VI. Advocacy and partnerships
working in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the Central Asia
Civil Society Network on Statelessness.118
Good practice:
Bringing the main stakeholders together to discuss the
Situation of Roma and Related Groups in the South
Caucasus and Central Asia
On 18 May 2016, the OSCE/ODIHR Contact Point for Roma and Sinti
Issues organized an international consultation meeting on “The Situation of
Roma and Related Groups in the South Caucasus and Central Asia Regions:
Experiences and Way Forward” in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The event gathered 33 participants, including Roma and Mugat activists
from Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, civil society activists supporting
Roma and related communities, and scholars from Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, as well as international experts. Representatives of
UNHCR, ODIHR, HCNM, field operations from Armenia, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan, as well as the Office of the OSCE Special Representative and
Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings contributed to
the work of the meeting.
The event provided a platform for exchange about the main issues faced
by Roma and related groups in the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and
ways to improve their situations. The consultation meeting looked into
socio-economic integration and civil registration issues, as well as the situation of women within those communities. In both regions, lack of access
to documents for community members and a worsening of the socio-economic situation since the breakup of the Soviet Union were highlighted
as issues.
One of the main recommendations was to intensify targeted efforts to
ensure access to civil registration and identity documents to prevent
81
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents