ANNUAL REPORT 2003 Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues based on common traditions and shared experiences. It is Bulgaria, and to make it available to the next generation of actively engaged in brokering agreements between different Roma leaders and activists. The Contact Point is also forming Roma or Roma-related groups and their organizations, in- a Regional Task Force on Roma Gender Issues, made up of a cluding on electoral coalitions and joint policy platforms. team of experts that will organize public debate on issues related to the rights of Roma women and their participation in In this context, the Contact Point assembled a meeting in political life. February, together with Albanian authorities, the OSCE Presence in Albania, and the Council of Europe, in Elbasan, Al- Confidence-building and non-discrimination bania, on “Policy-making on Roma and Egyptians in Albania, focusing on education and the protection of children’s rights The Contact Point has also been focusing on ensuring equal in multi-ethnic communities”. This meeting enabled similar access for Roma to housing and legal residence, which is a communities to share experience and to find common ap- prerequisite for access to public services and civil rights, such proaches to their shared hardships. As one outcome of the as the right to vote. In this context, the Contact Point is cur- meeting, the Albanian Government adopted in May a new rently working on a compilation of cases of discrimination national strategy for Roma communities, which was the against Roma in the public domain. In the longer term, the focus of much of the meeting’s discussion and ideas. A creation of a database is planned that will include anti-dis- Roma working group formed at this meeting partnered with crimination legislation, institutional enforcement arrange- Albanian authorities on the national strategy. This working ments, and relevant case law. The development of such a re- group continued to consolidate its constituency and capaci- source is hoped to provide a valuable resource for Roma ty and conducted activities throughout 2003 in partnership institutions and communities. In 2003, the Contact Point with such institutions as the Council of Europe and the began gathering information on relevant legislation and prac- World Bank, as well as NGOs tices in OSCE participating States. In co-operation with the ODIHR’s Legislationline project, this collection of documents will be available to the broader public in the course of 2004. Special focus on Roma women Within Roma communities, women generally tend to be par- 3. Promoting international co-ordination and representation ticularly disadvantaged. With this in mind, the Contact Point has adopted a special mentor programme focused on the empowerment of Roma women. A number of experienced Roma women activists were tasked by the ODIHR as early as 2001 with passing on their expertise to groups of young International Contact Group on Roma Issues women active in NGOs working on Roma issues. Many of these women remained in touch with one another and with The Contact Point initiated the creation of an informal Inter- the ODIHR throughout last year and attended the 2003 national Contact Group on Roma Issues in 2000. The Contact Human Dimension Seminar on the participation of women Group brings together officials and contact points working on in political and economic life. The Contact Point arranged a Roma issues in international organizations, including the side event at this meeting where a recently formed interna- OSCE, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. It tional network of Roma women presented its agenda to a meets at least twice a year, often on the sidelines of relevant wider audience of women's-rights activists and representa- working-group meetings of the European Council, to improve tives of national governments. This reflects the general ap- co-ordination on Roma issues between the respective organi- proach of the Contact Point to increasingly use know-how zations. In 2003, the newly approved OSCE Action Plan for that already exists among Roma themselves, in particular in Improvement of the Situation of Roma and Sinti in the OSCE more-advanced communities such as those in Romania and Area tasked the Contact Point with continued facilitation, as 65