A police officer talks with representatives of the Roma community about their concerns, Skopje, 7 September. (OSCE/Eberhard Laue) M 49 inisterial Council Decision No. 8/09, “Enhancing OSCE Efforts to Ensure Roma and Sinti Sustainable Integration”, adopted in Athens in December 2009, focuses on enhancing OSCE efforts to ensure integration of Roma and Sinti. The Ministerial Council has tasked ODIHR, in co-operation and co-ordination with the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM), the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and other relevant OSCE executive structures, to continue to assist participating States in combating acts of discrimination and violence against Roma and Sinti, and to counter negative stereotyping of Roma and Sinti in the media. Furthermore, it tasked ODIHR, in consultation with the participating States and in close co-operation with other relevant OSCE institutions, to develop and implement projects addressing the issue of early education for Roma and Sinti. Implementing the Ministerial Council Decision will be a priority for ODIHR in 2010. ODIHR’s work in this area is also based on the Action Plan on Improving the Situation of Roma and Sinti in the OSCE region, adopted in 2003, which addresses a wide range of problems and challenges, including intolerance, exclusion, discrimination and violence against Roma and Sinti. ODIHR’s report on the implementation of the Action Plan, released in 2008, identified areas where there has been progress, but also areas where obstacles to the Plan’s implementation remain. These obstacles — sometimes the result of a lack of political will on the part of the governments in question or of insufficient financial backing for their own policies or programmes to improve the situation of Roma and Sinti ODIHR Annual Report 2009 Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues