A/HRC/52/53
racism proposals by representatives of African descent in the Bogotá City Council. From
April to June 2022, the office provided advice and technical assistance to Afro-descendant
communities affected by violence associated with drug trafficking and participated in
processes of consultation between organizations of people of African descent and
government entities. In August 2022, the office also assisted in developing a proposal on the
rights of the Afro-Colombian, Raizal and Palenquero communities, with delegates from 18
of the organizations that form the National Afro-Colombian Peace Council.
F.
Human rights situation of Roma communities
44.
In Serbia, OHCHR supported the State authorities in preparing for the 2022 census
with data from a recent OHCHR mapping of Roma settlements that were substandard. In
early 2022, OHCHR, in collaboration with the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Unit
of the Government of Serbia and the Association of Coordinators for Roma Issues, jointly
developed sustainable models for access to safe water, sanitation and electricity for Roma
living in substandard settlements. It is expected that those models should assist nearly
168,000 Roma still living in substandard settlements in deplorable conditions without basic
infrastructure, such as access to electricity, safe drinking water and sanitation.
45.
In the Republic of Moldova, OHCHR completed an 18-month human rights capacitybuilding programme for 22 human rights activists, including 8 members of the Roma
community and representatives of vulnerable groups from the Transnistria region. OHCHR
also supported the participants’ advocacy and human rights awareness-raising activities. As
a result, Roma human rights activists conducted human rights training and informational
sessions for 115 Roma. In May 2022, the Office, in cooperation with the national association
of Roma mediators, provided training to 32 Roma community mediators. The training
included content on international and national human rights standards; the protection of
minorities; access to public services; issues pertaining to documentation for Roma; and
remedies for discrimination targeting Roma people.
46.
In May 2022, the OHCHR Regional Office for Europe participated in Romani Week
2022, which encompassed a variety of events organized by the European Parliament to
discuss policies for the equality and inclusion of Roma people in Europe. At the events,
OHCHR called for a human rights approach to Roma policies and strategies that required a
renewed political commitment at the highest level, effective Roma participation and a
comprehensive and coordinated engagement between the regional, national and local levels.
OHCHR also referred to the agenda towards transformative change for racial justice and
equality, set out by the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as a
possible inspiration for tackling anti-Gypsyism.
47.
In July 2022, OHCHR organized a training session in the Republic of Moldova on the
role of Roma community mediators in preventing and tackling human trafficking among
Roma refugees; 25 managers and social workers from refugee accommodation centres
participated. Since February 2022, OHCHR has mainstreamed human rights and has carried
out regular monitoring trips to border areas and refugee accommodation centres, in particular
those with a high concentration of Roma, and participated in numerous coordination forums,
including the task force on Roma refugees. In September 2022, OHCHR launched a study to
assess the human rights situation of Roma, including Roma refugees fleeing from the armed
conflict in Ukraine, and the underlying causes that limit their access to human rights.
48.
Also in September 2022, OHCHR, the Special Rapporteur on minority issues and the
Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence organized an international round table entitled “Roma and memorialization:
advancing recognition and remedy for the dark chapters of the past and their impact on the
present”. The purpose of the event was to advance recognition and memorialization of the
problematic chapters of Romani history and structural racism, such as the Roma holocaust,
slavery, sterilization of Romani women, and other racial and anti-Gypsy persecution, as well
as their impact on the present. Participants in the round-table event explored how the legacies
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