Warsaw, Poland: Roma issues will have a presence at Europe’s largest human rights and democracy conference next week, with a side event focusing on government policies that impact Roma.

The event will take place Oct. 1 in Warsaw, Poland, during the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s 13th annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting. The meeting is being organized by the OSCE’s Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Its purpose is to review progress made by the OSCE’s 56 participating states in fulfilling their human rights and democracy commitments.

The aim of the side event is to discuss the European approach towards Roma and Sinti, in particular the role of national governments. The event is seen as a first step towards more coordination among governmental bodies dealing with Romani issues, and is part of a push for cooperation that could lead to creation of a Roma policy in the European Union (EU). The goal is to follow up and to organize a bigger event during the Czech presidency of the EU in April 2009.

Ivan Vesely, President of the Dzeno Association, and Vice-Chair of the Council for Roma Community Affairs, is helping to organize the event. Dzeno, a leading Romani rights organization, is a partner of The Advocacy Project.

For more information on the event, click here.