On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action -  the outcome commitments of the 2001 World Conference against Racism - the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), together with the Permanent Missions of Ireland and North Macedonia to the UN in Geneva, undertake joint events at the 61st session of United Nations Human Rights Council.

ABOUT THE SIDE-EVENT

United Nations independent experts, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, State partners and Roma human rights defenders from various parts of Europe and the Americas discuss human rights issues facing Roma and Travellers, challenges in addressing antigypsyism, and ways forward.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

From 23 February to 3 March, OHCHR and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights will present an exhibition on the human rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe and the Americas at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The exhibition features photographs from the travelling photo exhibition The Unheard 12 Million, an initiative by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, as part of his priority work on the human rights of Roma and Travellers. It visually supports the Commissioner’s book The Unheard 12 Million. Based on the Commissioner’s travels and personal encounters from June 2024 to April 2025, the book uses direct quotes and narrative photography, including images by an award-winning photojournalist, to highlight stories of resilience and resistance of members of Roma and Traveller communities, particularly women and girls. While addressing Europe as a whole, the book and exhibition specifically feature experiences from Finland, Greece, Ireland, North Macedonia, and Slovakia.

The Commissioner’s photo exhibition was curated by the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC). It can be hosted upon request to the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (Contact us).

OHCHR will present, on interactive screens, the Romani Memory Map for the Americas, building on OHCHR’s work on memorialisation and antigypsyism. OHCHR’s work on the human rights of Roma – including addressing antigypsyism - is underpinned by the 2015 report by the then-UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. 

The Romani Memory Map for the Americas is a crowd-sourced initiative developed jointly by the OHCHR, Gonzaga University, USA; Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czechia; Prague Center for Romani Histories, Czechia; Institute of Anthropological Sciences at University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Laboratório de Estudos sobre Etnicidade (LEER /Universidade de São Paulo), Brazil; Associação Internacional Maylê Sara Kali (AMSK) and Kalo Chiriklo - Collective Against Antigypsyism. Funding from the Bader Philanthropies has helped make this work possible.

ABOUT THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DURBAN DECLARATION AND PROGRAMME OF ACTION

These events take place in the context of year-long commemorations of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the outcome commitments of the 2001 World Conference against Racism. In parallel, during the same week, the United Nations Human Rights Council will convene a separate High-level panel discussion on the commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

CO-SPONSORS OF THE EVENT: