Government representatives coming from the Ministries of Interior and from Governmental Agencies responsible for Roma issues, as well as experts and NGO representatives from the countries of South East Europe, will gather in Skopje on 14 and 15 June 2010 on the occasion of a conference organized within the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. They will exchange views and experiences on the issue of providing access of Roma to personal identification documents. Part of this Conference will be dedicated to the issue of voluntary return of RAE refugees to Kosovo .

The aim of the Conference “Providing access of Roma to personal identification documents a Regional challenge” is to consider ways and means to improve access of Roma to personal identification documents, thus further contributing to acquiring citizenship, as a precondition for an effective enjoyment of human rights and achieving progress in the social inclusion of Roma.

The Conference will be opened by Mr. Xhelal Bajrami, Minister of Labour and Social Policy. The Commissioner for Human rights of the Council of Europe, Mr. Thommas Hammarberg, the President of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention, Mr. Alan Phillips, Vice President of the European Roma and Travelers Forum, Ms. Sebihana Skenderovska and other prominent representatives from the Council of Europe, OSCE/ODIHR, UNHCR and other organizations will be among the keynote speakers of the Conference