CONTACT POINT FOR ROMA AND SINTI ISSUES Loé Lagrange, Office Coordinator from ADC Memorial Brussels speaking at the OSCE Expert Meeting on Police and Roma and Sinti: Current Challenges and Good Practices in Building Trust and Understanding, at ODIHR in Warsaw, 8 April. OSCE/ Agnieszka Rembowska awareness about the Roma and Sinti genocide. Teaching about the persecution of Roma and Sinti in the past is key to countering the prevalent racism and discrimination these communities face today. ODIHR strengthened its engagement on this issue through active co-operation with the Committee on the Genocide of the Roma of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and by organizing the expert meeting “Teaching about the Roma and Sinti Genocide – Experiences and Good Practices within the OSCE Area”, which took place in Warsaw on 2 June. The meeting brought together participants from Roma and Sinti civil society organizations and from academia to discuss experiences and practices within the OSCE area on teaching about the Roma and Sinti genocide during the ­Second World War. Assisting the Governments of OSCE Participating States ODIHR continued to support the governments of OSCE participating States in implementing their commitments with regards to Roma and Sinti, including by promoting the key findings of the 2013 Status Report. For example, together with the Swedish Government, ODIHR promoted the “White Paper on abuses and rights violations of Roma during the 1900s – Towards a better understanding of human rights challenges faced by Roma and Sinti in Sweden” on 30 September, in Warsaw, at a side event at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. The event showcased this white paper as an example of how states can acknowledge and give official recognition to the long history of racism and discrimination against Roma and Sinti. Additionally, ODIHR facilitated a roundtable on equal access to education for Roma children in the Czech Republic, co-organized with the Ministry for Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation and the NGO Slovo 21. The roundtable took place in Prague on 29 May, as follow-up to the field assessment visit in 2012. The meeting convened 50 participants, including government officials, Roma parents, representatives from civil society and the international community, who took stock of the government initiative since 2012 and the remaining challenges to desegregating education. Access to equal, quality education for Roma and Sinti children 64 ODIHR Annual Report 2014