Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues Andrzej Mirga, the head of the OSCE Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues, told the United States Helsinki Commission that serious problems continue to confront Roma and Sinti communities in Europe during a presentation in Washington, D.C., 15 February 2012. (U.S. Helsinki Commission) third “Roma Consultation Meeting”, with more than 40 Roma and Sinti women civil society representatives from across the OSCE region. The consultation meeting led to the adoption of “Warsaw Romani, Sinti and Travellers Women’s Declaration”, which highlights the vulnerable situation of Roma and Sinti women and the negative impact of government austerity measures, which may have intergenerational consequences for Roma communities, especially Roma women, by failing to improve their economic conditions. In addition, ODIHR contributed to various conferences on Roma women. In February, in a presentation at a conference on Roma women’s health in Belgrade, ODIHR highlighted the particular difficulties for Roma women in accessing health care and the need to do more to address the multiple forms of discrimination they face. On 5 September in Vienna, the ODIHR Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Issues gave the keynote speech at the OSCE expert roundtable “Women as Agents of Change in Migrant, Minority and Roma and Sinti Communities in the OSCE Area”, organized by the OSCE Gender Section. The presentation stressed that poverty, lack of education and other factors that keep Roma women dependent make them more vulnerable to discrimination, domestic violence and trafficking, recommending that participating States play a proactive role by including of gender-sensitive measures to improve the situation of Roma women. ODIHR supported the participation of a group of Roma women civil society representatives at this roundtable. On 11 and 12 October, ODIHR took part in the OSCE Conference “Alliance against Trafficking in Persons” in Vienna, where the root causes behind the vulnerability of Roma women and children to trafficking were discussed. While these factors, including poverty, social exclusion, lack of education and discrimination, may not be different from those affecting other social or ethnic groups, their scope and extent have a disproportionate impact on these communities. ODIHR also facilitated and promoted the empowerment of Roma youth. The Office funded and coorganized meeting in December with the European Roma Grassroots Organizations Network and ternYpeInternational Roma Youth Network in Brussels. The event gathered 40 Roma youth participants representing several youth networks and mainstream civil society organizations working with Roma youth. In addition, on 7 and 8 December, ODIHR contributed to a meeting of the Informal Contact Group on the Roma Youth Action Plan organized ODIHR Annual Report 2012 67