Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues which could be compared to media behaviour during the genocide of Jews and Roma and Sinti during World War II. The report is scheduled for release in 2006. Discrimination at the hands of the police is another area of concern, particularly since the police should protect Roma and Sinti communities and ensure their equal treatment under the law. Roma and Sinti representatives continue to report frequent instances of police brutality, a lack of police intervention to protect Roma and Sinti victims, and continued mistrust between the police and their communities. The ODIHR organized workshops in Poland, Romania, and Russia for high-level law enforcement officials and Roma and Sinti NGOs to support the respective states in undertaking an assessment of their policing practices in relation to international human rights standards, focusing on the practices of law enforcement bodies towards Roma and Sinti communities. By promoting consultation with Roma and Sinti communities, this initiative aims to foster institutional change within the police forces in these countries and to assist in transforming the police into a provider of protection and prevention services. The ODIHR intends to extend this initiative to other countries in South-Eastern Europe. II. Addressing social issues Roma, Sinti, and related communities face an overwhelming array of social problems, including a lack of adequate housing, denial of access to education and health care, an increase in trafficking in human beings, as well as problems related to centuries-old traditions, such as early marriages and the use of children for incomegenerating activities. While the international community has taken steps to address many of these issues, an essential factor in eventually overcoming them is the development of capable domestic organizations that can carry on this work at the local level. Such organizations exist, but they often lack awareness of the complexity of the issues they face, or they simply do not have the resources to combat them adequately. 76 The ODIHR’s strategy has been to conduct activities that help these organizations and individual activists achieve better results, first by ensuring that they are better prepared to face the difficult tasks at hand. One of the first steps is to make sure that community activists are armed with sufficient knowledge of the problems they face. The ODIHR does this by organizing local and regional meetings where both international and domestic organizations can gather and exchange knowledge and best practices on a range of issues. In 2005, for example, the ODIHR presented the findings of an ODIHR-sponsored regional roundtable held in Belgrade in October 2004 on trafficking in human beings in Roma and Sinti communities. Recommendations put forward from these findings include the need for better co-ordination among Roma and non-Roma anti-trafficking organizations and for Roma activists to raise awareness within their communities of some of the internal factors that can make Roma and Sinti vulnerable to trafficking in human beings, such as early marriages and child begging. In addition, it was recommended that OSCE participating States include ethnicity when compiling statistics on trafficking in order to better target preventative action, and to include Roma in this research and analysis process. The Office commissioned a report through a Roma non-governmental organization to evaluate protection measures for unaccompanied minors, in particular those who have been victims of trafficking who are then repatriated from European Union member states to Romania. Its recommendations emphasize the need to incorporate specific support mechanisms for unaccompanied minors into Romania’s social-service structures. In addition, a project was launched in cooperation with a Roma NGO representing traditional Roma communities to encourage discussion on early marriages within these communities. Emphasis was placed on protecting the rights of children and identifying ways to maintain traditions while observing the rule of law. ANNUAL REPORT 2005