Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues A participant at a meeting of Roma representatives in Skopje watches a television interview on gender issues given by Nadire Selman from the former Yugoslav Republic SARAH CROZIER of Macedonia. III. Addressing social issues Roma, Sinti, and related communities face an overwhelming array of socioeconomic problems, including human trafficking, a lack of adequate housing, denial of access to quality nonsegregated education and health care, as well as problems related to traditional practices such as early marriages and the use of children in income-generating activities. While the international community has taken steps to address many of these issues, an essential factor in eventually overcoming them is the effective implementation by local authorities of existing policies and the development of capable domestic organizations that can carry on this work at the local level. Trafficking in human beings11 In 2006, the ODIHR produced a position paper outlining the issue of trafficking in human beings and its effects on Roma communities. The paper suggests that there is a need for better co-ordination between Roma and non-Roma anti-trafficking organizations and that Roma activists need to raise awareness within their commu11 For more on the ODIHR’s work in the field of anti-trafficking, see “Human Rights”, pp. 58-61. 78 Annual Report  nities about both external and internal factors that contribute to the vulnerability of Roma to trafficking. The ODIHR also organized a regional roundtable in Tirana, Albania, “Making Prevention in Trafficking in Human Beings in Roma Communities More Effective: Building Regional and Local-Level Capacity”. Anti-trafficking NGOs and Roma activists from over a dozen countries attended. To follow up on the recommendations coming out of the roundtable, the ODIHR plans to provide funding for a number of small-scale projects aimed at fostering co-operation between Roma NGOs and anti-trafficking NGOs to raise awareness and to enhance the capacity of the former to deal with trafficking in human beings in the countries of South-Eastern Europe. Poor living conditions Roma and Sinti communities continue to live in inadequate conditions in many of the countries of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. To address this issue, the ODIHR has supported a number of project initiatives on legalizing informal settlements. For example, the ODIHR commissioned a report on integrating Roma and