OSCE Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues Andrzej Mirga talks with residents of an informal Roma settlement during a field-assessment visit to Serbia in December. (OSCE/Mirjam Karoly) 51 implications, were the focus of an international conference in Vienna on 9 and 10 November 2009, co-organized by ODIHR, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and the HCNM. The conference facilitated discussion of a wide range of concerns, including hate-motivated incidents against Roma, racist rhetoric, pervasive discrimination, and underlying factors and reasons for migration, with a view to identifying courses of action to address the situation of Roma in the context of their migration or ability to exercise their right to freedom of movement. A side event focusing on extremism, racism and social exclusion was co-organized at the HDIM by ODIHR, Romani CRISS, a Bucharest-based NGO, and the European Roma Rights Centre, an international NGO also based in Budapest. Discussions focused on the rise of intolerance, violence and hate-motivated incidents against Roma throughout Europe. Roma and Sinti in Crisis and Post-Crisis Situations At the beginning of 2009, ODIHR provided financial support for the “International Roundtable on Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians of Kosovo: Challenges and Prospects of Sustainable Integration”, held in Prishtina, to facilitate dialogue between representatives of these communities, the authorities and international stakeholders. Seventy participants discussed challenges and prospects for the sustainable integration of voluntary ODIHR Annual Report 2009 returnees and forcibly repatriated Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians. Participants stressed the need for greater efforts to promote the sustainable economic integration of returnees and the re-integration of repatriated persons. They underlined the fact that there are currently no facilities in place to adequately receive and integrate forcibly repatriated persons, as housing and employment remain major challenges, and called upon the international community to refrain from repatriating larger numbers of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians to Kosovo. The report on the roundtable contains a set of conclusions and recommendations for the authorities and international stakeholders. In early December, ODIHR’s Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti conducted a visit to Montenegro and Serbia to assess the situation and the needs of displaced Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians. In Serbia, the Senior Adviser visited displaced Roma in collective centres and in informal settlements, focusing on the challenges faced by the residents with regard to their deplorable living conditions, obtaining personal documents and gaining access to rights and social services. In Montenegro, the Senior Adviser met with representatives of displaced Kosovo Egyptians in the Konik refugee camp, near Podgorica. Improving Access to Education One day of the HDIM was devoted to the topic of Roma and Sinti, particularly to access to early education for Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues