40  •  Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues “ A lack of access to personal documents perpetuates the marginalization of Roma in Ukraine, as it prevents them from accessing basic services in the areas of housing, healthcare, employment and education,” Mirjam Karoly, Chief of ODIHR’s Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues at the event on 19 and 20 November 2015 in Kyiv. non-discriminatory housing solutions for Roma. A report on the findings of the field assessment visit will be published in 2016. PROMOTING ROMA INCLUSION IN UKRAINE On 24 November 2015 in Kyiv, some 40 participants from Ukrainian national and regional authorities, Roma civil society and the international community discussed policies implemented at the regional and local levels to address the challenges faced by Roma in the areas of education, employment, housing and policing. The round-table focused on enhancing institutional co-operation and co-ordination in the implementation of national and regional action plans on the protection and integration of Roma in Ukraine and was hosted by ODIHR, in co-operation with the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. Andriy Vitrenko (l), Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine, speaking at a roundtable meeting on the situation of Roma in Ukraine, while Mirjam Karoly, ODIHR's Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues listens, in Kyiv, 24 November 2015. (Andrey Krepkih) Participants advocated for the establishment of an inter-ministerial body to work in close consultation with Roma for better co-ordination of policies for Roma integration. Following this event, on 25 November the Prime Minister signed a decree on the establishment of an inter-ministerial working group on the creation and implementation of the “Strategy on the Protection and Integration of the Roma national minority into Ukrainian Society up to 2020.” Moreover, the Action Plan to implement the Ukrainian National Human Rights Strategy, adopted in December 2015, included a revision of this strategy. Both steps are positive developments for which ODIHR has advocated. On 19 and 20 November 2015 ODIHR, in co-operation with the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, supported an event to define solutions to address problems Roma face in accessing civil registration and personal identification documents. Thirty-five participants, representing central and regional state authorities, Roma and non-Roma civil society organizations, independent experts and UNHCR representatives from the Western Balkans region, met to ex-change their experience and share working practices to overcome obstacles to recieving personal documents. The seminar resulted in a report, with recommendations, on access to identification and civil registration documents by Roma in Ukraine, in English and Ukrainian.