DEMOCRATIZATION    21 Kalle Könkkölä, Executive Director of the Threshold Association, Finland, speaking at an HDIM side-event on Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Political and Public Life in Warsaw, 20 September 2016. (OSCE/Daniel Wellman) and implementing policies, including OSCE commitments to democratic governance. Promoting the participation of persons with disabilities in political and public life 2016 marked the 10th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the 25th anniversary of the OSCE Moscow Document, which ensures the protection of the human rights of persons with disabilities and their equal opportunity to participate fully in the life of their society. While most OSCE participating States have signed or ratified the Convention, many barriers continue to prevent the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in political and public life. In 2016, ODIHR launched an inception project in order to address these challenges. This included a high-level expert seminar in Helsinki on 31 October and 1 November, bringing together some 140 participants, including disabled persons’ organizations, parliamentarians, representatives of ombuds-institutions, OSCE field operations and institutions, the Council of Europe and the UN to discuss the main challenges to participation and share good practice examples from the OSCE region. MIGRATION AND FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT Supporting responses to the migration and refugee crisis Many OSCE participating States continued to be top migration destinations, and flows of new migrants and refugees continued throughout 2016, although with some decline in numbers. Equally, protection of the rights of migrants and their integration remained a challenge in 2016, and host societies’ reception of migrants became politicised and sensitive. To discuss responses to these challenges, ODIHR organized regional discussion on developments and good practices relevant for the current context. Fifty governmental, international organization, civil society and academic experts from eight OSCE participating States exchanged ideas “ We need to increase the awareness, understanding and knowledge among citizens in our societies about persons with disabilities. It is very positive to see that ODIHR is increasingly focusing on challenges to their political participation. I am confident this will help promote these issues in OSCE participating States and within the OSCE itself.” Kalle Könkkölä, Executive Director of the Finnish Threshold Association