TOLERANCE AND NON-DISCRIMINATION Albania’s Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, speaks at the opening session of the 2013 High-Level Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination in Tirana, Albania, 21 May 2013. (USOSCE/Colin Peters) for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Awareness raising In order to support the implementation of relevant commitments, ODIHR made presentations on tolerance and non-discrimination in Brussels, Paris, Oslo, Trakai (Lithuania), Warsaw, Vienna and Yerevan. These presentations are designed to raise the awareness of authorities, criminal-justice officials and non-governmental organizations and to inspire them to use a comprehensive approach in dealing with hate crimes. Participants also learned about various methods to respond to hate crimes, ODIHR’s programmes and how they can make use of ODIHR’s tools. In collaboration with the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, ODIHR organized a roundtable discussion on combating racism and xenophobia against asylum-seekers and refugees in Europe on 19 November in Strasbourg. A high-level conference on tolerance and non-discrimination, including human rights youth education on tolerance and non-discrimination, took place in Tirana on 21 and 22 May 2013. The conference provided an opportunity to review and assess progress achieved in implementing commitments on tolerance and non-discrimination. More than 200 representatives from participating States, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and OSCE institutions and field operations attended. Much of the conference was devoted to exchanging information on initiatives to address intolerance and discrimination. A robust hate crime and anti-discrimination framework was mentioned as a prerequisite for effective action by criminal-justice systems and governments. Many conference participants expressed the view that comprehensive and integrative educational initiatives are the only sustainable strategy for eradicating the root causes of intolerance and discrimination. The OSCE’s experience in mainstreaming human rights education in conflict prevention and resolution was a particular point of emphasis. 54  /   ODIHR Annual Report 2013