CONTACT POINT FOR ROMA AND SINTI ISSUES Assisting governments in policy implementation relating to Roma and Sinti As follow-up to ODIHR’s assistance to the Moldovan authorities in 2011 and 2012 in developing and implementing the country’s Roma Action Plan, ODIHR supported the Moldovan Bureau for Interethnic Relations in implementing key activities of the Action Plan. Following a needs assessment and consultation visit conducted by ODIHR, a seminar to help build the capacity of the Moldovan Inter-ministerial working Group for Roma was organized by the Bureau for Interethnic Relations, under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office and with ODIHR support. The seminar provided comprehensive training on developing and applying monitoring and data-collection instruments, planning and evaluation, and building co-operation with civil society and the Roma community. In addition, ODIHR launched the Police and Roma and Sinti manual, together with the General Police Inspectorate and Roma National Center of Moldova, implementing one key activity of the Action Plan. The launch event was followed by a training seminar for more than 20 police officers serving in Roma-populated areas. ODIHR also supported the study Roma, Sinti, Bosha and Lyuli in Central Asia and Transcaucasia, authored by two experts from the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies and Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Marking International Roma Day on 8 April, ODIHR, in co-operation with the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights and the Mahindra Humanities Center and the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, held the conference “Realizing Roma Rights: Addressing Violence, Discrimination and Segregation in Europe”. The conference brought together international experts from government, civil society and academia. Increased co-operation with intergovernmental and international organizations In 2013, ODIHR continued to strengthen ties with other international organizations. The Office met with the European Commission’s General Justice Directorate in Brussels, focusing on topics such as school segregation and special schools education in the context of the implementation of the EU’s Racial Equality Directive, anti-Roma rhetoric and extremism, and opportunities under the 2013 Year of European Citizenship. ODIHR was also involved in the 8th Roma Platform, organized on 27 June in Brussels by the European Commission, and participated at the 4th International Roma Women‘s Conference “Acting Now for an Equal Future”, organized in Helsinki. ODIHR also contributed expertise to an expert meeting on policing in Roma communities organized by the Geneva-based Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces/Police Cooperation Convention Secretariat. ODIHR continued to co-operate closely with other OSCE structures. Representatives from the Office met representatives from the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities in The Hague to discuss the 2013 Status Report, the Zagreb Declaration the Sarajevo Process and the situation in Czech Republic, as well as police and Roma issues. Speakers at the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on Implementation of the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti, Vienna, 7 and 8 September 2013. (USOSCE/Colin Peters) ODIHR Annual Report 2013  /   65