Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues education projects within these communities and to ensure voter registration for the general elections in Kosovo at the end of 2007. ODIHR co-operates with other international organizations in order to share expertise and to avoid the duplication of activities. Such coordination is important to ensure that initiatives have as great an impact as possible. ODIHR has enjoyed long-term co-operation with the Council of Europe, which continued in 2007. For example, ODIHR funded the establishment of a website on Roma and Sinti and the Holocaust, and the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner made the keynote address during the special day on Roma at the HDIM. ODIHR’s Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues participated throughout the year in the high-level group on social inclusion of ethnic minorities, which was established by the European Commission’s Directorate-General on Employment in 2006. The group’s report was released at the beginning of December. Combating trafficking in human beings ODIHR’s specific role in the fight against human trafficking among Roma and Sinti populations lies mainly in supporting NGOs working in this field in countries where this problem is prevalent. This support can take a variety of forms, including the implementation of research and other projects; facilitating NGO participation at OSCE human dimension meetings, where they have an opportunity to share their work with participating States and others interested in trafficking-related issues; or through the provision of expertise and technical support. ODIHR provided support for the implementation of a number of small-scale projects in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Romania. The purpose of these projects was to raise awareness among Roma communities of the issue of trafficking in human beings and sarah Crozier V. Co-operation with international organizations and NGOs exploitation of children, both in countries of origin and in countries of destination. These grassroots initiatives also had several secondary goals, including building the capacity of Roma NGOs and creating or improving partnerships with local authorities and national anti-trafficking networks. ODIHR facilitated the attendance of several NGOs working with Roma communities at the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in October on “Combating the Sexual Exploitation of Children”. The organizations in question work with Roma to address the factors that often make people vulnerable to trafficking. Their participation at the SHDM gave them an opportunity to share the results of their work with governments and others working in this field, as well as to make recommendations for initiatives in this area. During the summer of 2007, ODIHR made a field visit to Rome, where several meetings were held with NGOs working with Roma and Sinti children who have been victims of trafficking. In addition, camps with Roma and Sinti, with both legal and illegal residency status, were visited. Such visits provide ODIHR with information needed to better target its assistance to participating States. Annual Report 2007 Hungarian Member of the European Parliament Viktoria Mohacsi speaks about Roma issues at the 2007 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. 65

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