On April 8th, 2021, on the International Roma Day, with the support of the Council of Europe project "Protection of National Minorities, including Roma and Minority Languages in Ukraine" (here in after - the Project), the first online meeting of the Inter-ministerial Working Group on Protection of Roma Minority Rights in Ukraine took place.

An Inter-ministerial Working Group was established on the initiative of the Ukrainian Parliament's Commissioner for Human Rights to consolidate efforts to promote the protection of the rights and freedoms of the Roma minority in Ukraine and implement the recommendations provided by the Commissioner in the special report "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Roma" which was presented by Lyudmila Denisova in December 2020.

During her speech the Commissioner for Human Rights informed that she approved the composition and Regulations of the Inter-ministerial Working Group by the Order. It includes 18 people, among them: the representatives of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, the State Migration Service of Ukraine, as well as the Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the City of Sevastopol, National Minorities and International Relations.

Lyudmyla Denisova also noted that the main activities of the Working Group should be monitoring the effectiveness of the implementation of the Commissioner's recommendations expressed in the annual and special reports on: solving problems that cause violations of the rights and freedoms of the Roma minority; identification of mechanisms, optimal ways and means of solving problems; promoting the introduction of positive experiences on the integration of Roma into society.

Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, welcomed the efforts of the Commissioner for Human Rights to establish an Inter-ministerial Working Group on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of the Roma Minority in Ukraine and stressed the important role of local governments in improving living conditions, including representatives of the Roma community, by creating quality services in the field of education, health care, social security, etc., and ensuring proper access for them to all segments of the population. Therefore, the involvement of regional state administrations and local authorities in the work of the Inter-ministerial Working Group is extremely important. The Council of Europe will be happy to provide expert support to the members of the newly established group.

The meeting was also attended by: Valeria Kolomiets, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine for European Integration; Olga Revuk, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine for European Integration; Dmytro Lubinets, People's Deputy of Ukraine, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories in Donetsk, Luhansk Oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the City of Sevastopol, National Minorities and International Relations; Olena Bohdan, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience; Benjamin Moreau, Deputy Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine; Dan Doghi, Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE; Igor Shinkaryuk, Deputy Head of the Zakarpattia Regional State Administration, as well as representatives of relevant ministries, departments and divisions of 24 regional state administrations and Roma NGOs.

The participants of the meeting outlined the following actions. The Commissioner is convinced that only by combining the efforts of state and local governments, NGOs and Roma communities, as well as learning and implementing the best practices of European countries, it is possible to significantly improve the situation of Roma in Ukraine.