Conflict Environmental Assessmment (2001)

Auteur	UNEP
	6-05-2-20-04.pdf
Datum	maart 2001
Classificatie	6.05.2.20/04 (VERARMD URANIUM - MILITAIR - (vml) JOEGOSLAVIË)
Voorkant

Depleted Uranium in Kosovo 
Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment

Copyright © 2001, United Nations Environment Programme.

Introduction
Perhaps the most endangered natural resource in times of war is truth”,
stated the introduction of the joint UNEP/UNCHS Balkans Task Force
(BTF) report published in October 1999. For the safety of the local
population and international workers in post-conflict situations it is 
essential to obtain truthful and correct information regarding the 
environmental situation and any possible connected health risks.
Depleted uranium (DU) was one the issues that confronted us during the
environmental assessment work in the summer of 1999. As part of the BTF process,
a special international group of experts – the ‘Depleted Uranium Desk Assessment
Group’ – was established to assess the potential effects on human health and the
environment arising from the possible use of DU. At the time the Group conducted
its assessment, information on the use of depleted uranium during the Kosovo
conflict was not available to the United Nations. The Group did, however, conduct a
field mission in August 1999, during which it visited areas in and around the towns of
Pristina, Klina and Pec that might have been struck by DU ordnance. The field
mission did not find any evidence or indication of depleted uranium at the locations
visited. In preparing precautionary recommendations, the Group concluded that it
would not be meaningful to conduct further field searches for possible DU
contamination without confirmation that DU had indeed been used in Kosovo and
without data on the corresponding targeted areas.
Following a request made to NATO by the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, in October 1999, NATO confirmed in February 2000 the use
of DU during the Kosovo conflict and provided the United Nations with information
consisting of a general map indicating the areas targeted and the total number of DU
rounds fired. This information was not considered sufficient to justify a further field
mission because of the absence of detailed site coordinates.