Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Zeljko Jovanovic, Chair of the Board of the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to formalise co-operation between the two organisations, setting out their respective rights and obligations. ERIAC is a joint initiative of the Council of Europe, the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and the Alliance for ERIAC.

It is the first cultural representation of the Romani community and was inaugurated on 8 June 2017 in Berlin, Germany. ERIAC’s objective is the promotion of arts and culture and education as a means to promote human rights and intercultural understanding and thereby to tackle anti-Gypsyism and discrimination against Roma in Europe and to increase their self-esteem.