A/HRC/19/27 Central Asia, was held in Bishkek on 21 and 22 June 2011, and was co-organized with the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia and the Centre of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bishkek. It brought together representatives of Governments, national human rights institutions, minorities and civil society organizations from Central Asia, as well as United Nations agencies and international organizations and experts, to discuss possible ways of improving the effective participation of minorities in the Central Asia region in different spheres of life. Particular emphasis was placed on participation in public life. In the concluding statement, the participants pledged to strengthen their efforts to further improve minority participation in their respective countries and to continue dialogue on minority issues. 22. OHCHR has also been actively involved in the consultations surrounding the creation of the “Concept of ethnic policy and consolidation of society in Kyrgyzstan, and plan of action until 2015”, and has been working with the authorities, the Ombudsman and other partners in addressing human rights concerns relating to the protection of minorities. 23. The OHCHR Regional Office for Europe submitted recommendations to the European Commission on the national strategies for Roma integration, which the Commission welcomed before the meeting of the Platform for Roma Inclusion, held on 17 and 18 November. On 6 and 7 June 2011, the Office, in cooperation with the City of Ostrava, organized a two-day workshop on a human rights-based approach to policy and budgeting for the advancement of the right to housing for disadvantaged and marginalized groups, including Roma. Participants included representatives of civil society organizations and of the Roma. In addition, the Office has been closely involved with civil society organizations, national human rights institutions and other stakeholders concerning the forced eviction of Irish Travellers from Dale Farm, the largest Traveller site in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 24. The OHCHR Human Rights Adviser in the Republic of Moldova worked closely with the Government, civil society, and other partners such as the European Union, OSCE and the Council of Europe in order to assist in the design of a new Roma inclusion plan of action for Moldova (2011-2015). In addition, the office worked with UN-Women and UNDP, under the auspices of United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office, the Embassy of Sweden and civil society actors to hold the country’s first major conference on the Romani Holocaust and contemporary discrimination and exclusion of Roma, on 20 and 21 October 2011. 25. In May 2011, the OHCHR Human Rights Adviser to the United Nations country team in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia conducted three human rights workshops on strengthening inter-ethnic dialogue for national actors participating in the joint United Nations project (UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO). The workshops dealt with minority rights and rights-based approaches to programming for minorities. For the occasion, the Declaration on Minorities was translated into two of the six languages spoken in the country. 26. The OHCHR Regional Office for Central America offered technical assistance to national human rights institutions in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama to increase awareness of human rights in relation to Afro-descendant populations and to promote a standardized way of dealing with their complaints. The Office has consistently advocated for inclusion of Afro-descendant populations in the common country assessment and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework of Belize, Costa Rica and Panama. On 26 September 2011, the Office held a seminar that brought together 50 international human rights experts and representatives of Afro-descendant non-governmental organizations, national human rights institutions, racial equality bodies and United Nations agencies from Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama to discuss progress made and the challenges faced in 7