The RighT Side Human Rights Defender NGO in Armenia is implementing until July 2021 a national project aims at empowering the transgender community to facilitate their access to justice in Armenia, with the support of the European Union/Council of Europe joint programme Partnership for Good Governance, and its regional project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes in the Eastern Partnership”.

This project aims at empowering and building the capacity of young transgender people on human rights and fundamental freedoms, protection mechanisms from hate speech, hate crime and discrimination, advocacy and campaigning for the safety and well-being of Transgender people in Armenia.

The NGO will train the Transgender community young representatives on self-protection mechanisms from hate speech, hate crimes and discrimination, equip them with advocacy and campaigning skills for human rights and equality, establish a dialogue and alliances between Transgender community and NGO representatives to combat discrimination more effectively through joint cooperation and active civic participation. The activities are also directed to impact and raise the public understanding about Transgender issues by increasing visibility of the community and breaking the norms and stereotypes about them. This project is a step forward for increasing the well-being, harmonious and secure life of Transgender people and for contributing to the strengthening of democracy and equality in Armenia.

This project is one of the five civil society projects supported by the European Union/Council of Europe regional anti-discrimination project, in Armenia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine aimed at combating discrimination, favouring inclusion of groups at risk of discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes, and raising awareness among vulnerable communities and the general public about redress to discrimination.

This activity is implemented in the framework of the regional project “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in the Eastern Partnership”, financed by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance phase II.