“The A.D. Sakharov Armenian Human Rights Protection Centre” NGO (hereinafter referred to as the Organization), which is the legal successor of the “The A.D. Sakharov Armenian Fund for Progress, Human Rights Protection and Charity” (founded on 09.10.1990), is an independent, non-political and non-profit public organization.

The Organization, as a public organization, was registered on December 26, 1997 (registration certificate No. 414), re-registered on January 21, 2000 (order No. 167), then on July 14, 2006 (No. 211.171.04085) and on December 12, 2017, the new edition of the Organization’s statutes were registered.

The Organization has three regional branches: in Shirak, Gegharkunik and Syunik regions, in the cities of Gyumri, Gavar and Goris, respectively. The Shirak and Gegharkunik regional branches were established in 1996, and the Syunik regional branch in 1997.

The Organization has implemented about 40 grant projects since 1995.

In 1995, the organization organized the first independent observer institute in the Republic of Armenia to monitor the electoral process and carried out this observation work. Within a month, it trained more than 1,500 local observers.

Since 1998, at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, the Organization has organized a stream of applications (more than 13 thousand letters-applications) on behalf of our compatriots who were forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 and received refugee status in Armenia, to the UN Human Rights Committee (Geneva, Switzerland) regarding the violence and atrocities committed against them during their forced deportation from Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, as well as the loss of their movable and immovable property. The organization also appealed to the Foreign Ministers of the five states whose diplomats were included in the UN 1503 Procedure Expert Group in order to familiarize them with the essence of the issues raised and to provide solutions.

1994-2005 the Organization became a partner of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Armenia and for seven years provided free legal and material assistance to refugees living in Yerevan and 120 rural communities.

Since 2004, the Organization has been implementing grant projects in the field of human rights protection in Yerevan and three regions of Armenia (Shirak, Gegharkunik, Syunik). Within the framework of the “Civil Society School” established by it, the Organization organizes informal training courses in its regional branches for representatives of local civil society organizations (CSOs), local self-government bodies, as well as journalists, students and high school students.

From 2009 to 2024, the Organization has also implemented sub-grant projects in three regions of Armenia within the framework of its grant projects, providing small grants to local CSOs in order to develop and activate them.

Based on the difficult socio-economic situation created in the Republic of Armenia due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Organization, having received the consent of its donor organization (Brot für die Welt), implemented humanitarian assistance with the funds generated from the savings of its grant project, providing food and hygiene packages worth 16,000,000 (sixteen million) AMD to almost 900 needy families in the Shirak, Gegharkunik and Syunik regions of the Republic of Armenia.

The Organization continues to implement large and small grant projects with the same enthusiasm and success, which benefit not only citizens of the Republic of Armenia, but also citizens and foreigners in and outside the territory of Armenia. They receive free quality legal services and thanks to this, many of them successfully restore their violated rights.