Informal Contact Group Meeting Council of Europe Strasbourg, 29 June 2012 Reference documents submitted by International Organisation participating

in the Informal Contact Group Council of Europe: On 22 September 2011 the Summit of Mayors on Roma, organized by the Congress of Local and Regional authorities and the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General for Roma issues, adopted a final declaration, which under point 9 recognizes the need to pursue cooperation between municipalities and regions in Europe by supporting the proposal to establish a European Alliance of Cities and Regions for Roma Inclusion. Since the Summit of Mayors on Roma in September 2010, the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and the SRSG worked to set up an Alliance of European Cities and Regions for Roma inclusion. The preparatory process for setting-up such a cooperation framework is currently underway under the auspices of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in close co-operation with the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General for Roma Issues. The Alliance will be a flexible framework for cooperation among local and regional authorities, focusing on practical and result-oriented capacity-building action for effective Roma inclusion. The idea is to help cities and regions increase their capacities for Roma inclusion in providing advice and/or practical support, informing on policies and sources of funding, and exchanging experiences and practices. The added value will be learning from others, strengthening capacities and influencing policies. Its activities will be concrete and field-oriented, focusing on identified priority issues and needs. They may cover thematic issues such as, among others, education, housing, health care and employment, as well as cross-cutting issues such as empowerment and participation, access to public services and funding, rights and duties. The Congress and the SRSG Roma Support Team plan to convene a stakeholders meeting in September, with the members of the "core group", a selection of cities and regions and networks and organisations likely to become partners of the Alliance in its action. As far as the CAHROMs work (Ad hoc Committee of Experts on Roma), the next meeting is scheduled 28-30 November in Strasbourg.

Following its new working methods, the Committee has started with the preparation of thematic reports. So far, thematic reports covered the following issues: school drop-out and absenteeism of Roma children; the role of central, local and regional authorities in implementing national inclusion policies for Roma; and social housing for Roma.

The Committee decided to prepare new thematic reports in the following subjects: halting sites and related issues concerning nomadic Roma and Travellers; special schools for Roma; and school drop-out and absenteeism of Roma girls.

As far as the ROMED programme (training of Roma Mediators) the CoE continues to organise events in the original 15 member countries to the programme. Five new countries have been added (Albania, Belgium, Portugal, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom). For a list of activities planned in the second semester, please refer to the tables which will be distributed at the meeting. A Conference on Roma Mediators, organized by the EU, in collaboration with the SRSG Support Team for Roma Issues will probably be organized next 3-6 December in Brussels. The Roma Support Team will also be organizing the following events: Roma Womens International Conference preparatory meeting 5-6 October, hosted by the Romanian Government.

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights: State of play of FRA Roma Programme June-December 2012 The Agencys Multi-annual Roma Programme was developed in response to the European Commission Communication of 5 April 2011 and in close cooperation with the ECs Roma Task Force, in which the FRA participates. It focuses on: 1. Expanding research work to cover EU Member States not covered by the 2011 survey; 2. Conducting regular surveys and research to measure progress concerning the respect of fundamental rights, and the situation in employment, education, healthcare and housing; 3. Working with EU Member States to develop monitoring methods which can provide a comparative analysis of the situation of Roma across Europe. 1. Expanding research to EU MSs not included in the survey (2012 2013) In May 2012 the Agency together with the European Commission, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank released the first results of their

combined surveys, available at https://fra.europa.eu/fraWebsite/attachments/FRA-2012-Romaat-a-glance_EN.pdf. Following the publication of the survey results the FRA analysed information collected by its FRANET network of national focal points on data availability in 15 EU Member States (AT, BE, CY, DK, EE, FI, DE, IE, LV, LT, LU, NL, SI, SE, UK) and HR. In June 2012 based on this analysis the FRA started collecting existing secondary official and unofficial data on the situation of Roma in education, housing, employment and health. The results will be in the public domain in 2013. At the end of 2012 the FRA plans to publish a report based on the survey findings on education and the technical report with detailed information on the survey methodology. 2. Conduct surveys and research to measure progress (2012 2020) From 2012 to 2020, the FRA will report annually to the European Commission based on data systematically collected across the EU through multiple research methods on the outcome of Roma integration efforts. The data that will be collected and analysed in combination are: (1) Primary statistical data: in 2011 these were collected through the pilot Roma survey. This survey will be repeated in two successive waves in 2014/15 (mid-term of Europe 2020 process) and in 2018/19 (end of Europe 2020 process). These surveys allow the collection of data that are directly comparable, as they apply the same methodology in every Member State, on the socio-economic characteristics and life experiences of respondents. (2) Primary qualitative data: these will be collected from 2013 onwards through fieldwork research. They will provide a better understanding of the factors influencing the current socioeconomic situation and the life experiences of respondents, as well as their attitudes, perceptions, values and views. They will also provide valuable information on what works best in the implementation of local action plans and why. The research will apply robust and tested research methods engaging directly with local communities, as well as public, and in particular local, authorities in selected areas across the EU. (3) Mapping of available official and unofficial data sources: this will show what knowledge is available at national level, regional and local level and how existing data compare to data produced by EU level research directly managed by FRA. 3. Working with EU Member States to develop monitoring methods and tools From 2012 to 2020, the FRA in close collaboration with the European Commission and Member States, and engaging other key actors, will identify data gaps - see previous activity 2 (3) and assist Member States to develop data collection methodologies, indicators and benchmarks that can enable them to monitor effectively the outcome of policy measures. In December 2011 the FRA hosted a first exploratory meeting with the National Contact Points on Roma inclusion, which resulted in the formation of an ad-hoc working party to test and pilot monitoring methods and tools. On 20-21 June 2012 the first meeting of the ad-hoc working party took place at the FRA with representatives from nine EU Member States (BG, GR, CZ, ES, FI, FR, HU, IT, RO, UK), Eurofound and UNDP.

OSCE/ODIHR: CPRSI activities planned to implement till end of this year:

This year the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Special day on Roma and Sinti will focus on Empowerment of Romani women and it will take place on 27 September. Day before this meeting, the CPRSI will hold preparatory meeting with the Roma civil society. Launch of the filed assessment visit report on the situation of Romani children in education in the Czech Republic (is planned in Autumn); Follow up activities on the Czech Republic report will take place after the launch of the report; Short preparatory visit of Ukraine to discuss the possibility to assist the government in implementation of activities related to Roma (planed in October); Implementation of the activities related to assistance of the government of Moldova in implementation of the Action Plan on Roma (October-November); Preparation of the Status report on the implementation of the 2003 OSCE Action plan (July-December); Since the beginning of the year ODIHR started with the implementation of the project Best Practices of Roma Integration and during this year there are will be set of activities implemented in the Western Balkan (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo*).

UNHCR - please see separate sheet World Bank: - Attached two presentations on the World Bank's recent work on Roma inclusion: one on the World Bank approach on Roma inclusion in Eastern Europe in general, and another more specific one on how the Bank has been applying the 2011 Roma Household Survey in supporting analytical work on early childhood development and financial inclusion of the Roma - Attached a short summary of the Bank's recently launched study: Toward an Early Start -

Closing the Early Learning Gap for Roma Children in Eastern Europe.

International Organization for Migration:

IOM International Organization for Migration OIM Organisation internationale pour les migrations OIM Organizacin Internacional para las Migraciones

MIGRATION HEALTH DIVISION (MHD), IOM, Regional Office Brussels BACKGROUND/OVERVIEW (page 1 4) UPCOMING Roma action (page 5)

OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK Also in line with subsequent CoE recommendations developed within the Committee for migration, mobility and access to health, in which IOM contributed

Areas of IOM Activity with Roma

Roma health
Social mobilization to generate income, promote inclusion, and improve health access (Serbia) SWIFT: WHO, IOM a Building Healthy Roma Communities Pilot Project (HU, PL, SK,RO) 2 phases (2006-2009), MHD Brussels, funded by GoB, Build human capacity to deal effectively with minority group needs, reduce discrimination and support Roma access to heath social services

-Development of training curriculum and manual -Provide opportunities for exchange and learning ToT -Pilot a community assistance model with community mediators (Equality Support Unit)
Migration Health Division

Building Healthy Roma Communities Pilot Project, cont. Challenges and next steps:

presented at the COST Action Roma Health

Budapest 2009

Identify funding for European initiatives targeting the improvement of Roma health as well as funding for community-level health projects; communityStrengthen health component in national action plans for social inclusion of EU MS Foster deeper cooperation between governmental and non-governmental nonactors engaged in Roma health; Develop support structure for international and national-level sharing of nationalinformation and good practices on Roma health issues

Equality support Unit, Negresti, Romania

Migration Health Division

Current also :IOM Sofia participates in the Ministry of Health "Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS" and "Improve the Tuberculosis Control in Bulgaria" in implementing HIV/TB prevention activities to people from Roma communities with a specific focus on young people from the community and is actively involved in CT prevention activities among vulnerable Roma communities within the country.

UPCOMING 2012-2015

Duration 3years, expected start up Fall 2012 *Priorities to be defined at National Consultative Committees(multi-stakeholder) as well as Regional Consultations

Coordination with the Inter-agency initiative, the Informal Council , EC DGs, EC Agencies, CSOs, etc **Focus on EU MS with high % of national Roma populations, as well as those with high % of Roma migrants 27 MS country briefs on migrant and ethnic minority health (legal, policy, good practices, ect)
Regional Office for the European Economic Area, the EU and NATO 40, rue Montoyer - Montoyerstraat 1000 Brussels Belgium Tel: +32.2.287.70.00 Fax: +32.2.287.70.06 E-mail: ROBrussels@iom.int Internet: http://www.belgium.iom.int