More action is needed to end discrimination against Europe's Roma, states are told at OSCE meeting

VIENNA, 10 July 2008 - An OSCE meeting on improving the integration of Roma and Sinti opened today in Vienna with calls to participating States to step up their efforts to end widespread discrimination.

The two-day meeting, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Finnish OSCE Chairmanship, brings together more than 200 participants from across the OSCE region to discuss the role of local authorities in integrating Roma and examine good practices at the municipal level. Special focus will be placed on ways to improve equal access of Roma to education and social services.

"All too often, states develop policy initiatives at the national level, without ensuring commensurate impact at the regional and local level within the targeted communities," said Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, the ODIHR Director.

He added that the exclusion and discrimination of Roma has negative repercussions on societies as a whole. "We have seen evidence of such spill-over, and sadly very recently so, in several places in Europe," he said.

OSCE participating States adopted an Action Plan in 2003 to address the challenges faced by Roma and Sinti populations.

Sarita Friman-Korpela, Secretary-General of the Finnish Advisory Board and Representative of the Finnish Chairmanship, underlined that improving the situation of Roma is above all a human rights concern.

She called the OSCE Action Plan a "milestone" in the Organization's efforts to promote integration of Roma and Sinti. But she also stressed that "much more implementation work" was needed to bring genuine improvements down to the local level, in areas such as education, housing and health care.

Earlier today, Roma civil society representatives said in a joint statement that they were "deeply concerned" about the rise of violent forms of intolerance targeting Roma and Sinti communities in the OSCE region, and called on heads of states, senior government officials, politicians and community leaders to unequivocally condemn such acts.

A photo exhibition on Roma in Finland is on display in the Hofburg Conference Centre during the meeting.