[ Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues ] Participants from the Roma Youth Network TERNYPE at the ODIHR organized seminar “The Roma and Sinti Genocide: Memory, Identity and Present-day Racism”, 1 August 2011, Krakow, Poland. (OSCE) Genocide: Memory, Identity and Present-day Racism” on 1 August in Krakow to provide a forum for discussions on the Roma genocide in Auschwitz-Birkenau and on ways to combat modern forms of racism and discrimination. The seminar was attended by historians, survivors and more than 90 young Roma from throughout Europe. As in the previous year, ODIHR put special emphasis on empowering Roma youth and supporting the Roma youth network Ternype. At the same event, ODIHR, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, launched a website dedicated to the Roma genocide (http://www.romagenocide.org/). The website serves as a virtual library on the Roma genocide, providing information on publications, curricula, teaching materials, textbooks, places of remembrance and innovative practices introduced by government ministries, civil society, international organizations, museums and schools. ODIHR also actively contributed to an expert meeting on the development of teaching materials on the Roma genocide organized by the Anne Frank House on 19 and 20 June in Amsterdam. The Office also participated in the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research, sharing information on ODIHR’s activities in this area and highlighting the importance of education on and commemoration of the Roma genocide. Empowerment of Roma and Sinti representatives To build capacity among Roma civil society, ODIHR provided training on combating hate crimes for more than 25 Roma and civil society actors from various OSCE participating States, from 13 to 17 April in ­Warsaw. ODIHR also conducted training on combating hate crimes for Roma civil society from 13 to 15 July in Rome. The Office continued its dialogue with Roma and Sinti civil society and hosted the second “Roma Consultation Meeting” in Warsaw on 4 October, prior to the Special Day on Roma and Sinti. The meeting, which was attended by more than 45 Roma and Sinti representatives from the OSCE region, focused on how these communities can actively participate in policy implementation and respond to current human rights challenges. On the Special Day on Roma and Sinti, civil society organizations from these communities issued a joint statement emphasizing the urgent need to address increasing anti-Roma rhetoric and the actions of extremists by unequivocally denouncing acts of violence and hatred, prosecuting the perpetrators of these acts and providing assistance to victims. ODIHR further supported the Campaign Preventing and Combating the Practice of Early Marriage, ODIHR Annual Report 2011 65