Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues education, calling on participating States to provide for equal access and to promote early education for Roma and Sinti children as an instrument for the prevention of social exclusion and marginalization, and to effect a long-term improvement in the situation for these communities. Active follow-up on the Decision will be a priority for ODIHR in 2009. The CPRSI provided support for a survey conducted in Bulgaria between May and August, focusing on access to early education for Roma children in small towns and villages in northeastern and south-eastern Bulgaria. The survey identified the main obstacles faced by Roma families and communities trying to ensure access to pre-school education for their children. A brochure in Bulgarian was produced based on the survey’s findings, and included a set of recommendations addressed to the authorities and policy-makers responsible for ensuring access to early and primary education. In 2008, ODIHR also provided support to the Project on Ethnic Relations, an NGO, in the organization of a series of roundtables focusing on the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (RAE) in Kosovo and their sustainable integration there and in other host countries. The first roundtable, held on 22 October 2008 in Vienna, provided an opportunity to bring together representatives of RAE communities to speak directly with authorities in Kosovo. One point emphasized at the roundtable was that forced return to their former areas of residence would not be conducive to the integration of these communities. The UNHCR called on the relevant authorities to focus on voluntary, informed and assisted return in order to make integration sustainable. Participants encouraged host countries to regulate the status of members of these communities and to try to raise their living standards wherever they are. The importance of better consultation with the government and civil society in Kosovo prior to any returns was also stressed. Participation in political life is central to full integration into public life and, although there has been an increase in participation by Roma 60 Annual Report 2008 and Sinti in recent years, both as voters and as candidates, this remains disproportionately low across the OSCE region. This is particularly the case for Romani women and young people. ODIHR continues to support and encourage Roma and Sinti to take part in electoral processes and make informed choices. The Office supported Yurom Centar, an NGO in Belgrade, and Luludi, an organization in Skopje focusing on the situation of Roma women and children there, in conducting information and voter education campaigns for Roma communities in Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, respectively, including the distribution of flyers and posters related to voting procedures, the organization of community meetings and roundtables, and ‘get out to vote’ radio broadcasts at the local level. ODIHR also provided support for a research project by Geordie Onlus, an Italian NGO, analysing social integration pathways for Roma and Sinti in Rome and the impact produced on their lives and conditions by policies implemented over the last 10 years. The study to be based on the research will describe good practices and lessons learned in this area, and will include a set of recommendations for the relevant authorities to assist them in their efforts to integrate these communities. III. Combating racism and discrimination ODIHR provided support to the Ion Cioaba Foundation, a Roma social and cultural organization in Romania, for the production of a book about the Roma deported to Transdniestria during World War II. The experience of Roma under the regime of Ion Antonescu during the war and the effects of the deportation have received very little recognition in Romania, with few works of literature or history portraying the Roma wartime experience. The book is of particular importance to education and raising awareness about the historical context of the challenges faced by this community today. Another project, in the form of research by the Sociology Department of Barcelona University on the current situation of Roma migrants