Overview  •  7 Within its mandates both to support Roma and Sinti inclusion and to promote remembrance as a tool to counter intolerance and to protect, promote and defend human rights and fundamental freedoms in today’s world, ODIHR published Teaching about and Commemorating the Roma and Sinti Genocide. The launch event in April brought together over 60 educators, researchers, historians, Roma and Sinti civil society to explore the link between history and present and the potential of history education for promoting non-discrimination and equality for Roma and Sinti. OSCE participating States in Europe experienced unprecedented inflows of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, generating significant pressure on migration and asylum systems across the continent. An estimated 1 million refugees and migrants from North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia – about one-third of whom are women and children, including unaccompanied minors – crossed into OSCE region in 2015. Many of them are believed to be fleeing war, violence and persecution in their countries of origin in search of international protection. The International Organization for Migration estimated that 3,771 refugees and migrants died during their journey to Europe during the year. As part of the OSCE's comprehensive response to the migration and refugee crisis, in November ODIHR organized an expert meeting on the migration crisis in the OSCE region about safeguarding rights of asylum seekers, refugees and other persons in need of protection. Throughout 2015, the Office held multiple workshops to share good practices in migrant integration and meetings to discuss the impact of the crisis on relations between local communities and migrants and refugees, as well as continually monitoring the situation. In all these endeavours, and many others, throughout 2015, ODIHR showcased its firm commitment to its mandate and role in promoting the human dimension of security, especially during times of crisis, by supporting the work of governments and civil society. The following pages present a more complete description of all we did throughout the year, with special attention to our work in response to the migrant crisis and that in and around Ukraine. I hope this annual report gives you a better understanding of the many ways this Office worked to serve the people of the OSCE in 2015, by supporting the implementation of their governments’ human dimension commitments. Michael Georg Link Director OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Ivica Dačič (l), OSCE Chairperson in Office and Foreign Minister of Serbia and Michael Georg Link (c), Director of OSCE/ODIHR, listening to Grzegorz Schetyna, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, during his opening address at 2015 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw, 21 September 2015 Piotr Markowski